Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1911 — SUPPOSE THERE WERE ONLY ONE TREE ON EARTH. [ARTICLE]

SUPPOSE THERE WERE ONLY ONE TREE ON EARTH.

IF there were only one tree in all the world, what would be its commercial value, not to speak of its aesthetic worth? The millions of Rockefeller and Carnegie added to the billions in the Bank of England could not buy that tree. Suppose you owned it What would you do with it? Would you build a high wall around it, so high as to shut off outside view even of the topmost leafage, and charge tourists, who, of course, would come from all parts of the world in Gocks and droves and herds, SIOO a peep? Would you gathep the annual crop of leaves and sell them at $25 a leaf? Would you yank off the shedding bark and sell bark souvenirs of the only tree at $lO a square inch? Would you charge SSOO for the privilege of climbing your tree? Or would you cultivate a magniGcent lawn around the only tree, put plenty of benches undents shade and invite the people of the world to come and sit and have a shade with you? This is Just a (hypothetical question in the case of brotherhood versus selGshness. How will you answer it? If you answer it unselGshly then go and plant another tree on Arbor day.