Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/178

 task, for without a state debt the burdens are so heavy upon the tax-bearer that it is difficult to convince him of the wisdom of investing for the future. The ordinary settler who has a hard time cutting out a little home for himself in the new regions of the state is indignant at the thought of the state taxing him to preserve the forests. However, the total funds for this department now approximate $125,000 for the forestry department and the beginnings of a system of fire wardens and fire protection throughout the state. In spite of all opposition and considering all the circumstances, no state has made a greater advance in this line. So great indeed has been its progress that the United States government recently established on university land a forest products laboratory for the testing of wood products, an evident appreciation of what has been accomplished.

Conservation and educational development must be considered together. The schools and the university coöperate in this development and in the education and experimentation which lead to a sound public opinion on these matters. In the debates occasioned by the good roads bill, the university extension department sent out special debating material on every phase of the question. After a struggle reaching over many years, the bill was finally passed in the 1911 session in a form which will not allow petty sensational politicians