4 T Hib> A-U'D-U BLOUN: (BU Lp ei 
of such management directed solely toward esthetic and recreational ends, 
for even there Nature needs much help to counteract man’s actions. 
Mention has been made of the necessity for guarding against the in- 
roads of civilization. The statement does not imply an impracticable 
locking up of natural resources, but an intelligent application of civiliza- 
tion’s tools so as to improve rather than harm environmental conditions. 
Such is the responsibility of conservation organizations today: to learn 
how to work with nature instead of against her, and to foster such action 
by both government and industry. Such a policy may slightly reduce profits 
to this generation but it is the only way to insure them to future 
generations. 
Americans have been too prone to measure progress in terms of high 
skyscrapers, deep mines and oil wells, efficient sawmills, or mammoth dams. 
These accomplishments may turn out to be ironic monuments to national 
bankruptcy unless they are done with considerably more wisdom and fore- 
sight than in the past. True progress is measured by the amount of 
unimpaired productive capacity handed down from each generation to 
the next. Disregard of this principle was the chief factor contributing to 
the fall of the once powerful empires of Asia and North Africa. Their 
rulers and citizens ruined the foundation stones of environment in an effort 
to amass temporary wealth and power. 
Similar damage in this country will not occur if conservation organiza- 
tions throw their influence whole-heartedly into the practical hard-headed 
necessities of natural resource engineering. Such action is also the best 
insurance for continued enjoyment of the purely esthetic aspects of nature. 
Both the pleasures and necessities of life depend, in the final analysis, upon 
sound scientific management of the foundation stones of resource conserva- 
tion — soil, water, air, and light. 
‘a fA fi 
To a Crow 
Bold, amiable, ebon outlaw, grave and wise! 
For many a good green year hast thou withstood— 
By dangerous, planted field and haunted wood— 
All the devices of thine enemies, 
Gleaning thy grudged bread with watchful eyes 
And self-relying soul. Come ill or good, 
Blithe days, thou see’st, thou feathered Robin Hood! 
Thou mak’st a jest of farm-land boundaries. 
Take all thou may’st, and never count it crime 
To rob the greatest robber of the earth; 
Weak-visioned, dull, self-lauding man, whose worth 
Is in his own esteem. Bide thou thy time; 
Thou knowest far more of Nature’s lore than he, 
And her wise lap shall still provide for thee. 
—ROBERT BURNS WILSON 
