The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-09-15
THE CONSERVATION THEORY.

THE CONSERVATION THEORY.
One of the inevitable results of long
continued wastefulness is the re-
awakening of the conservation theory
A comparatively modern instance IS
the public recognition of the enormous
waste which has threatened the ey's-
tence of our forests 80 years hence
and the resultant economical treat
ment of American woodlands. Spleen
did water powers have splashed idle
over stone and rock until the shrewd
CAPITALIST harnessed them to The
wheels of industry and accounted their
strength in visible benefits. Factories
have turned out a single product at
small profit until they were taught
to utilize as by-products what they
discarded as waste. Oftentimes, in fact
the by-products eclipsed the single
output in market value. The founda-
lions of success for the nation, the
business industry and the individual
of waste and utilization of tag-ends
with the purpose in view of getting
the largest results possible from the
materials at hand. The little man
calls it economy. The big man says
conservation. 1t is all one and the
same thing.
It would seem from casual study
that much of the bodily strength and
mental energy of very great many
people is grossly, ignorantly, and
criminally wasted. There is a tendency
to employ energies for the purpose
of vainglory and misdirected zeal.
Nowhere is this tendency more aptly
illustrated than j nthe realm of sport.
We run miles and miles about a Gin
move in order to lower the record OF
stuff ourselves with pie and griddio
cakes under guard until we cannot
der path with straining muscles and
aching feet in order to fall exhausted
and famed over wire ahead of some
outstanding of resources, elimination
0M 'sLouoq 9NII IoJ eleplpueo leqlo
sit for hours playing at piano II
some greedy competitor We
rest upon the conservation theory,
mandolin until our fingers fall IDLY
in attempt to establish record for
endurance. We fatten likely candi-
dates for the ring as we would fatten
a calf. or pig and set them up
against each other to mutilate and
injure and wound Long, long hours
Of the days given to us in which 10
labor we waste at bridge or poker or
fudge making or fashions. 1t is need
less to discuss the matter more. In
some sense or other, every individual
is putting his GoIgiven talents to
un worthy ends, he is playing extrava-
gantly with his physical self and mis-
brain equipment and always he Will
pay for it in the end, just as the
forests now pay for the ignorant cut
ting Of many years past.
Recreation is wonderful thing,
instituted that man might secure by
change of occupation something OF the
rest and amusement to which he has
a divine right. The realm of sport is
an alluring region but when its
possibilities are utilized for other
purposes than the building up of a
healthy body and the friendly contests
of amateurs, the conservation theory
has again been trampled upon. The
greatest gift ever bestowed upon man
was time but a great many people
have so recklessly wasted it that they
may well tremble at the result OF
their wastfulness. Conservation may
well concern other than the timber
and the potato crop, water powers
and industrial problems which con-
front the business world. A woman
interested in the saving of babies III
the cities, calls her hobby conserva
ton Of the child crop. So it is quite
proper an dto the point to look we'll
to conservation of the physical self,
the mental energy and the moral