Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-06-12

the good and the useful may have a
better chance The soil is our great
est national asset, do you know about
the soil, It's Importance, it's necessity
in the life of man, the care that
should be taken of it He who owns
garden plot 20 feet square Is just as
much under obligations to guard it's
fertility, keep it from wastage as be
who owns a township You must
learn to realize and to believe that it
is just as much of crime to rob the
soil of its fertility as it is to 60 down
town and rob bank. Some day such
laws will be on our statute books.
We do not have them now, yet you
ought to believe and obey such law
now. Many other resources need care
full guarding for they are of such
nature that when once used up they
are gone for all time and cannot be
replaced This is trua of such common
things as iron as it is true of rarer
metals such as gold or platinum, it is
true of oil, coal. natural gas. These
substances have all been millions of
years in the making, yet few years
of extravagant. reckless use will so
deplete them that they may prove to
be of little or no service to the COM
ing generations. By our careless and
thoughtless methods we shall rob them
of what they had every right to ex-
pect. What will people of the future
think of us who have so ruthlessly
despoiled the heritage of man on the
earth. Then there are the ncxious
factors such as weeds, insects, disease,
that are doing much to reduce our
food supply and to make mankind
ineffective in his labors The loss
to farm products alone through in
sects in the q. S., runs we'll up into
the hundreds of millions. annually.
We are partly to blame that the in
sectiverous birds are killed right and
left, by cats and careless boys and the
result is that insects are ever more on
the increase in this country with their
ruinous depredations going on under
our eyes. while we stand helplessly by.
l have some neighbors whose shade
trees and especially elms begin to
suffer from insect depredations these
neighbors are very fond of cats.
and the alternative has come to their
notice finally it is the cat or the elm
One or the other must co. which shall
it be? I have estimated that cats in
the one town of Beloit kill about
20, 900 birds annually. which if they
had been allowed to live would help
greatly to keep insects down to normal
numbers If these conditions go on
there is only one method left and that
is for human beings to take the place
of the birds and to destroy as much
as they can by expensive spraying
methods and the like. 1t is estimated
that there are seventeen and one
half million school children in the
U. S. be between the ages Of and
10 OOu4C OuO IDS HUSS0St0u ludb DulS
great army be divided into groups of
5 and that each group be responsib bic
for the destruction of at least 5 masses
of insect eggs of that typo which is
particularly destructive in the region
where the group lives Billions of
inset would b9 destroyed by this
means to the betterment of plant and
animal life.
There are large areas of land in the
southern states that are we'll nigh
| valueless on account of mosquitoes.
However we should not throw stones
at our neigh bors while we permit
the house fly go called to abound on
every hand without let or hinderance.
We seem to have a sort of notion that
the fly is nuisance yet he is after
all barmle creature. The fact is
that he is dangerous and pestilential
menace. Join the movement which
proposes TO rid the people of this
hostile factor in cur life. Be one
III the community to see that wherever
food is prepared, bought or sold there
shall be adequate protection against
this mischlevous pest.
There is one more important feature
that needs to be presented as a part Of
the program of your social service.
1t is comp aratively new idea but it
is worthy of acceptance and that is
eugenics The idea of this movement
is the Improvement Of the human
race by better breeding.
We pay all sorts of attention to the
production of better cattle and sheep
but give little heed to the betterment
of our own race. Advancement in
civilization is only possible by secur-
ing the best blood. Human progress,
yes the race itself is bound to cease
unless more attention is paid to this
MATTER. There is really no wealth
on earth but life, what would the
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