ABSTRACT
WHY should any farmer, landowner, or society as a whole tolerate any erosion? Perhaps no one would attempt to defend the extreme position implied in this question for some erosion is a normal geologic process. But why tolerate any accelerated erosion? Some might answer that a measure of accelerated erosion is unavoidable if any productive use is to be made of soil and other resources. There may well be some conservationists who would retort that no use or profit can justify the destruction of basic soil and other resources. The economist would surely say that erosion must be considered in relation to the costs of controlling it and the returns which an erosion~causing land use makes possible. This view would almost surely be rejected by the truly devoted conservationist. Differing objectives and goals certainly would affect the attitude toward specific means.
