The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-04-13
M.

GONE people think that we have left the age
- of timber and that trees are worth consid~
ering only for the shade and pleasure they
afford. To such people, President Roosevelt's
plan to plant and preserve forests is just one
more relief scheme.
They can not conceive it as opening up new
channels of effort, much less as Of great eco
nomic Importance. Because it promises no
returns in a week, a month, or a year. they
look upon it in the light of a makeshift to
provide work without interfering with Ordi
nary business
My own idea is that President Roosevelt
has something bigger in mind and that he is
working toward an end which we'll may alter
some of the present-day conceptions of what
constitutes civilized life.
Too many of us have come to regard civil
lied life as bound up with skyscrapers, electric
lights, gold courses, contract bridge tourna
mentS, broadcaSting stations and similarly
artificial institutions.
We tolerate farming and like to look at
trees, but we co not take either seriously. They
do not belong to that rarefied upper stratum
of Intellectually which makes the wheels go
round, especially in our heads. We consider
about everything beyond the shadow Of a
forty-Story building or the red glare Of neon
signs as seIni-barbaric, if not obsolete.
We look for the day when nitrogen will be
served in pellets, instead of beefsteak, and
thetic fruit juices will have obviated the neces-
sity of worrying about dairymens strikes or
the price Of cattle on the hoof.
EMANCIPATION from the land is one of
L. of those dreams which have plagued hu-
mainly since the beginning of time. From
Babylon to New York, cities have been over
built by people who wanted to get away from
the ak, the noe and the pillow, with desert and
jungle creeping forward to prove their folly.
Care OF the land serves a larger purpose
than to provide vegetables, a supply of wood
or building material
Forests enter into the economic balance of
nature by which rivers, climate. and animal
life are stabilized. Even if we never needed
another stick Of timber, it would be unsafe to
neglect our forests.
We must have their seepage and drainage
as means Of flood control, as well as to safe
guard our underground water. we must have
the protection which they afford songbirds as
means OF destroying insect pests.
Above all else we must have their educa-
tional advantages for the sake Of our children,
and We should make use of their recreational
advantages for our own sake.
THE people Of this country could get lot
l. out Of their forests and wild land if they
only knew it. and if the right kind of public
policy were pursued. There is no reason why
the average family should not have vacation
in the woods"
There is no reason why the majority Of our
children should not be permitted to live in the
open for q large part of the summer. 1t all
could be done at very little expense, with the
right kind Of arrangements
With forest preserves in every state, as
there should be, no one would be very far
from camp site at nominal cost, and with the
right kind Of roads few would be unable TO
bear the expense of getting there
We have had city parks long enough to
realize their value. What we need now is
great, comprehensive system of country parks.