The value of these other things often remains
unrecognised till too late. For instance, reckless railways burn forests
which ensure a constant flow of water for irrigation, navigation, power
plant, and fish, besides providing wood for timber and shelter for bird
and beast. The presence of a construction gang generally means the
needless extermination of every animal in the neighbourhood. The
presence of mills means the needless absence of fish. And the presence
of ill-governed cities means the needless and deadly pollution of water
that never was meant for a sewer. The idea is the same in each
disgraceful case. It is, simply, to snatch whatever is most coveted for
the moment, with least trouble to one's self, and at no matter what
expense to Nature and the future of man. The cant phrase is only too
well known--"Lots more where that came from". Exploitation is destroying
now what civilisation will long to restore hereafter. This is lamentably
true about material things. It is truer still about the higher than
material things. And it is truest of all about both the material and
higher values of wild life, which we administer as if we were the final
spendthrift heirs and not trustees.
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