e more water that can be held back in the mountains of the West for
summer use, the more prosperous the farmers are. There is nothing that
helps to hold the water better than the forests. They help to equalize
the flow of the streams so that the floods are not so high in the spring
nor the water so low in the summer as they would be if there were no
forests.

One of the first questions asked by a man who is thinking of buying a
farm is about the water supply. He wants to know whether there are
wells, springs, or living streams on the place. Almost everything
depends upon the water supply. If there is an abundance, the farmer is
likely to be prosperous. When he is prosperous all the rest of us are
prosperous, no matter what our business is.

Are you not ready now to say that the Swiss are right in not permitting
tree cutting upon any land except under the supervision of a forester?
The careless removal of the forests from the mountain slopes may affect
the farmer in the valley fifty miles away. Do you not think that this
farmer is very much interested in the management of the forest, although
he does not own a foot of it?

Trouble always follows the destruction of the forests on the headwaters
of the streams.

CHAPTER TWENTY

HOW OUR GOVERNMENT IS HELPING TO SAVE THE FORESTS

As long as the forest shall live,
The streams shall flow onward, still singing
Sweet songs of the woodland, and bringing
The bright, living waters that give
New life to all mortals who thirst.
But the races of men shall be cursed.

Yea, the hour of destruction shall come
To the children of men in that day
When the forest shall pass away;
When the low woodland voices are dumb;
And death's devastation and dearth
Shall be spread o'er the face of the earth.

Avenging the death of the wood,
The turbulent streams shall outpour
Their vials of wrath, and no more
Shall their banks hold back the high flood,
Which shall rush o'er the harvests of men;
As swiftly receding again.

Lo! after the flood shall be dearth,
And the rain no longer shall fall
On the parching fields; and a pall,
As of ashes, shall cover the earth;
And dust-clouds shall darken the sky;
And the deep water wells shall be dry.

And the rivers shall sink in the ground,
And every man cover his mouth
From the thickening dust, in that drouth;
Fierce famine shall