Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-06
SAVING

VI loo late TO De OF great peIeHt
to posterity, the people of the
United States have gone into the
business of saving, and from being a
recklessly prodigal and spendthrift ma
tion. this is becoming a nation whose
conservation policies are being well
defined and will be-nay, must be
lived up to. Mr. Pinchot, as a pioneer
of conservation policies, the chief
awakener of the nation to its response
bility with regard to its natural
treasure houses, will live in history
There are two great classes of brainy
men to whom our country is indebted
the makers of America and the
savers of America-and Mr.. Pinchot Is
n conspicuous example of the savers.
Efforts are now being made sys-
tematically not only to conserve, hus-
band and take care of natural resources,
but to add to the productiveness of
the soil and to make nature respond
to the needs of an increasing popula-
tion.
The bureau of soils. the bureaus of
plant and animal industry irrigation
practice, entomology. publications, etc,
all are doing excellent work and should
be used by all citizens who may need
expert advice on any of the subjects
with which they deal These bureaus
are all in the department of agricul-
ture.
In the interior department Is the
geological survey. which has been look
ing after fuel supplies, the economical
use of coal, etc. In this direction there
is still much to be done. By the best
methods of combustion and steaming
only small percentage-less than II
per cent-of the actual potentiality of
fuels is secured. Researches are being
made to discover better results, and
these, if successful, will have great
economical effect on various important
industries.
One of the principal officers Of the
geological survey says the ordinary
locomotive rushing through the coun-
try realizes only about 4 per cent of
the actual potentiality of its coal and
that an ordinary light, such as we use
in our homes and offices, represents
one-seventh of / per cent Of the coal
that started the power. In the con-
sumption of 100000 tons of coal the
benefit actually secured is that of the
heat or power units in 10000 tons or
less.
Until the demands of civilization be-
came complicated and were increased
and multiplied, the economic admins
tration and use of natural resources
was not pressing. question. That
there has been waste which If totaled
in quantity and expressed in figures
would stagger the imagination goes
without saying. Conservation policies
applicable to all kinds of natural re-
sources will share with social policies
the attention of the trained minds of
thinkers and ere long will be the prin-
cipal policies before the people.
In these conservation policies must
be included conservation of population
In the larger cities the recklessness of
human life and human power" has
been appalling beyond words to de-
scribe it. All the riotous waste of ma
terlal resources which has threatened
the physical vitality of this big coun-
try with impairment and has greatly
impoverished 1t materially is as moth
ing when compared with the riotous
waste of human beings which makes
it possible to say that great as the
achievements of the United States have
been our progress would have been
very much further advanced and much
more important discoveries and inven-
tions would have been made than those
we are calling "wonderful' if we had
not as a nation neglected and wasted
most shamefully an incidentally vast
amount of human intelligence, human
thought, human initiative and human
power.