THE FIGHT FOR CONSERVATION By GIFFORD PINCHOT 1910 CONTENTS Introduction I. Prosperity II. Home-building for the Nation III. Better Times on the Farm IV. Principles of Conservation V. Waterways VI. Business VII. The Moral Issue VIII. Public Spirit IX. The Children X. An Equal Chance XI. The New Patriotism XII. The Present Battle Index INTRODUCTION The following discussion of the conservation problem is not a systematic treatise upon the subject. Some of the matter has been published previously in magazines, and some is condensed and rearranged from addresses made before conservation conventions and other organizations within the past two years. While not arranged chronologically, yet the articles here grouped may serve to show the rapid, virile evolution of the campaign for conservation of the nation's resources. I am indebted to the courtesy of the editors of _The World's Work, The Outlook_, and of _American Industries_ for the use of matter first contributed to these magazines. THE FIGHT FOR CONSERVATION CHAPTER I PROSPERITY The most prosperous nation of to-day is the United States. Our unexampled wealth and well-being are directly due to the superb natural resources of our country, and to the use which has been made of them by our citizens, both in the present and in the past. We are prosperous because our forefathers bequeathed to us a land of marvellous resources still unexhausted. Shall we conserve those resources, and in our turn transmit them, still unexhausted, to our descendants? Unless we do, those who come after us will have to pay the price of misery, degradation, and failure for the progress and prosperity of our day. When the natural resources of any nation become exhausted, disaster and decay in every department of national life follow as a matter of course. Therefore the conservation of natural resources is the basis, and the only permanent basis, of national success. There are other conditions, but this one lies at the foundation.