The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1907-06-21

Roosevelt Delivers Notable Address
at jamestown. Va.
Speaks Before the Delegates to the National
Editorial Association Touches Upon
Important National Questions.

II Is or course a mere truism to say that
no other body OF our countrymen WELD as
extensive an influence as those who write
Tor the daily press and for the periodi-
Gals 1t is also a truism 10 say that
such power implies the gravest respon-
Slblhty. and the man exercising II should
hold himself accountable and should be
held by others accountable, precisely as
II he occupied any other position of pub
lie trust / do not intend to dwell upon
your duties to-day. save that / shall
permit myself to point out one matter
where II seems to me that the need OF
our people is vital Ii is essential that
the man in public life and the man who
writes in the public press shall both OF
them, IL they are really good servants
or the people be prompt to assail wrong
doing and wickedness But in thus assail-
Ing wrongdoing and wickedness, there
are two conditions to be fulfilled. because
II unfulflled. harm and not good will
result. In the first place, be sure OF
your facts and avoid everything like
hysteria or eXaggeration; for to assail
a decent man for something of which he
Is innocent is to give aid and comfort 10
every scoundrel, while indulgence in hys-
terical eXaggeration serves to weaken
not strengthen, the statement of truth
In the second place, be sure that you
base your judgment on conduct and not
on the social or economic position of the
There are good and bad men in every
walk Of life, and their being good or bad
does not depend upon whether they have
or do not have large bank accounts Yet
this elemental fact, this fact which we all
accept as self-evident. when We think
each OF us of the people whom he him
self knows in his business and social
relations, is often completely ignored by
certain public men and certain public
writers. The men who thus ignore it
and who attack wickedness only when
found In particular class are always
unsafe. and are sometimes very dan
gerous, leaders. Distrust equally the
man who is never able to discover any
vices OF rich men to attack and the man
who confines himself TO attacking the
sins and shortcomings OF rich men. 1t
is sure sign of moral and mental dis
honesty in any man If in his public as
saults upon iniquity he is never able TO
see any iniquity save that of a particular
class; and this whether he is able only to
see the crimes of arrogance and oppres-
sion In the rich or the crimes of envy
and violence in the poor.
So much for what l have to say TO
you In your capacity of moders and
guides of public thought. In addition
1 want to speak to you on two great
movements in our public life which l
feel must necessarily occupy no incon-
siderable part of the time OF our public
men in the near future. One of these is
the question OF. in certain ways re-
shaping our system of taxation so as to
make IL bear most heavily on those most
capable of supporting the strain. The
other is the question Of utilizing the
natural resources OF the nation in the
way that will be OF most benefit to the
nation as a whole.
Need of Foresight.
In utilizing and conserving the natural
resources of the nation the one charac-
teristic more essential than any other is
foresight Unfortunately, foresight is
not usually characteristic OF young and
vigorous people, and IL is obviously not
a marked characteristic of us in the
United States. Yet assuredly II should be
the growing nation with a future which
takes the long look ahead: and no other
nation is growing so rapidly as ours or
has future so full of promise No other
nation enjoys so wonderful a measure of
present prosperity which can of right
be treated as an earnest OF future sue
cess, and for no other are the rewards
of foresight so great, so certain and so
easily foretold Yet hitherto as a nation
we have tended to live with an eye single
10 the present, and have permitted the
reckless waste and destruction of much
OF our natural wealth.
The conservation OF our natural re-
sources and their proper use constitute
the fundamental problem which underlies
almost every other problem Of our ma
tional life. Unless we maintain an ade-
quate material basis for our civilization,
we can not maintain the institutions in
which we take so great and just pride;
and to waste and destroy our natural
resources means to undermine this ma
terial basis. During the last i've years
efforts have been made in several new
directions in the government service to
get our people to look ahead, to exercise
foresight and TO substitute a planned and
orderly development OF our resources in
the place of a haphaZard striving for
Immediate profit The effort has been
made through several agencies.
In 1902 the reclamation service began
20 develop the larger opportunities of the
western half OF our country for irriga-
ton The work includes all the states
from the great plains through the Rocky
mountains to the Pacific slope. 1t has
been conducted with the clean and def
mite purpose of using the valuable water
resources OF the public land for the
greatest good for the greatest number in
the long run; i'm other words, for the
purpose OF putting upon the land perma-
nent home makers who will use and
develop Il for themselves and for their
children and children's children There
has been opposition. OF course, TO TINS
work OF the reclamation service; for we
have been ODDEeQ 10 dnldbOIiNt NtiA thih
men whose interest II was to exhaust for
their own temporary personal profit nat
urai resources which ought to be devel-
oped through use. so as to be conserved
for the permanent common advantage or
the people as a whole. But there Will be
no halt I'm the work of preserving the
waters which head in the Rocky noun
tain region so as to make them of most
use to the people as whole; for the
policy is essential TO our national well
fare.
Operations Of Land Laws.
The public lands OF the United States
should be utilized in similar fashion. Our
present public land laws were passed
when there was a vast surplus of vacant
public land The chief desire was TO
secure settlers thereon, and comparative
ly slight attention was paid as 10 exactly
how the lands were disposed OF In de-
tail In consequence. lax execution OF
the laws became the rule both In the land
Office and in the public mind, and land
frauds were common and little noted.
This was especially true when a system
originally designed for the fertile ana
well-watered regions OF the middle west
was applied to the dryer regions OF the
great plains and to the mountains and
the Pacific coast In these regions the
system lent itself 20 fraud, and much
I'D raaaed out of the hands OF the gov