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Show Ono pait or our country drowns while another bums. Is It not stiangc that we do so little to piovont calamities calam-ities which sweep away our propeitles and our lives? asks Collier's Weekly. Until the need becomes extreme, It Is difficult to procuie laws for the ge,u-eial ge,u-eial good when they conlllct with tlio desires or many Individuals. Much the same steps would leduce floods 'that would reduce thoughts, and consequently con-sequently flics. Foiests aie admitted-Ij admitted-Ij storers and distributor or dampness jet we, whoso country Is so much the piey or lire and flood, have foiestry ; laws far Inferior to the foiestiy laws of j many foielgn countiies. At the rate at which destruction now exceeds replacing, re-placing, the whole supply of forests, It is calculated, will disappear in another an-other generation. Whether tills estimate es-timate Is exaggerated or not, the fact that we destroy much and replace UN I tie Is undoubted. There Is a pressing ' need for a more vigorous and liberal policy. This Is the most permanent and important point to relteiatc', In connection with our present misfortunes, misfor-tunes, although theie are other Improvements Im-provements which ought to be well within our Ingenuity and our enterprise. enter-prise. Rcscrvohscould.apparently bo arranged to receive the surplus wateis In time offlood, with the additional advantage of releasing them In time of need. Much more stilngent regulations regu-lations along railway lines might diminish forest tires. Tlie private individual in-dividual whose abandoned cigar or bonllie staitsu conllagratlon Is be-jond be-jond the leach of practical contiol. ile will exist, and contlnuo to make the world pay heavily Jorhlsexlstencc, as long as the cihnlnal and ttamp one or which, Indeed, he often is. We cannotexpect Indlviduals.lumbor companies com-panies or lalhoads to glvo up their search for rapid wealth, or even their chcilshed Indolence, out of pure benevolence. be-nevolence. They will destroy forests for money, and sprinkle sparks fiom hrlncss, as long as such piactlces aie permitted. Tho duty of those or us who aie Intciestcd hi the national wcir.'iio Is to agitate until State and National legislation puts moio checks upon the general recklessness. Wo can never be safe fiom wanton na-tuie's na-tuie's ficaks, but, when we put our minds and wills to it wo can deciease her outbreaks and make her work-more work-more smoothly in man's sei vice. |
