The Arvada enterprise., 1911-11-30
THE CONSERVATION OF THE
NATIONS GREATEST RE-
S01rRCE

SUUhCE.
Clifford Pinchot has made himsel
famous through his fight for thu
conservation of the forests. Jamei
r. Garfield is strenuous advocate
Of the conservation OF the natura
resources OF the country. We heal
on every side, sad tales Of our fail.
are to conserve the water supply
with which God provided our great
stretches of fertile land. Magazines
and newspapers are full of the sub.
ject Of conservation. And the sub
tect has grown to such Importance
that 1t was deemed advisable to hold
. great convention of conservation
This was held in September. Presi-
dent Taft delivered an able and
mastery address on the Conserva-
tion of the Soil.
1t Is true that our forests are
ruthlessly burned, and our waters
allowed to become the property of
corporations, and our soils are de-
nuded by floods, 20 that the very vi
tality OF the soil is washed into the
deltas Of our rivers or into the bot
toms of the seas. 1t Is too true that
eur hillsides are made to give up the
very elements which would in the
future feed our people and those
elements are deposited where they
can never be utilized.
But / wish 10 speak of a need
more crying and vital than these.
We habitually look upon these loss
- of commercial nature, and
overlook wastes far more serious and
more vital. We give too little at
tention to the Conservation OF Our
Nations Greatest Resource: The
country children. We figure how
we can save timber to house them,
how we can save water to irrigate
the soil to produce food for them;
how we can save the plant food
which will feed them, and feed the
animals which will ciothe them; but
we too often fail to provide means
10 educate them, and train their
minds and their souls so that life
will be worth the cost OF conserva-
ton.
What do we want of people
whose only souls and only hearts
are located in their pocketbooks
and their stomachs? we don't
want them? We want boys and
girls with hearts and souls. Are
we conserving hearts and souls?
The very beginning of hearts and
souls are too often starved out Of a
child because the parent is too
ignorant, too poor, or too careless to
feed 1t with the food of which hearts
and souls are made; love and tender
care. The soul is too often stunted
because there is no suitable reading
matter for the child. The first cost
OF "yellow-back novel is only q
few cents, but generally the ulti-
mate cost is a soul. Likewise a
cigarette, to the boy, means only
satisfying taste. And dirty
stories seem harmless when one is
trying to pass an idle hour All
these things to boy are cheap
amusements-and they are usually
cheap in every sense of the word.
But when the ultimate cost Is fig
ured In terms OF hearts and souls,
they are only too dear entertain
ments.
And so in too many of our homes,
is the beginning of the erosion OF
the heart and the erosion OF the food
elements of the soul, which if con
served would produce n lovable and
noble character; the kind upon
which depends the success of this
democratic experiment-governm
OF ours.
And the little miniature gullies
started in such small and careless
way, are increased by the erosion
continued in the district school.
The teacher is the beginner, and she
doesn't care anything about the boy,
What she wants is practice expert
ence, that she might aspire to the
higher goal-the city school. And
the erosion goes on.
One day the boy comes home, and
some intuitive power tells him that
there is visitor there. After a
while he musters up enough cour-
age to go in-and is introduced to
the new minister. lie is probably
some theological student who has
taken the country pastorate Tor eN-
perience lie wants to practice on
the country people. He asks the
boys to come to Sunday school The
boy says he will and never expects
or intends to go And the erosion
goes on.
After while the cigarette and