Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-05-20
A Sermon by Rev. Skidmore.


Sometimes we ministers grow
weary of being asked to observe
special Sundays. feeling that we
are kept from tasks more impor-
tant. Not so do feel with regard
to the problem of Conservation;
for it is itself a part Of the prob
lem Of the church. In fact, con-
servation and salvation, when APP
piled to the individual and to SOC
iety are interchangeable terms.
Both are a protest against waste
and misuse; both are a substitu
tion Of the long view for the short
in human affairs. The short
sighted and reckless spender recks
only Of the moments pleasure, the
hours profit, the days gratified
ambition. The conserver beholds
generations pleasure, 4 century's
profit, the realization Of an ages
ambition.
Conservation is thrift, but more
than saving, more than boarding.
The holder Of one talent, in Jesus
parable, was criticized severely for
boarding it uselessly instead Of
placing it out at interest. Conser-
walton Of Waterpower calls for it's
use in place Of the fragrant waste
involved in it's non-use in our day.
To let valuable timber rot and fall,
to become a fire hazard to all adj
jacent timber, is boarding, not con
servation. An intelligent use of
valuable timber cuts the matured
wood, cherishes and protects the
new growth.
Not in forestry alone, but con
spicuously in the handling Of her
forest resources, our country has
been guilty Of reckless waste.
Stretch your imagination to the ut
most and conceive if you can what
a fearful waste Of our American
forests was practised to provide a
chance for a few scattered pio-
neers to earn a livelihood from the
soil. Logs Of priceless value to our
generation were heaped up in piles
and burned by our fathers, that
the precious humus they had built
up might be as recklessly wasted
by a spendthrift cultivation of the
soil cleared in such manner. |
spent seven years in Sheboygan
county, famous for it's dairy cattle,
and beheld farms brought back by
long years Of patient cherishing to
somewhat their primeval fertility.
But in the western part of that
same prosperous county | beheld
many square miles of barren hills
denuded of their timber by early
settlers to make farms, and de-
serted because utterly valueless for
farm purposes. The crime was
done, in mems ignorance and greed,
and no atonement made. But the
harm did not cease when the last
great tree fell beneath the settlers
axe. Today the prosperous farms
Of Sheboygan cOuny suffer because
the streams that take their rise in
those hills rush down in torrents to
work damage that would not have
been committed had the waters
been held back by the restraining
woods. And in midsummer, when
most their nourishing waters are
needed, their beds became vacant
and sterile-a part of the cost of
those blazing piles Of timber fifty
years ago. Moreover, rains become
less dependable and weather con-
ditions more quiXotic because the
woods have vanished from those
hillsides. Nay more, insect scourges
assault the mighty fields of luxur-
liant grain, fields left unprotected
when our fathers slew the trees
that harbored birds-the creatures
that with sun and rain and fertile
soil are Gods greatest gifts to the
farmer and fruit grower.
1t were carrying Goals to New
castle for me to try to picture to
you who know the facts so much
better than | the awful waste that
accompanied the earlier numbering
operations in all this region. The
sole thought seems to have been
for immediate profit, with scantest
concern for the interests Of the fu-
ture, and for the needs of those
who were to follow after. And to-
day we are beginning to talk of re-
planting the worthless barrens
which now with intelligent and
thrifty use, might have been COW
cred with a luXuriant growth of
splendid young trees. In speaking
before the Milwaukee Chapter of
the Izaak Walton League last Mon
day night +. A. Sherman, associate
forester of the United States advO-