Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-06-14
ROOSEVELT THE EDITORS.
Conserve Our Natural Resources
Adopt Inheritance Tax.

Adopt Inheritance Tax.
In addressing the members OF the
National Editorial association last
Monday. President Roosevelt devoted
himself almost wholly to the discussion
Of two questions-the reshaping Of our
system of taxation so as to make 1t
bear most heavily on those capable OF
supporting the strain, and the utiliza-
ton Of the natural resources Of the
nation in the way that will be Of most
benefit to the nation as a whole. He
gave more attention to the latter ques-
ton than to the former.
Referring in his opening remarks to
the power welded by writer's for news
papers and periodicals, the president
said
Be open-Eyed and Impartial.
1T is essential that the man in pub
lie life and the man who writes in the
public press shall both Of them, II
they are really good servants Of the
people, be prompt to assail wrong-do-
ing and wickedness. But in thus as
sailing wrong doing and wickedness
there are two conditions to be fulfilled,
because II unfulfilled, harm and not
good will result. In the first place,
be sure Of your facts and avoid every
thing like hysteria or exaggeration;
for to assail a decent man for some
thing of which he Is innocent Is to give
aid and comfort to every scoundrel
while indulgence in hysterical exag-
geration serves to weaken, not
strengthen, the statement Of truth.
I'm the second place, be sure that you
base your judgment on conduct and
not on the social or economic position
of the individual with whom you are
dealing. 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
the people whom he himself knows In
his business and social relations, Is
often completely ignored by certain
public men and certain public writer's.
The men who thus ignore 1t and who
attack wickedness only when found In
a particular class are always unsafe,
and are sometimes very dangerous,
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
a sure sign Of moral and mental dis
honesty in any man IL in his public
assaults upon iniquity he is never able
to see any iniquity save that Of a par
ticular class; and this whether he Is
able only to see the crimes Of AFRO
gance and oppression in the rich or the
crimes Of envy and violence In the
poor. He Is no true American II he Is
a respecter Of persons where right and
wrong are concerned and II he fails to
denounce the demagogue no less than
the corruptionist, to denounce alike
crimes of organized greed and crimes
of brutal violence. There Is equal
need to denounce the wealthy man who
swindles investors or buys legislators
or oppresses wage workers, and the
needy man who inflames class hatred
or incites 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
Conserving Our Natural Resources.
Taking up then the two great move
ments In public life which he had Sc
lected for discussion. President Roose-
Welt declared that the conservation OF
our natural resources and their proper
use constitute the fundamental prob
lem which underlies almost every 9TH
er problem Of our national life. For
this work the one characteristic which
is more essential than any other Is
foresight. But unfortunately foresight
is not usually a characteristic OF
young and vigorous people and hither-
to as a nation we have tended to live
with an eye single to the present and
have permitted the reckless waste and
destruction Of much Of our natural
wealth.
The president then reviewed the
work Of the reclamation service, be-
gun in 1902, in rendering fertile and
habitable many parts of the west by
means of irrigation. This work Is only
well begun, but there will be no malt.
The public lands Of the United States
should be utilized in similar fashion.
Our present public land laws were
passed when there was vast surplus
of vacant public land and when the
chief desire was to secure settlers
thereon. Little attention was paid to
the detail affecting the disposal OF the
lands and lax execution Of the laws
became the rule. Land frauds were
common and little noted. These frauds
are now being stamped out and vigor-
Gus efforts are being made to enforce
the law.
Public Lands Belong to Public.
The danger of allowing the public
lands to pass into the hands OF a rev
men was pointed out, and the necessi-
ty for the conservation Of the forests
stressed. The mineral fuels OF the
eastern states are already in the hands
of large private owners. Steps should
be taken to see that the same thing
does not follow in the west. The min
eral fuels should be conserved, not
wasted, as is the case under private
ownership very often, and enough OF
them should remain in the hands OF
the government to protect the people
against unjust or extortionate prices so
far as that can still be done. There
are at present some 800 MILTON acres
Of public domain, open to the free
grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and
goats without restriction or regulation.
This land is now being skinned by men
whose only concern is to get what they
can out of it at the moment, careless
as to whether or not it is ruined In