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Harold A. Innis

Geographical Review, Vol. 28, No. 1, Jan. 1938

The spate of literature^[1] on conservation in the United States issuing from federal departments and from publishing houses and written by authors or groups of authors ranging from the expert to the popularizer is a reflection of the growth of nationalism^[2] during the depression. The attractive appearance of much of the material has been a result of improved technique of communication and more efficient propaganda. “The Plough That Broke the Plains” is a significant motion picture. Apologists have written of the interest in conservation as part of a long-run secular trend, in which natural resources have been depleted, that has been accentuated by the effects of the war and the depression; but it has emerged during a period in which resources are being utilized far less than during the preceding boom of the twenties, when the interest in conservation was slight. An extensive governmental program of “recovery” included a large-scale construction of public works^[3] for the employment of labor and price-raising policies of a far-reaching character. All this has involved research, publication, and propaganda; and limitations of time have precluded a thorough and extended analysis of the implications in spite of the government’s enlistment of the resources of educational institutions. An intensely critical review of this literature would be unfair. The publications that have the authority of expert opinion are on the whole justifiably guarded in their conclusions, and those that do not have such authority are dogmatic enough to warrant skepticism on the part of even the casual reader. Moreover, as this is part of a nationalistic trend during the depression linked with protection, monetary policy, and other devices, it would perhaps not be a neighborly act to indulge in obvious criticism of this literature. The difficulties of reaching agreement on international conservation measures such as the St. Lawrence waterway, the Pacific-coast salmon fisheries, and the ever present Trail smelter compensation suggest that Canada is not less nationalistic than the United States, the Migratory Birds Convention Act, scientific research on the fisheries, the halibut treaty, and the work of the International Joint Commission notwithstanding.

The fundamental criticism is the lack of a philosophy. Take, for example, “Our Natural Resources and Their Conservation,” a symposium by 22 geographers, a useful volume that should find its way into every college library. An economist can find enlightenment on numerous points in its various informative articles; but the whole question of conservation is begged by its definition as “wise use.”^[4] Attempts to answer the question are implied in the sane discussion of irrigation and of transportation as regards expenditures on railways and waterways and also in Dr. O. E. Baker’s article on the importance of family life and the philosophical outlook of rural life, but even this is a matter of faith. The issue of “scant means in relation to given ends” has been largely avoided.

We are compelled to inquire about the preconceptions of conservation. Is the enlistment of the state in the interest of “conservation” in the interests of a bureaucracy, of publishing houses and paper plants, of authors, or of “the people”? Is it in the interest of modern industrialism, to support it beyond the limits of private capitalism by direct contribution to large undertakings or by securing a more rapid transfer of funds to consumers? What is a “better” standard of living? Does the conception arise from changes in the kind of goods consumed, i.e. “progress” that follows from a change in technique, with all its accompaniment of waste through obsolescence? Does the technique change as a result of relative accessibility of natural resources, of consumers’ demands (or are these changed by advertising?), or of the advance of invention through trial and error or subsidized and unsubsidized scientific research? When does a product become or cease to be a natural resource under changing conditions of technique? Are the “ends” determined by industrialism, and does the character of the “means” change with industrialism?

It is this conspicuous absence of a philosophical approach to conservation that makes the task of a reviewer in raising questions comparatively simple and the task of answering them extremely difficult. Reforestation has perhaps been the object of attention^[5] on the part of conservationists for a longer period than most subjects and has had the advantage of extensive practice by older civilizations. The bulkiness of the commodity and high costs of transportation and substantial state control have stimulated an interest in the planting of trees and the care of forests in denuded areas adjacent to large metropolitan markets. The widespread production and the demands of construction industries, on the other hand, have exposed it to wide fluctuations in price as a result of the business cycle, improvements in transportation and technology, and competition from metal products. In North America agriculture displaced hardwood forests, with great loss of trees, but agricultural products rather than hardwoods were adaptable to prevailing transportation facilities. White pine was exhausted and was followed by spruce and balsam and other trees, and paper products displaced lumber for package material. The opening of the Panama Canal brought competition to Eastern forests from the Pacific coast. Southern pine and the radio threaten to reduce the demands for Canadian spruce and northern paper mills. Governments may support education, scientific investigation, and improved ways for transportation such as the Panama Canal at the expense of government expenditure to support reforestation.

Agricultural development has been fostered by governments through encouragement to railways and land policy. Land has been occupied during a period of improved methods of production, high prices, and heavy rainfall, and then farmers have been forced to meet the effects of intensive cultivation, low prices, and drought. Should the government support removal of farmers and abandonment of farms and equipment, or should it engage in large-scale public works of irrigation and maintain farmers on relief pending a return of a period of heavier rainfall and higher prices? What are the implications to wheat-producing regions in a similar situation in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere and to relief problems in urban centers of migration from rural areas? The policy adopted may depend on short-run problems of public finance, on long-run intangibles such as the belief in the importance of maintaining a stable rural population,^[6] and on such factors as the decline in consumption of wheat.

The fishing industry^[7] of the North Atlantic expanded rapidly with the governmental support of bounties and duties and encouragement to steamships and trawlers, thus contributing to the circumstances under which fishing villages of France, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New England based on the wooden sailing vessel have faced migration and conditions of extreme poverty such as brought about the disappearance of responsible government in Newfoundland and St. Pierre. In the latter case the difficulties were added to by the abolition of prohibition as a recovery measure in the United States.

Mining^[8] has been greatly affected by monetary policy during the depression. Abandoned plants and towns have been reoccupied on a vast scale and new deposits developed as a result of the increase in the price of gold. Higher prices of other metals have had similar but less conspicuous results. Conservation has been important for labor and capital equipment, and higher prices and lower costs resulting from improved transportation and technology accentuate the rate of exhaustion and depletion on the one hand and facilitate the mining of lower-grade ores on the other hand. The extreme difficulty of accurate appraisal of resources and the dominance of private enterprise in exploitation make an estimate of the influence of governmental policy impossible except in very general terms. How far does extensive hydroelectric-power development with governmental support involve a reduction in the demand for coal and aggravate the complicated problems of the coal-mining industry? The crucial position of the mining industry in modern industrialism has been evident in attempts to increase production in the heavy industries by public works, armaments, and housing projects. The widely scattered locations of the diverse minerals demanded by modern industrialism have led to demands of highly industrialized nations for control over resources beyond their boundaries.

The place of the state in the development of conservation policies is largely a reflection of the demands of modern industrialism. Should the state withhold natural resources from private enterprise and thereby increase the prices of commodities, as has been charged in the case of Alaska?^[9] Should it encourage increased production by stimulating invention and thereby endeavor to maintain the essentially dynamic character of modern industrial society? Emphasis on large-scale public works involves rigidities of location of industry and labor. In any case, has the state any alternative other than to meet the demands of industrialism as expressed through “standards of living”?^[10] Migration to urban centers contributes to declining birth rate and to stability and possibly decline of population. Should this be the aim of the state? The drive of modern technology with the modern pecuniary economy involves exhaustion of natural resources and getting on to something else. Depletion of pulpwood enables hydroelectric-power to be turned from paper plants to other industries in the interests of “progress” and “higher standards of living.” The problems of conservation are concerned with restricting technology as well as with improving it and utilizing it to capacity.

All this is not to question the importance of the conservation movement but rather to suggest the conflicting elements that enter into it and to inquire into the causes of its development as a phase of nationalism. There is little room for philosophical inquiry when the waste of resources includes extensive publication and discussion of conservation.

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.

Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors occur.

A cover which is placed in the public domain was created for this ebook.

[The end of The Economics of Conservation by Harold Adams Innis]