Publications of the Geological Survey, the Bureau of Mines, and the Reclamation Service (all in the Department of the Interior), and of the Bureau of Fisheries (Department of Commerce).

Publications of the Forestry Service (Department of Agriculture).

Among the numerous publications of the Department of Agriculture may be mentioned: 

Farmers’ Bulletin 340(Declaration of Governors for the conservation of natural resources).

The National Forests and the farmer, year book 1914, 65-88.

Importance of developing our natural resources of potash, year book 1916, pp. 301-310.

Agriculture and Government reclamation projects, year book 1916, 177-198.

Farms, forests, and erosion, year book 1916, 107-134.

The farm woodlot problem, year book 1914, 439-456.

Economy of farm drainage, year book 1914, 245-256.

Economic waste from soil erosion, year book 1913, 207-220.

Unprofitable acres, year book 1915, 147-154.

Consult “Guide to United States Government Publications,” U.S. 
Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1918, No. 2; also, “The Federal
Executive Departments as Sources of Information,” U.S.  Bureau of
Education Bulletin, 1919, No. 74.

Report of the National Conservation Commission (1909), Senate
Document 676, 60th Congress, 2nd Session.

CHAPTER XVI

PROTECTION OF PROPERTY AND PROPERTY RIGHTS

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY

There is nothing more discouraging than to have the product of one’s labor swept away by disaster.  The farmer who has every prospect of a bumper crop after a hard season’s work may have his hope dashed by smut in his grain, or by a visitation of grasshoppers, or by storm and flood.  Cholera may carry off his hogs, or hoof-and-mouth disease his cattle.  Rats and other rodents may eat his grain.  Fire may destroy his barn or his home.  The thief may steal his pocketbook or his automobile.  His investments may prove unfortunate, or be swept away by somebody’s bad management or fraud.  Some thoughtless boys or deliberate vandals may ruin in a few minutes a beautiful lawn or trees that have taken years to grow and have involved great expense and effort.

THE NATIONAL LOSS FROM PROPERTY DESTRUCTION

The individual’s loss is also a loss to the community.  It is reported by the Department of Agriculture that nearly $800,000,000 damage was done to crops by insects in a single year.  Animal diseases cause a direct loss to our country estimated at $212,000,000 annually.  Hog cholera alone costs $75,000,000 a year.  Smut destroys more than $50,000,000 a year in cereals.  Food and feed products to the value of $150,000,000 a year are destroyed by prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and other rodents.  It is said that prairie dogs often take half the pasturage of western cattle ranges.  It is estimated that the killing of wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, and lynxes saved more than $2,000,000 worth of livestock in 1918.  Floods have destroyed $100,000,000 in property in the Mississippi Valley alone.