The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-27
American wastefuIness


resources of the country are wasted, and its
splendid capabilities neglected, with needless
recklessness. As people, we are lavish be-
yond any other in our personal habits and
ways Of living. The extravaganza Of the rich
in dress, equipages, and entertainments is
noticeable at home, and too often generates
abroad into an ostentation more conspicuous
than creditable. The well-to-do classes initiate
them in spending large sums and wasting
much time upon their personal enjoyments.
And there are thousands, especially in the
cities, whose indulgence in coarse material
pleasures is permanently fed at the expense
of public order and by violations of law.
1t is rightly said that in the mere matter of
eating and drinking, a Frenchman would live
upon what an American wastes We are not
improved by foreign example, for that of
thrift set by the German additions to our
population is neutralized by the improvidence
of Irish immigrants. Such private profusion
of course tOlerates and encourages spendthrift
habits in those who control the public money.
The people find it easier to grumble at heavy
taxes than to hold their servants to that strict
economy which is no rule for their own pri-
vate expenditure. Certainly no one expects
to find Cato among aldermen-but one
chief reason why their clumsy aping OF
Sybarite's ways is laughed at, yet endured, is
that the citizens think Sybaritism very nice
thing, and are absorbed in pursuing the wealth
that may buy its delights for themselves.
Much of this wastefulness is due to the
ease with which the means of life may be &C
quired in this country, seeming to make accu-
mutation needless. If Americans were not
born liberal, as most of them are, they would
become so through the riches readily drawn
from resources that appear inexhaustible. To
begin with, we are as a nation among the
largest landholders of the world. The whole
boundless continent is ours, or we regard it
as ours in reversion by manifest destiny. How
have we used that part of this splendid area
of which we have had possession 1t is
wise policy to sell the public domain at low
prices to actual settlers, since a producing,
taxpaying voter is worth more to the Govern
ment than an unimprOved square league of
Land. But is it wise to lavish it in donations
to the several States, or to give it away with
out stint to grand spectators in railways,
thus building up colossal fortunes in the next
generation for the successors of those who
have the boldness to ask and the cunning to
gain endowments so liberal from Congress
Since what is granted to one cannot be refused
to another, will not enterprising men enough
be found to persuade the Government that it
needs twice as many Pacific Railroads as the
four that are now working their way across
the continent by the aid of its bonds and its
landskP
Before the national domain passes entirely
into the hands of private citizens, it would be
well that legislation should provide in the
public interest against its wasteful manage
ment by the future owners. Upon large con-
siderations of national advantage, the forests
and streams of the country need that protec-
ti0n which settlers neither can nor will give
them. The forests of any region are import
ant not only for their timber, but also in
their relations to climate, and in their infu-
ence over the regularity and even the exist
There
plains in Europe which were once thickly-
wooded and therefore fertile regions, as there
are vast expanses in our Western territory
which only need trees to make them habit
able and productive. Now to the pioneer a
tree is natural enemy, useful merely for
fences and irewood, and to be swept off the
face of the earth as soon as possible. So too
of our rivers and smaller streams. Salmon
once abounded in all the Eastern rivers, from
which even the shad are now retreating, as the
trout are vanishing from the brooks, through
the multiplication of mills and of manufac-
tories with their poisonous tribute to the
waters. The preservation of such an i'm
portant article of food as fish is not too small
subject for the care of the Governments in
Europe, and is certainly worth some attention
from our own before it is too late. A system
of laws in the several States for the conserva-
tion of the forests, founded on detailed sur
veys, and supported by uniform and stringent
provisions for the protection and, where neces-
sary, the reintroduction of fish and game
would save important sources of national
wealth from destruction.
This carelessness in dealing with our original
abundance extends to those contributions to
the national prosperity which pour in from
abroad through the channels of immigration.
That steady accession of capital and produc-
tive power is too much suffered to run to
- waste through neglect of judicious distribu-
tion. Immigrants present the widest variety
Of capacity, training, and habits of life. THESE
should be thoroughly utilized by special direc-
tion to climates and soils where the most could
be made of their respective experience. The
hardy cultivators who converge to this port
from the far-apart lands of wheat the olive
and the vine, should not be left unaided to
find their way to the regions where they
would be most at home and most useful Such
q regulation of this ever flowing stream OF
national wealth as to draw the greatest nos.
sible benefit from it, would justify the estab-
Hshment of a separate Bureau at Washington
for the diffusion of information abroad and
the proper settlement of those who seek their
new homes among us. The practice of the
Mormons who find their account in seel1ino
out the supersttious element in Europe and
transplanting it carefully to Deseret is Ger
tainly worth counterworking by imitation, or
a greater scale and for higher purposes by an
enlightened Government,
Nor is the development of our bidder
springs of wealth conducted with any les,
Wastefulness than attends the use of thes,
open and superficial ones. National and Stat,
mining schools, for instance, ought TO exis