The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1943-02-05
Mr. Egley: What is your opinion on
that?
Sincerely yours,
FRED AFTER.
CONSERVATION

our God-given inheritance.
, To the writer, the surprising thing
, is the fact that most of our legis-
: lators hail from the COW and farm
counties where conservation of land
, should be the all important thought
Yet our legislators. travel through
valley and dales apparently callous to
the thought of their destruction by the
hungry NAV of the dredging machine.
Or do they see? Have they eyes and
see not? What is every body's bust
ness, usually is nobody's business.
i 1t is against the law to destroy
money of the realm, or to disfigure
it in any manner-this law should ap-
ply also to the use of lands; moneys
of the realm can be reproduced when
needed but lands destroyed, never.
Providence decreed that land Gre
ated before man for his use - not
abuse, has its purpose not perish
Yet we see hills tand wales that few
years ago were waving with luscious
grass that would have provided excel
lent range for cattle for hundreds of
years, with due care, now rendered
worthless; overgrown with weeds and
scrub sage, Russian thistle and that
adominable foxtail, through the indif-
ference of the users. Uplands made
barren by the folly of sheep grazing.
In the memory of many our once
fertile wheat lands were harvesting
60 to 70 bushels per acre. Now these
same lands are producing but to 20,
due solely to their abuse. Like the
once great valley of Nile, the once
prolific home of some forty millions,
rendered a barren waste, the habi-
tants persisted with their soil. There
may be some question under our laws
as the right of the tenant owner to
do as he pleases with the land in his |
title In-Fee; then if and so, the law
should be amended. Like moneys of
the realm, should be protected to the
benefit of posterity.
1t being agreed that hay, grain and
gold are essential to the welfare of
the commonwealth, then let us evolve
plan by which we can harvest the
gold, and leave the land in condition
to contiue to function again as fertile
forever after
All that is necessary to accomplish
this is to drop the stones back on
the hardpan or bedrock, leveling them
off, then sluice the soil back over the
rocks. This salvage process may add
a little to the cost, but if the profits
will not compensate for this extra
for Gods sake, and for
the realms sake, leave the land in
its native state. Gold, has an honor .
able use amongst peoples and nations,
but productive soil is more precious.
Left to the elements, a millions :
years will not suffice to restore this !,
land back to it's productive state
most rocks are impervious to the ma !,
tural elements. The few dollars that
is trivial compared with the everlast-
ing destruction. .
Sixty-odd years ago the writer, then u
! youth in his tens, swung grain n
cradle in kingly wheat and scythe in f.
sweet scented hay a babbling brook G
,oursing through this little farm. A a
sturdy farmer capable wife with U
i've rougish youngsters that added ..
nerriment and song to that of the
brook fringed by willow and poplars
With bird heaven of warblers, COM =
ortable home, barn, pastures, fields
enced, horses and cattle grazing on r,
he green and a mountain brook :,
oh, M
were his Could the =
leart desire more?
Nothing but another Glacial period, %
would suffice to restore these lost
ands to their former productivity, '
kept by man or another Glacial age.
mother Glacial period is not in the
laking, the reason is that the last
oil and rocks away from the Arctic NJ
,e mountains miles high carried the ~
ircle leaving deep sea in their stead. ~
his means that these icebergs are ~ ~
loving out into the Atlantic about "
s fast as they are being formed.
biologists, tell us of it least three
efinite ice periods, each presumably -
sting from three hundred thousands ~
, one million years, are read definite
as reading book.
A few years ago the writer rode Oh
lie paved highway skirting the little III
alley that once held in it's cradle the re
of the prosperous farmers ne
erein referred to. Gone was the ye
rmer and family that was once err
lrt of the homelife and spiritual tn
of the nation. Gone are Jo
e potential assets on which taxes So
e levied for the support of institu- mi
ms necessary for the common good. the
The brook Gods grandest gift to Inc
atch the fertile fields, now flows
rough barren land, it's waters ma
lsted like the life of the virgin who owe
Id her soul for a pittanee, then the
rished in her folly. vol
And there remains until Judgment Ho
y, the bleaching rocks, like skull bee
d bones, emblems of death The ms
wwing crows wing and loll over a Mil
vaged Mother Earth. But what's the
business is nobody's bust VIII
SIS. bee
A. L. HOUSTON. MID
Galen, Mont, Jan. 5, 1941 WI.
ar Editor of Peoples Voice: '"l
rhe above article was mailed to a anu
mber of Montana's 1941 legislature, y.
it went unnoticed. l am mailing CHI
other copy to the Honorable Speak Gun
today all
7ou aro 81 1ihor+v 70 usa +bis If whs
.La ary