Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-12-05

public opinion would probably have
brought about prompt adjustment
1T is idle TO hold that without good
laws evils such as child labor, as the
over-working of women, as the fall
ure to protect employees from loss OF
life or limb. can be effectively reached.
any more than the evils of rebates and
stock-watering can be reached without
good laws. To fail to stop these prac-
tees by legislation means to force
honest men into them. because other
wise the dishonest who surely Will
take advantage of them will have
everything their own way. If the states
will correct these evils. well and good
but the nation must stand ready TO aid
them.
When the department of agriculture
was founded there was much sneering as
to its usefulness. No department of the
government, however, has more en-
phatically indicated its usefulness, and
none a the post office department
comes so continually n intimately into
touch with the people. The two citizens
whose welfare is in the aggregate most
vital to the welfare OF the nation. and
therefore to the welfare of all other clu>
zens, are the wage-worker who does
manual labor and the tiller OF the SOIL
the farmer. There are, of course, kinds
Of labor where the work must be purely
mental, and there are other KINDS OF
labor where, under existing conditions
very little demand indeed is made upon
the mind, though l am glad to say that
the proportion Of men engaged in this
kind OF work is diminishing. But In any
community with the solid, healthy quali-
ties which make up a really great nation
the bulk of the people should do work
which calls for the exercise of both BODY
and mind. Progress can not permanently
exist in the abandonment of physical
labor, but in the development of physical
labor, so that 1t shall represent more and
more the work Of the trained mind In the
trained body. Our school system is
gravely defective in so far as 1t 1t puts a
premium upon mere literary training and
tends therefore to train the boy away
from the farm and the workshop. Moth
ing is more needed than the best type OF
Industrial school, the school for me-
chanical industries in the city, the school
for practically teaching agriculture in the
country. The calling of the skilled tiller
of the soil, the calling of the skilled me-
chanic, should alike be recognized as
professions, Just as emphatically as the
callings of lawyer, doctor, merchant, or
clerk. The schools should recognize this
fact and 1t should be equally recognized
in popular opinion. The young man VINO
has the farsightedness and courage 10
recognize 1t and get over the idea that
1t makes a difference whether what ne
earns Is called salary or wages, and who
refuses to enter the crowded field OF the
so-called professions, and takes to con-
structive industry instead, is reasonably
sure of an ample reward in earnings, IN
health, in opportunity to marry early,
and IN nCtnh1ieh q hnn1a with a IdlT
amount of freedom from worry. 1t
should be one of our prime objects to pu
both the farmer and the mechanic on a
higher plane of efficiency n reward, SO
as to increase their effectiveness in the
economic world, and therefore the dig
nifty. the remuneration, and the power OF
their positions in the social world.
Inland waterway Systems
Should He Developed.
1.-THE conservation of our national re-
sources and their proper use constitute
the fundamental problem which under
lies almost every other problem of oul
national life. We must maintain fol
J our civilization the adequate material
t basis without which that civilization
cannot exist. We must show foresight
we must look ahead. AS a nation WE
not only enjoy q wonderful measure Of
/. present prosperity but If this prosper
} ity is used Alright it is an earnest OF
, future success such as no other nation
will have. The reward of foresight fol
( this nation is, great and easily foretold
| But there must be the look ahead
= there must be a realization of the fac
= that to waste, to destroy, our natura
2 resources, to skin and exhaust the lan(
instead of using it so as to increase 1t:
t usefulness, will result in undermining
In the days Of our children the yer!
I prosperity which we ought by right t
hand down to them amplified and devel
r oped. For the last few years, through
s several agencies, the government ha
e been e~ndeavoring to get u people t.
5 look ahead and to substitute a planne'
and orderly development of our re
: sources in place of a haphazard striV
1 ing for immediate profit. Our grea
$ river systems should be developed a
I national water highways; the Missis
sippi, with its tributaries, standing frs
: in Importance, and the Columbia sec
ond, although there are many others o
Importance on the Pacific and Atlanti
and the gulf slopes. The national gov
eminent should undertake this work
I and I hope a beginning will be mad
o in the present congress; and the great
$ est of all our rivers, the Mississippi
Q should receive especial attention. Fror
n the Great Lakes to the mouth of TIL
d Mississippi there should be a deep wa
X terway, with deep waterways leadin
from 1t to the east and the west. Sue
a waterway would practically mea
the extension of our coast line into tn
very heart of our country. 1t would b
Of incalculable benefit to our people. ]
begun at once 1t can be carried throug
l. in time ap~preciably to relieve the cor
q gestion of our great freight-carryin
q lines of railroads. The work should b
systematically and continuously carrie
Sc forward in accordance with some wei,
conceived plan. The main stream
lr should be improved to the highes
l. point of efficiency before the improve
IS ment of the branches is attempted; ar
% the work should be kept free frol
a every faint of recklVssness or jobbery
n Attention is calledfto the work of II
n rigation and reclamation of govern
<. ment lands. In the same connection /
Oh asks for a revision of the public lar
d. laws along the lines proposed by tt
re- public lands commission. Believes tt
VI government should increase it's effor
IL to conserve our forests and should IL
ie crease by purchase the existing fore
preserves. On the subject of the natur
of resources of the nation he says:
IL In the eastern United States II
IL mineral fuels nave already passed in
en- the hands of large private owners, al
It, those Of the west are rapidlv followin
1t is obvious that these fuels should
rs conserved and not wasted, and 1t wou
n be we'll to protect the people again
is. unjust and extortionate prices, so Il
le- as that can still be dom What h
Is been accomplished in the great {
If fields of the Indian Territory by t
to action of the administration offers
en- striking example of the good resul
is of such a policy. In my judgment t
mt government should have the right
IT, keep the fee Of the coal, oil and &
sg- EAelds in it's own possession and to lea
tha rights IN develop them ind
HI nronar rogulations ar o1se AZ tba 90