The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-14
JOHNSON At HELM.
Continued from Page One,

Wastage at the conference of cover
nors. He said in part:
To give thought to the future apnea ia
to me with peculiar. force, because re-
cent studies have led me to the belief
that the earth's future habitability Is
vastly greater than we have been wont
to believe. It is common conception
that the earth sprang from chaos at
the beginning Of our era and is plung-
ing on to catastrophe or a final winter
in the near future, but have come to
believe that the earth arose from a re-
generative process and offers a fair
prospect of Availability for tens of
millions of years to come. If this be
true. 1t Is eminent1y fit that our race
should give thought to the distant re-
suits of its action. 1t is also anew
conception of geology that climatic
conditions have been much like the
present from early eras, in spite of
some notable variations. and that this
general uniformity Is the result of a
profound regulative system which has
kept the temperatures and the constitu-
ton OF the earth's atmosphere within
the narrow range congenial to life for
many millions of years. AS a result
there has been no complete break in
land life since it came into being eras
ago. 1t is further conceived that the
sources Of the vital supplies are still
adequate and likely to continue so for
eras. that the regulative system is still
in effective control and that vast fu-
ture of Availability may fairly be pre-
dicted, subject only to some contin-
gencies of disturbing approach or COL
lision with celestial bodies
1t Is familiar geologic doctrine that
for eras rains have fallen on the sur
face and soils have been produced by
rock decay, while the surface has been
washed away. Sofl-production and soil
removal have run hand in hand, and
yet so controlled by natures adjust
ments that no large part of the surface
has been swept bare enough to alto
gether exclude vegetation. More than
this, 1t appears that the usual adjust
ments Of nature make rather for in
creased fertility Of soil than depletion.
| 1t is true that at times determinations
have interviewed, giving mountainous
heights and precipitous surfaces from
which the soil-product has been wash
| ed faster than it could be produced;
| and desert conditions have also inter-
vened locally; but these disatrophic
effects are perhaps rather rejuvena-
lions necessary to the preservation of
| the continents than destructive cpl
sodes. Whenever such heights and
slopes have been raised, the atmos-
phere and it's waters have at once be-
gun to grade them down, to cover them
| with soil and to give them a new
Availability So in this and other ways,
the gifts of the great past shape them
| selves as products Of a marvellous sys-
| tenn of control that has checked ex-
| cesses and forced movement toward the
golden means in which have lain pro-
ductivity and congeniality to life. Thus
| has come our Inheritance of a land
suitable for vegetation, Of a soil-mantie
of great fertility, of a precipitation
| conducive to productiveness; of sys-
| tenn of streams endowed with great
possibilities Of waterfoods, of water
| power and of stream navigation.
Inherited Assets.
| How shall we cooperate with nature
1 in rendering conditions still more SER
viceable to ourselves and our success
sors? Clearly We may use the proper
| revenues of our inheritance, but sure
ly we should not rob our successors of
1 their share in 1t. To answer this fun
| damental problem. let us turn at once
| to the basal factors, rainfall, soil-for-
nation, and soil-wastage.i The rainfall
is to be regarded as an inherited asset;
| the soil is clearly an inherited asset:
even a little soil removal may be re-
| garded an advantage, but reckless soil
| wastage is a serious error. Soils are
| the product of the atmosphere and its
waters modifying the rock surface.
When they have aided the air in pro-
ducing soil by rock decay, the atmos-
phereic waters may either pass into
plants or back to the surface and out
by evaporation, or they may pass on
down to the ground waters, and thence
into the streams, furnishing there the
basis for water foods, for water power
and for stream navigation. Here is a
good work. soil-production, followed by
advantageous courses of the water
both up and down. On the other hand
| water may rush away as a foul erosive
flood on the surface, wasting soil and
plant food. outlying the surface. flood
ing the valleys, filing the reservoirs
sweeping out dams, barring the streams
and clogging the deltas. II it shall be
found that nearly all the rainfall should
go into the SOIL coming out thence
slowly and steadily into the streams
| clear and pure, these should present
clearly ideal conditions for water food
| for water power and for stream navtga-
ton The ideal solution of the soil
problem may therefore solve the greater
part of the whole complex of problems
| The soil problem may thus prove to be
| the key problem.
To see this more definitely, we must
| turn to details, but with brevity and
omissions While soils are formed by
the atmosphere and its waters acting
upon the rock, soil surfaces are carried
away by wind and wash. At any mo-
ment then, the depth of soil measures
| the lag of production behind removal
| and it is clear that the best results
spring from the proper ratio Of addition
| at the bottom to wastage at the sur
| face.
Surface wastage is therefore a seri-
Gus menace to the retention OF our soils
under present modes of management
Historical evidence enforces this. In
| the Orient, there are large tracts al
most absolutely bare of soil now which
| formerly bore 1ourishing populations.
Much more than simple loss of fer
| tility is here menaced; it is the loss
| of the soil-body itself, loss almost
| beyond repair. Immense tonnage OF
| soil material carried out to sea an
nually by our rivers is an impressive
warning of the danger of excessive soil
waste Nor is this all; the ash from
one acre often covers the fertile por-
ton of another acre or of several
Som etimes ones loss is another's gain
| It has become an Established