what we should do. Coal is often dug in such a way that large quantities of it are left in the ground. Oil and natural gas are often allowed to escape without being used. When our resources are sold too cheaply, the purchaser is apt to waste them. They do him little good, while the community loses them forever. The Department of the Interior is studying all of these problems carefully; but it has too little support from our citizens who do not understand the difficulties which it must overcome.

302. Water Power. When oil, gas, and coal are wasted they are gone forever. It required thousands of years for them to form in the earth. The question of saving water power is of a different kind. We must save this from being taken up by private individuals and so held out of use or sold by them to the rest of us at unreasonable rates. On the other hand it is not wise to check private business men so severely that they will not use the water at all. One railroad in the West now runs its trains over the mountains by electricity. This can be generated by the use of water power. While we protect the public as fully as we can, the kind of men who will use our natural resources as wisely as this railroad company does must be encouraged with reasonable profits. Niagara Falls is a source of heat and light, which can be generated from its great water power. Part of it belongs to Canada, therefore our government must join with that of Canada in saving and using this great source of wealth. Wisdom lies between wastefulness and no use at all.

303. The Fertility of the Soil. Our supply of food depends on keeping the soil fertile. Its fertility depends on its containing certain chemicals in certain proportions. If these are exhausted or if floods carry off the soil, the

world loses the material from which our food and raw materials must come just as it loses minerals when they are wastefully mined. We have seen that the State governments do much work to save the resources of the soil; but the government of the Union can help the States. We have at Washington a Department of Agriculture the main work of which is to keep the soil fertile and to help the farmers of the country to do their work wisely. It maintains in each State an experiment station where scientists examine soil and advise farmers what crops to plant if they wish to improve it and make it most productive. These stations work together, and so are able to divide up their task. Some of them do one sort of experimenting and others another sort. They also find out what is being done in other countries and the information which they collect is sent broadcast to the farmers all over the country and greatly appreciated by them.

304. Fisheries. An important source of food is the fish of the sea. The salmon lives in the ocean, but it comes into the lakes to lay its eggs and hatch its young. It enters the rivers by tens of thousands and can easily be caught as it tries to get to the places where it spawns. If we are wasteful in killing the fish as it comes in, we may exhaust the supply. It is natural for fishermen to want to catch as many as possible and to get rich doing so; and they are willing to let the next generation take care of itself. We cannot blame them much, but we must help our government to save the fish by making laws to prevent its total destruction. The seal is something like a fish in its habits; and it supplies one of our most valuable furs. Yet private business men caused these animals to be killed at the places to which they come to rear their young until few were left.

It has been necessary for our government to join with those of other countries to save the seals and yet to allow enough of them killed to give us fur.

305. Animal Life. The wild animal life of the country has not such practical importance, but we do not like to see it disappear. The buffalo, the deer, and many other interesting animals may be preserved and forest lands saved at the same time if we set aside great national parks such as the one on the Yellowstone. Single States cannot afford to do this; but if all of us coöperate through the government of the United States we can do it at but small cost to each citizen; and all of us can at some time in our lives visit these parks and get the benefit of our coöperation. All that is needed is to see that our government is wisely administered so that this part of our resources is not wasted.

306. Education. We shall see later that one means of doing all of this work is to educate the people to understand it. The citizen is so busy making a living and enjoying himself as he should, that he is likely to forget his duty to future generations.

SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS

1. Take an outline map of the United States and mark on it the regions in which the waters of the Mississippi River gather. Do forests need to be conserved in these regions? Why? Is it likely that States will do this conserving without uniting under one government?

2. Mark on your map regions in which floods occur in this river system. Is it profitable for the United States government to spend money in preventing these floods by dams at the heads of the rivers and in other ways? What resources are saved if we prevent floods?

3. Mark on your map where water power is available. For this power to be useful it must be available throughout the year. How can the government of the United States aid in making the power thus constant?

4. Mark on your map where great forests are the most economical use of the land, partly because they are needed for the rivers and partly because the land is not useful for agriculture. Write to the Department of the Interior in Washington (this is a sufficient address) and ask for a pamphlet on saving the forests.

5. Mark on your map where large numbers of salmon are caught, as on the Columbia River. Try to find out what the government can do to prevent the supply of salmon from being wasted.

6. Mark on your map where natural gas and oil are to be found. Why is it necessary for the government of the United States to make some laws about the use of these resources?

7. Mark on your map where we have created great national parks. Of what use are these parks? Make a list of wild animals which you would like to preserve from extinction. Do you think it worth while for the government to make beautiful scenery available for the people who cannot own great estates?

8. Get in touch with a practical farmer and ask him what the National Department of Agriculture does to help him in his work. What does it do for the fruit grower? How does it aid the cattleman to improve the breed of cattle? What does it do for the breeder of hogs?

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9. Get some one to explain to you what the following expression means: 'We are the trustees for future generations." A father and mother often work hard for many years to bequeath a good farm to their son. If we are one great family, how much should we be willing to do to make our farm called the United States a productive and wisely managed farm for the next generation?

10. Write to the Department of Agriculture in Washington for a pamphlet on making the soil fertile. They will gladly send it without any charge. When you read it ask yourself whether expert civil servants are needed for this work.

CHAPTER XXXII

BUSINESS IN THE UNION

307. Large Scale Business. In chapter twenty-five we discussed how the State government aids business. But we have also seen that most of the things we use come from other States or even from other countries. Business corporations reach out over the whole continent. Therefore, if we are going to give the best aid to business we must do it through a government which extends as far as business does. Such a government is that of the United States. The western farmer must get capital by borrowing money in the eastern States. The eastern manufacturer must get his raw material such as wool, cotton, leather, wood, steel, wheat, and so on from States in other sections. He must ship his goods back again to the western and southern States. Our railroads have united into great systems which reach out through the whole country. If we control them we must do it by means of a government extending over all of the country. Therefore the work of aiding and controlling business is largely the duty of the United States officers. We must have a legislature to make laws for the whole country; and its members must come from all parts of the country so that they will understand their duties. When we write our constitution we must provide for this sort of law-making for the whole Union.

308. Interstate Commerce. One of the difficulties that Washington and our other leaders had in getting the