Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-11

wickedness only when found in par
ticular class are always unsafe, and
are sometimes very dangerous. leaders.
Dstrust equally the man who is never
able to discover any vices of rich nlcn
to attack and the man who confines
himself to attacking the sins and short
comings Of rich men. 1t is sure sign
Of moral and mental dishonesty in any
man if in his pubic assaults 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. He is no
| true American IL he is Il respecter of
persons where right ana wrong are
concerned and if he fails to denounce
| the domagOguc no less than the cor
ruptionist, to denounce alike crimes Of
organized greed and crimes Of brutal
violence. There is equal need to de-
nounce the wealthy man who sWindlcs
| investors or buys legislatures or OPP
| presses wage workers, and the needy
| man who inflamcS class hatred or in
cites mob violence. We need to hold
the scales OF justice even. and to weigh
| them down on one side is as bad as to
weigh them down on the other.
So much for what | have to say to
YOU in your capacity of mOlders and
guides of public thought. In addition
| want to speak to you on two great
movements in our public life which |
| feel must necessarily occupy no in
considerable part Of the time Of our
| public men in the near future. One OF
these is the question Of. in certain
ways, reshapinG our system Of taxa
ton 50 as to make it bear most heavily
or those most capable Of supporting
the strain. The other is the question
of utilizing the natural resources Of the
nation in ;hc way that will be of most
benefit TO the nation as 4 whole.
In utilizing and conserving the nat
uraI resources of the nation the one
characteristic more essential than any
other is foresight. Unfortunately.
foresight is not usually characteristic
of young and vigorous people. and it
is obviously not q marked character
istic of us in the United States. Yet
assuredly it should be the growing ma
ton with q future which takes the long
look ahead; and no other nation il
growing so rapidly rs ours or has d
future 50 full Of promise. No other
nation enjoys 50 wonderful measure
Of present prosperity which can of
right be treated as an earnest Of future
success, and for no other are the re-
wards of foresight 50 great. 50 certain,
and SO easily for"tolG. Yet hitherto
as 4 nation we have tended to live with
an eye single to the present, and have
ia
truction of much of our natural wealth.
The conservation of our natural re-
sources and their proper use constitute
the fundamental problem which under
lies almost every other problem Of our
national life Unless we maintain an
adequate material basis for our civil |
iZa ton, we can not maintain the inSti- |
tutiOnS in which we take SO great and |
50 just a pride; and to waste and de- |
stroy our natural resources means to |
undermine this material basis. During
the last five years efforts have been
made III several new directions in the |
Government service to got our people |
to look ahead, to exercise foresight. |
and to substitute planned and order |
lY development Of our resources in the |
place of haphazard striving for inn |
mediate profit. The effort has been |
made through several agencies.
In 1902 the Reclamation Service be- |
gan to develop the larger opportunities |
Of the western half Of our country for |
irrigation. The work includes all the |
states from the Great Plains through |
the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific |
slope. 1t has been conducted with the |
clear and definite purpose of using the !
valuable water resources OF the public |
lana for the greatest good for the |
greatest number in the long run; in |
other words, for the purpose Of putting |
upun the land permanent home makers
Who will use ana develop it for them
selves and for their children and chill |
drcn'S children. There has been oppo-
sitiOn, Of course, to this work Of the |
Reclamation Service: for we have been
obliged to antagoniZe certain men |
whose interest il was to exhaust for
their own temporary personal profit
natural resources which ought to be |
dcI elopCd through use, 50 as To he
conserved for the permanent common
advantage Of the people as 4 whole.
But there will be no halt in the work
Of preserving the waters which head in
the Rocky Mountain region so as to
make them of most use to the people
as a whole; for the policy is essential
to our national welfare.
The public lands OF the United states
should be utilized in similar fashion.
Our present public land laws were
passed when there was q vast surplus
of vacant public land. The chief de-
sire was to secure settlers thereon, and
comparatively slight attention was paid
as to exactly how the lands were dis
posed Of in detail. In consequence, lax
execution of the laws became the rule
both in the land Office and in the public
mind. and land frauds We're common
ana little noted. This was especially
true when system originally designed
Tor the fertile and well-WItcrcd regions |
Of the Middle West was applied to tn"
dryer regions of the Great Plains ana
TO the mountains and the Pacific coast.
In these regions the system lent itself |
to fraud, and much land passed ont Of
the hands Of the Government without
passing into the hands of the home
maker. The Department of the Int
riOr and the Department of Justice
Joined in prosecuting the Offenders