ment in the
varied interests involved. Humane motives and a desire to prevent the
further restriction of a not too varied fauna have helped, also, to
save certain species from extinction. On the other hand, in some
states commercial interests are involved, as where large quantities of
birds are taken for their plumage.

Some attempts have been made to introduce foreign species, as the
Japanese pheasant. It is, however, with fish that the most has been
accomplished in replenishment. The federal government and several of
the states have been active in regularly restocking, each season,
certain streams with "fry" of edible and game fish.

Information concerning the open season can be obtained from the proper
state officer. The fish and game laws are usually under the control of
a commission with a secretary as the executive officer.

CHAPTER XXII

RURAL FORCES

The United States is a vast domain. Its material resources are
enormous. Its fertile and easily tilled soil, its magnificent forests,
its great stores of ore, coal, oil and gas; its fine water-power sites
and its temperate and healthful climate have all contributed to the
making of a prosperous and progressive nation. Without these natural
resources the United States could not be what it is.

The waste of some of these resources is almost beyond belief. In
mining, one-half the anthracite and one-third the soft coal is left in
the ground in such a manner that it may never be economically
recovered. A ton of coal will produce 1,400 pounds of coke, worth
$1.50, and 20 pounds of sulphate of ammonia, worth 50 cents. If all
the nitrogen in coal which is turned into coke in Pennsylvania were
recovered, it would furnish enough of this element to supply the needs
of every acre of tillable soil in that state. Only about 44% of the
wood in the trees now harvested in the United States is incorporated
into buildings, apparatus and furniture. The rest is wasted in the
process of cutting, sawing and manufacturing into the finished
products.

Facts like these have led the nation to realize that the conservation
of our natural resources is an immediate and pressing problem. The
United States has, however, a greater inheritance than these great and
beneficent gifts of nature and a more fundamental problem than the
preservation and efficient use of them. In a single sentence, the
greatest inheritance of the Ame