Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1921-10-06
DON'T SQUANDER THE PAST
Continued from Page 1.


him into the texture of our national
life, and enriches our national eXis-
tence.
Once some years ago, a king came
from his north Europe country to
visit Us. He was tall, and young, and
strong. Much of his time was spent
in the wilder regions of our West
where he went for big game. Bu'
he saw other parts of our country
too; and he was asked what, during
his visit to America, had struck him
most
"Yo2r wastefulness," was his reply
Centuries of experience spoke in
that wise remark. From father tc
son back through history, further
back than Washington, further bacl
than Columbus, need had taught the
Old World the hard lesson of thrift
1t was in the year twelve hundred and
something that the City Of Frankfort
on the Main was already conserving
a great forest near by. From that
forest it got all its wood. And the
forest never gave out. l saw it ir
June, 1914, thick with tall health!
trees. By the year twelve hundred
Frankfort already had learned from
experience that if you treat forest
in one way it will disappear, while
if you treat it in another way it vii?
go on helping you, century after
century. Close to almost every little
village in France YOU would have
found before the war a forest that
had been supplying the people with
wood in the same way for centuries
America was thick with forests
once. Where are they now? Three.
hundred years have been enough for
us to kill what Europe has kept alive
for a thousand, and knows how to
keep alive for a thousand more. ',
When Roosevelt began his policy of
conservation. he was angirly resist
ed. A Western senator remarked;
"The people will take the sticks all
the same" Huge floods, huge
droughts, and the high price of lum-
Der, are the consequences of the peo-
pie taking the sticks.
The forests are not quite all gone
but it will be long years before Roose-
velt's now generally understood and
accepted policy of conservation re-
stores the balance, and we have
learned to use our forests without
abusing them. Meanwhile, the chang
ing of that name of the Northeast
Boulevard to Roosevelt Boulevard
points the way to another kind OF
conservation, a mental or spiritua
kind, which it is not too late to prac-
tice, and which can be much more
easily inaugurated.
Some two millions of Young Ameri-
can men were in France. But they
we're not fighting every day. There
were times when they had rest, and
other times when they had few days
leave. During these they noticed
keenly the bad drainage and the high
prices; but a good many o. them
must also have observed other things
II the French principle of naming
streets attracted the attention OF any
of them, they must have noticed an
entire absence of the Avenue A, Tenth
Street, Eleventh Street system. In
Paris. for instance, our soldiers may
have walked in Francois the F'rs'
Steret, and Avenue Jena. In similar
American terms these thoroughfares
would be Washington Street, and Ma
nilla Bay Avenue.
Now in our system we resemole Ihe
French just little. We do commem-
crate famous men: but cannot recall!
many instances where we commemo-
rate famous events. independence
Souare in Philadelphia is the only one
which occurs to me as | write. II
we have any highway or public place
named after the battle of Manila Bay
I have not heard of it. There ought
10 be many. The name would enrich
the future. School children not ac
uuainted with the Spanish War would
say to some teacher or parent, 'Wna1
does Manila Bay mean" And then It
would be a privilege and duty to tell
them: TO say. There in 1898, our Ad-
miral Dewey beat the Spanish fleet.
There, the Kaisef, whom we helped
the Allies to beat, wanted to stop US
from beating Spain, and sent Ger
> man man-ofwar to make trouble for
Admiral Dewey. But England also
had a warship in Manila Bay. When
the German asked the English adml-
raj what he would do if the German
ship interfered between Admiral Dew
ey and the Spanish fleet, the English
admiral answered, That is a secret
known only to myself and Admiral
Dewey So the German minded his
h..s:.nrr nnd lnt nS alnnh and Adml-