Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-05

| IL only one OF many enQS To De Kept IN
view. The demand for navigation is hardly
more pressing than the demands for
| claiming lands by irrigation in the arid
regions and by drainage in the humid low
| lands. or for utilizing the water power
| now running to waste. or for purifying the
! waters so as to reduce or remove the tax
| of soil waste, to promote manufactures
! and safeguard life. 1t is the part of wis.,
| dom to adopt not a tumble of unrelated
plans, but a single comprehensive scheme
| for meeting all the demands so far as pos
sible at the same time and by the same
| means This Is the reason why the inland
! waterways commission was created In
March last largely in response to petitions
| from citizens of the interior. including many
| of the members of this Congress Broad
/ instructions were given to the commission
| in accordance with this general policy that
no p,1I. shoui6 ut prepared for the use of
| any stream for a single purpose without
| carefully considering. and SO FAR as prac-
| ticable actually providing for. the use of
| that stream for every other purpose ffans
! for navigation and power should PROVIDE
with special care for sites ana terminals
not only for the immediate present but also
! for the future 1t Is because OF my con-
F.! viction in these matters that L am here
/ The inland waterways commission mas q
| task broader than the consideration OF
waterways alone There is an intimate re-
| lation between our streams and the devei-
| opment and conservation OF all the other
great permanent sources of wealth. II Is
i not possible rightly to consider the one
| without the other. No study of the PROB
lem Of the waterways could hope to be
| successful which failed to consider also the
| remaining factors in the great problem OF
| conserving all our resources. Accordingly.
1 have asked the waterways commission 10
take account of the orderly development
| and conservation. not alone of the waters,
but also Of the soil. the forests. the mines
and all the other natural resources OF our
country.
Many of these resources which we have
been in the habit of calling inexhaustible
oy
regions hav: actually disappeared. Coal
Mines oil and gas fields. ard iron mines
in important numbers are already worked
out. The coal and oil measures which re-
main are passing rapidly. or have actually
passed, Into the possession of great cor
porations, who acquire ominous power
through an unchecked control of these
prime necessities of moaern life: con-
troll without supervision of any kind. We
are consuming our forests three times
faster than they are being reproduced.
Some of the richest timber lands of this
continent have already been destroyed. and
| not replaced. ard other vast areas are on
the verge OF destruction. Yet forests. UNI
like mines. can be so handled as to yield
the best results of usa, without exhaustion,
just like grain fields.
Our Public Lands.
Our public lands. whose highest use is
| to supply homes for people have been
and are still being taken in great quantities
| by large private owners. to whom home
making is at the very best but secondary
motive subordinate to the desire for profit.
/ To allow the public lands to be work I'd by
the tenants of rich men for the profit of the
! landlords instead of by freeholders for the
| livelihood Of their wives and children is lit
| tie less than crime against our people and
! our institutions The great central fact Of
the public land situation, as the public lands
commission well said, is that the amount Of
public land patented by the governma emit to
| individuals is increasing out of all proper
ton to the number of new homes. 1t Ii
clear beyond peradventure that our natural
resources have been and are still being
abused. that continued abuse will destroy
them, and that We have at last reached the
forks of the road. We are face to face with
the great fact that the whole future of the
alton Is directly at stake in the mOmentous
decision which Is forced upon US. Shall we
continue the waste and destruction Of our
natural resources, or shall We conserve
them? There is no other question of equal
gravity now before the nation.
1t is the plain duty of those of us who for
the moment are responsible to make inven-
tory of the natural resources which have
been handed down to US, to forecast as
well as we may the needs of the future and
so to handle the great sources Of our pros
perity not to destroy In advance all hope
for the prosperity of our descendants.
AS l have said elsewhere, the conserva-
ton of natural resources Is the fundamental
problem. Unless we solve that problem it
will avail US little to solve all others. To
solve 1t, the whole nation must undertake
the task through their organizations and
associations, through the men whom they
fare of the several states, and finally
through Congress and executive. AS a pre-
linninary step, the inland waterways COM
mission has decided. with my full approval.
to call a conference on the conservation Of
natural resources, including, of course, the
streams, to meet in Washington during the
coming winter. This conference ought to
| be among the most important gatherings in
lietor For how haH wis al
question to consider.
There is a great national project already
| under way which renders the improvement
of the Mississippi river and its tributaries
| specially needful. 1 mean the Panama
canal. The digging of that canal will BIS
| of benefit to t.a whole country. but most
! of all to the states Of the Pacific slope and
| the gulf: and if the Mississippi Is properly
| improved, to the states through which It.
| flows. The digging OF the Panama canal
! is the greatest engineering feat which has
yet been attempted on this globe. The
| work has been going on most successfully
! and with fewer drawbacks and difficulties
| than 1 had dared hope. When under our
treaty with Panama we took possession
Of the canal zone l was confident that we
should be able to build the canal. but 1
| took it for granted that We should meet
| many unexpected difficulties. not only in
the actual work, but through. and because
! of, the diseases which had made the 18TH
| mus q byword of unhealthfu ness. The
| work done in making the conditions on the
| isthmus healthy however, has been so sue
cessfui that at present the death rate
| among the thousands of Americans en-
gagged in the canal work is lower than in
| most localities in the United States The
| organization has been perfected. the ma
chnery installed and the actual work. Of
| the dredses, the steam shovels and the
dirt trains. is going on with constantly in
creasing rapidity and effectiveness. In the
month of August over twelve hundred
thousand cubic yards of material were re-
moved. chiefly from the Culebra cut-the
record removal-and il this rate can be
kept up, as 1 believe it will BE- kept up,
, the work of digging will be through in half
| do. en- years. The finishing of the locks
! of the great dam may take little longer:
| bu. it begins to look though the work
will be ompleted even sooner than we had
estimated.
Grave Responsibilities.
| Remember, gentlemen. that any work like
| this entails grave responsibilities. The one
| ntoierab,e position for self-respecting
nation, as for self-respecting man, is to
bluff and then not be able to make good.
We have accepted the Monroe doctrine as a
| r1{ fog ttra Of Va