SOIL EROSION. Back of much of the present-day grief is greed. Thought- lessness, though, and lack of understanding have played even larger parts in the loss of our soil upon which we, as a people, must depend. Far be it from me to censure the pioneer who, with his family, went west with axe, rifle, and Bible, all of which he used, and enduring hardships, made clearings in the forest or broke the dense prairie sod. Without these hardy spirits, there would be no Middle West as we know it today, no Mississippi Valley bread basket and meat market upon which the cities of the East largely depend. Nature is kindly and tolerant, but will permit abuse and excuse man's mistakes only so far. The time comes and come it has here in our United States, when the tables are turned. There is no longer free land for farming. The day is gone when one who has mined or robbed the soil can get in his covered wagon, call his dog, and move on to another 160 acres. Droughts and dust storms do not just happen. In part they are man made. In too many places plows have replaced cows. Neither the man nor his son, nor his grandson who, in the districts of scant rainfall, destroyed the grass, can now put it back. Eventually, let us hope, through an acknowledg- ment of the mistakes that have been made and a better under- standing of the remedies within reach, and by working with nature a part of the damage may be corrected.