Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/57

Rh we cannot forcibly enough impress upon the American people the necessity of speedy measures looking to the preservation of our mountain forests which, when once destroyed, cannot be renewed. Unless this be done in time, our children will curse the almost criminal improvidence of their ancestors; but if it is done in time, those who are instrumental in doing it will deserve and will have the blessings of future generations.

To bring up the public opinion of this country to the point where it will command such measures, a vigorous and unceasing agitation is required. I do not underestimate the difficulties it will have to overcome. It is the shortsighted greed which acts upon the rule to grab all that can be got at the moment, and “let the devil take the hindmost,” not stopping to consider that he who does so may be among the hindmost himself, and that in this case his children certainly will be. It is that spirit of levity, so prevalent among our people, which teaches to eat and drink and be merry to-day, unmindful of the reckoning that will come to-morrow. It is the cowardice of the small politician who, instead of studying the best interests of the people, trembles lest doing his full duty may cost him a vote, and who is not seldom apt to fear the resentment of the thieves more than that of honest men.

Such influences you will have to overcome, but you will meet them in the future as bravely as you have met them in the past, and may a speedy and complete triumph crown your patriotic efforts. 

 &emsp;

Pardon me for not answering your letter of the 18th inst. more promptly. I wished, before doing so, to refresh my own memory by looking over the record. 