But the natural scientists--the foresters, the physiographers, the
geologists--have within a very few years been making themselves heard in
warning. They have said that "the mountains of France, of Spain, and China
have been denuded of their forests in large measure so that the supply of
wood is inadequate to meet the needs of the people," [Footnote: C. R. Van
Hise, "Conservation of Natural Resources in the United States," p. 3.]
that "in Spain and Italy, though warm countries, the people suffer more
from the cold than in America because of insufficient fuel," [Footnote:
Van Hise, p. 2.] that "one-half of the people of the world go to bed
hungry," [Footnote: Van Hise, p. 3.] or at any rate insufficiently
nourished for the next day's work. But few listened to them except in the
hills and in the valleys of abandoned farms. France, Italy, Spain, China
were remote. The optimism fostered of new teeming acres and newly
discovered mines was heedless of the warning. It tore down barns and built
bigger, and it gave even more generously to the need of the hour and the
day.
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