Wake Up! Vancouver

Before launching into the subject of my address to you this evening, I desire to make one or two points clear, in order to prevent possible misunderstanding or misinterpretation of my motive in selecting this subject.

In the first place this is not to be regarded as a lecture by a member of the University Faculty. I am addressing you as President of one of the principal Natural History Societies of Canada; and being your President, I have the honour to be your spokesman and, I hope, voice the opinions of my fellow members.

In the second place, our Society exists for encouraging true citizenship in the highest sense, working together for mutual benefit to each other, and seeking to aid any movement that is for the betterment of the community or that will make our City a better and more beautiful place for those who come after us; therefore, if we see signs of approaching calamity which will mar or ruin the future prosperity of our City, and if we do not point out the danger to our fellow citizens we would be guilty of criminal negligence.

Thirdly, I wish to avoid “throwing a scare" into the City, yet I desire to comply with the constitution of this Society in disseminating a knowledge of things as the naturalist sees them, and help to educate people to see and understand the natural laws by which we and all other living creatures are governed. Natural laws are God’s laws, and the sooner we see and recognize them as such, the better it will be for all concerned. The laws of our city or country are man made laws, and may be repealed or altered to conform with natural laws; all down the ages, history is dotted with the fall of cities and countries whose people, through ignorance or defiance, failed to observe natural laws.

It serves no useful purpose for any one to attack our civic, provincial, or dominion law makers. They are simply the reflection of the people; we elected them, and if the rank and file of the population is right, then our representatives must be right. If we find fault with our representatives, we are simply admitting that we acted wrongly in choosing them and the next election may give an opportunity of correcting our mistakes before irreparable damage is done.

In my early days, I had the advantage of a good, old-fashioned Scotch religious training; I have often felt thankful for it. It has helped me to see in modern life, parallels to biblical incidents, and I hope you will bear with me while I discuss one of those parallels with you tonight.

As I began my address with firstly, secondly, and thirdly in true sermon style, perhaps I should select a text, but I will proceed with caution, in case I might carry the idea right through and take up a collection. Nevertheless, the real topic of my address, “The Conservation of Plant Life,” brought to my mind the story of the feast of Belshazzar, the King of the Chaldeans, as recorded in the 5th Chapter of the Book of Daniel. Where it says, “They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” Then you’ll remember the story, a hand appeared on the wall of the palace and inscribed the words “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” which in modern language may be interpreted, “God has taken stock of all you have done, ‘Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.’” That same night, Belshazzar was slain. Wake up! Vancouver; see the hand writing on the wall. Wake up! Lest thou art weighed in the balance and art found wanting.

Let me, by introductory illustrations, show that what has happened in other cities and countries will be repeated here – perhaps sooner that we expect – if we fail to observe and correctly interpret the “Writing on the wall."

The illustrations that I have selected are neither imaginary nor fictitious; they are obtained as a result of the investigations and researches of specialists in Canada, United States and Europe. The reports of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Proceedings of the American Forestry Congress abound with similar accounts of devastation following a greedy, grasping generation.

When Joshua conquered the Promised Land it was, like this part of British Columbia, blessed with a delightful climate, a land of wonderful fertility, “Flowing with milk and honey.” Both ranges of the Lebanon and its Spur Mountains were then densely covered with forests in which the famous Cedar of Lebanon predominated. The large and increasing population of Palestine enjoyed comfort and abundance during centuries. But the gradual devastation of the forests, finally completed by the Venetians and Genoese brought about a general deterioration of the country. The hills of Galilee, once the rich pasturing grounds for large herds of cattle, are now sterile knobs. The Jordan became an insignificant stream, and several of the beautiful smaller rivers mentioned in the Bible now appear as stony runs, being completely dry during the greater part of the year. Some few valleys, in which the fertile soil washed down from the hills was deposited, have retained their old fertility; but the few Cedar trees remaining as a land mark on Lebanon stand out mournfully on an arid and desolate country not fit to sustain one-sixth of such a population as it contained at the time of Solomon. Perhaps that illustration is too ancient to interest you, but history repeats itself just as often as natural laws are defied.

The eastern end of the West Indian Island of Santa Cruz was at one time rich, populous, and of tropical luxuriance. Within 27 years of the depletion of its forests, the country became dry, arid and worthless. It was found too late to retrieve the previous error, for, of a thousand trees planted on one estate on this island, not one survived.

The facts in regard to the island of Curacao are still more interesting. In the year 1845 it was found to be an almost perfect desert. Where according to the testimony of the inhabitants, had once been a garden of fertility, abandoned plantations, the recent ruins of beautiful villas and terraced gardens, and broad arid wastes without a blade of grass, showed how sudden and complete a destruction had fallen upon this unfortunate island. The cause was the cutting down of atrees for export of their valuable timber; the effect followed even more rapidly than at Santa Cruz. The rains have almost entirely ceased.