The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-04

rate much faster than natures time of
making it, which is. say, one inch in a
thousand years. Biologists not only
recognize the waste Of American soils,
but they have measured the rate of its
removal.
The late Professor y. s. Shaler esti-
mated the destruction Of agricultural
lanOs, chiefly through old field erosion.
in the southern Atlantic and gulf states
at several thousand square miles; and
in portions of this region the waste in
wolves a complete removal of a super
fetal geologic deposit drown loan,
lOess. yellow loam). well adapted to
forming a productive soil, from under
| living older formations IL suited to the
development of fertile soils and sub
soils; in which case the loss is IRENE
diable
Generals Humphrey and Abbott half
/ a century ago showed that the Missis-
sippi then carried annually to the gulf
something over four hundred million
/ tons Of solid matter. in addition to
great quantities Of earth salts, carried
/ in solution, and Of sand or other coarse
material rolled or swept along the bot
tom.
The Real Trade Balance.
American statesmen often manifest
| great concern over the supposed bal
auee of trade" against this country in
/ its dealings with foreign nations. The
"basauca Of trade of which they speak.
however, is a mere Pigment of the i'm
! agination. So far as its supposed detri-
! mental effects are concerned, II has
| probably never existed outside Of
! misinformed and illogical mind alarmed
| over false and doctored trade statistics
and it would be as harmless as a suck
| ing dove" if it ever did CT ever could
| happeu to come into being. But the
| real balance of trade is against US in
| the soil. We are sending II away-hto
| the ocean. We are exporting, without
| importing. and there Is no debtor 10
| nav the balance. The Mississippi, Tor
| example. is dumping our wealth into
| the gulf. The effect of breaking up the
new lands and Of extending agricultural
! operations, says Emerson HouSh. mas
! been TO increase the soil matter carried
by the Mississippi fully % per cent;
while comparative determinations made
! on several other streams indicate that
/ the rivers of the country outside Of the
( Mississippi basin carry into the sea
/ about as much soil matter as the great
river itself-that is. that the annual
! soil-wash of the United States aggre-
| gates fully one billion tonsi Our bal
ance Of trade is going some, isn't II!
! Also. unfortunately, our soil, which
raised that balance of trade, is going
/ some"
The Hymn of the Soil.
Moreover. only a Traction of the mat
ter transported by the waters IS coarse
| (sand and graveD. while fully 30 per
cent consists of rich soil stuff washed
! from the surface or lesChed from the
sub-surface of fields and pastures and
Gn less degree) of woodlands. "Reck-
oned on the basis Of value as fertilizer,
| the material could hardly be appraised
at less than one dollar per ton: so that
the annual loss to the agricultural in
tercsts of the country can hardly fall
short Of q billion dollars-equivalen to
an impOst as great as most other taxes
combined and one yielding absolutely
no return"
, The writer just quoted says further:
This hymn of the soil is the one great
hymn II sings Of the one great herit-
age of life We speak Of this or that
man owning thus or so much of the
earth's surface. That. of course, is INK
possible. He takes it or Burrows Il
perhaps. but he can own no more than
! six feet Of it. and that only for a shor'
time The soil belongs to life The
! | buried years resent any embezzemen'
of our great heritage The soil Is
b owned by plants. by animals, by mer
/ OF TfllS EllciL HdllVlAf AAAh9 VI NA-e~N 20
Z that mast. yonder future. II we sir
+ against the soil, ours viii be the great
! punishment-which is to say, extinc-
. ton. oblivion If you plOW badly, Il
2 is you for the star-dust!
We Must Conserve 1t.
Now. it has been shown by the sol
- experts that the greater part of th'
s loss from erosion Of the soil is prevent
} able It is the cleared and plOweC
= lands that suffer the most-thOse tina
g have been made ready for producing
n crops. The amount of this annual soil
= | wash is so great--7S5 million tons ever.
8 twelve mOnths-that it would fill fOu
= channels as big as that of the Panama
Y canal The state of Missouri alOn
4 sends enough soil every year to the SCI
- to make a prism one mile square AM
Q 500 feet high. The billion tons of sol
!. wasted every year would spread laye
@ like Nile mud over Illinois,
a. The great depth of the soil of tn
l. valleys that lie within the great basin
from A few feet on the benches to man
e hundreds of feet in the lower parts o
n the drainage area-and the general fer
L tfity Of western land are condition
s that have led to 2. neglect Of the neces
3 sarv care. reparation and re-enrichmen
of the productive areas. Crop afte
crop has been taken from the soil, an
z little OF nothing returned to It. Til
= process. too, if long continued, mus
n result in the final impoverishment {
II our great bank account in the soil. l
r many places the soil is being over
r irrigated. washing out its natural feI
he tilitv and depositing the minerals o
Al the lower lands, making them flnall
ST alkaline-killing the plants with to
J. much soiI-enrichment This process
s. going on rapidly in many parts Of II
h. Great basin. BAD handling of waite
Is means less crops, less soil, more pc
d luted streams. more choked up char
ne nels. more floods, more waste and ruiz
" the balance of things thrown out {
e. plumb and the world literally turne
he upside down" And the semi-arid ives
r as well as the water-plowed east, ha
a ] great need TO replenish. to care for an
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