The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1919-12-29
HAVE WE GROWN?


istence, all human beings are essen
TALLY selfish. This universal law of
selfshness may seem to show slight
variation when we consider that all
normal parents are willing to make
almost any sacrifice for their chill
dren. Scores of examples of such
sacrifices are seen every day. But
how often do we hear of people max
ing surrender which will benefit
their great grandchildren? Too often
the sacrifices which present day par
ents make go no further than for the
benefit of the immediate family.
If our great grandfathers could
have known that the wood in the mag
nificent walnut groves which they
were cutting down and burning in the
pioneer days, would have sold at four
cents the pound today, would they,
our grandfathers, have stopped in
their ruthless clearing? Would they
have saved even the best corner of
the grove for the use of their chill
drens children? Perhaps the best
answer is the price of walnut furni
ture and interior finish today Still
our ancestors knew that walnut was
a good wood. They realized its value
in building their own houses. Too,
they must have realized that some day
the worlds supply of this particular
commodity would run short.
Such considerations, however, if
they ever occurred to the early set
tiers do not seem to have deferred
them, for the stories of the log roll
ings, and the burning of the huge
piles of timber reveal with what Law
ishness the pioneers destroyed this
gift of the forest primeval. To clear
the ground as quickly as possible of
what was to them useless timber, was
their endeavor. If all the walnut
trees had given out by the time their
great grandchildren were ready to
build themselves homes, let the great
grandchildren hunt for something
else. Our forefathers had to hunt for
means of livelihood; their forefath-
erS hunted, and we are still hunting
for ours, that is, most of us are.
Some of us like to think that our
forefathers and their brave wives
went out into the wilderness and sub
dued it, that we might have silver
ware and damask ON our own dining
tables. 1t is likely that they we're
thinking not very much of us and a
great deal of themselves at that time.
However, this view shows that we are
still fairly selfish ourselves.
If we, as a nation, had positive
proof that an act we were committing
today would not harm our children.
nor possibly our grandchildren, but
would intiict serious harm on our de-
scendants who are to live $50 years
hence, would it check us? We are not
big enough to shoulder such RESPONSE
bilities yet.
1t has been estimated that the
worlds supply of anthracite coal will
not last 100 years Still we 60 on
consuming the fuel faster and faster
as our industries develop. What will
people be doing for anthracite a CEN
tury from now?
Considering for an Instant our con-
sumption of oil in its various forms.
we find that already the peak of
production has been passed in the
United States and that the demand is
increasing every day. Large oil COM
panies are seeking new fields for ex-
ploitation. What will the people thir-
ty generations from now be doing
for oil, a commodity that we have
come to consider as indispensable?