Evening star., 1936-09-26
By Thomas r. Henry.

American.
4 Humanity Is q part Of
nature. 1t is inextricable from the
Infinitely complex pattern Of wind,
woodland, earthworm, ocean, ele-
phant, flea. hurricane, swamp, ty-
phoid bacillus, Rocky Mountains.
Extragalactic nebula and measles
virus interact.
There have been times, most no
tably during the last century, when
the human race seems completely to
have lost sight of this truism. Poli-
tician, preacher and man Of science
alike have spoken proudly OF "con-
quering nature" 1t was as ignorant
Q boast as that of the most benighted
primitive magician, who caused the
thunder by waving his wand. He
took care, of course, to shake his
medicine stick when the cloud artil-
lery was most likely to roar-and
thereby he gained q fearsome and
lucrative reputation.
Nature cannot be conquered-by
engineer, politician or flea. 1t is a
relentless foe, strong with the
strength of cyclones and crafty with
the parent guile Of which all other
craft is a diluted extraction. But
Nature Is kind friend, infinitely
cooperative and loyal If approached
on its own terms. 1t is the task Of
the diplomat to deal with it, not the
task of the warrior with drawn sword.
Take, for example, the sad case
of the continent of North America.
Three centuries ago it was handed
intact by Providence to the poor and
oppressed of crowded Europe. They
invaded its woodlands and prairies
in increasing hordes. There was
plenty for every one. But the in
vaders were hungry and insatiably
greedy. They came as conquerers.
with drawn swords. They fell upon
the green continent as looterS-not
as grateful suppliants for its bounty.
An irritated continent has started
to strike back with floods, droughts,
duststorms, epidemics, insect inva-
sions, erosion, crawling deserts. Thus
far the blows have been relatively
feeble, compared with what may be
expected in the future unless peace
Is made. But man has fed helpleSsly
before them. His fertile fields have
been transformed into sand dunes,
kicked into gullies, or afflicted with q
land anemia which has resulted In
starvation crops. His waterways
have been choked with silt, his green
forests changed into black wastes.
The worst blows were struck dramat-
ically when the people of the United
States were under attack from an
other quarter and staggering before
the assult-the worldwide economic
depression.
Nature has served warning. Man
must change his ways II he expects
to live happily, prosperously and pro-
gressively in North America for many
more generations. This Is the most
vital problem before the people OF
the United States. 1t transcends po-
litical differences. Here Republican
and Communist see eye to eye. 1t
transcends economic depressions and
revivals. These are, at the worst,
short t-cycle reflections Of mans rela-
fions to nature.
It is the story Of the crazy war
against the age-old natural balance
Of q continent which Stuart Chase
tells In "Rich Land, Poor Land" The
economist tells the story with epic
sweep and lyrical fervor. 1t has been
told before. For at least 20 years
the hard-working, obscure, objective
minded scientists Of the Department
Of Agriculture and the State UNIVERSE
ties have been trying to call the sit
uation to the attention Of the Ameri-
can people. Too often they have told
the story only in colorless, statistical
tables. Government and university
bulletins have had limited circulation
and have gone unread. Moreover, the
story has been told in bits and with
out cohesion. The Forestry Service,
the Biological Survey, the Reclama-
ton Service, the Bureau Of Public
Roads seem at times to have been
too busy with their own affairs to
read each others bulletins. Some OF
these reports which have been al
lowed to gather dust on library shelves
have been momentous documents
notably, such q one as the recent
range report Of the Forestry Service,
as epoch-making publication as ever
was issued from the Government
presses.
It has remained for Mr.. Chase to
dramatic and humanize the story as
. whole, to distill from the statistics
purple patches of lyrical beauty and
poignancy, to translate the graphs
OF the engineer into Installations Of
cloud-wrapped mountains, April woods
carpeted with anemones, little boys
fishing with bent pins in meadow
brooks. He has brought the somber.
Government reports to life. He has
co-ordinated them into living trag-
edy which will be read-and deserves
to be read Few books tend so health
lily to defiate American greed, self
satisfaction and arrogance.
Perhaps there are exaggerations.
Considering the importance Of con-
centrating public attention on the
problem, they may be considered JUS
tified. America is not yet a vast, fetid
dump. 1t remains land of inestima-
bic riches and beauty. It remains
q land which can support many mil
lions in relative luxury for an in
estimable time. Nature Is only irri-
tated as yet, not really mad. But, un-
less the warnings are needed, America
can become q vast, fstid dump in
very few generations. We stand at
the parting of the ways-scientific CO.
operation, greedy exploitation.
The book has q decided New Deal
tone. Mr.. Chase approves highly Of
such departures as that represented
BY the Tennessee Valley Authority and
BY the Civilian Conservation Corps.
This Is natural. It so happened that
the New Deal and natures most Wig
orous counter blows were contempor-
aneou. The names Of Roosevelt. Wa
lace, Tugwell, Morgan and score Of
others will 60 down in history inextric-
ably linked with the first major bat