The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-04

| our descendants
AS /! nave said elsewhere, the con-
| serVatlon or natural resources is the
fundamental problem. Unless we
solVe tnat problem it will avail US lit
| tie TO solve all others. To solve it. the
Whole nation must undertake the task
through their organizations and asso-
cls1tloHS, through the men whom they
| nave made specially responsible for
the welfare of the several states, and
finally through congress and the exc
curve; AS preliminary step, the In
land Waterways commission has de-
c1ded, 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 con-
ference ought to be among the most
important gatherings In our history
for none have had a more vital ques-
ton to consider.
The Panama Canal.
There is a great national project al
ready under way which renders the I'M
provement of the Mississippi river ana
its tributaries specially needful. L
mean the Panama canal. The digging
of that canal will be of benefit to the
whole country, but most of all to the
states of the Pacific slope and the Gulf;
and if the Mississippi is properly I'M
proved, to the states through which II
flows. The digging Of the Panama
canal is the greatest engineering IeaI
globe. The work has been going on
most successfully and with fewer draw
backs and difficulties than I had dared
hope. When under our treaty with
Panama We took possession of the Canal
Zone 1 was confident that we should DE
able to build the canal, but 1 took 1t Tor
granted that we should meet many I'M
expected difficulties, not only in the
actual work, but through, and because
of the diseases which had made the
iGth a NV nj
The work done in making the condt-
lions on the isthmus healthy, however,
has been so successful that at present
The death rate among the thousands OF
Americans engaged in the canal work
is lower than in most localities in the
United States. The organization mas
been perfected, the machinery installed
and the actual work, of the dredges,
the steam shovels, and the dirt TRAINS
is going on with constantly increasing
rapidlty and effectiveness. In the
month of August over twelve hundred
thousand cubic yards of material were
removed chiefly from the Culebra cut
the record rcmoval-and If this rate can
be kept up, as I believe it will be kept
up, the work of digging will be through
in half a dozen years. The finishing OF
the locks of the great dam may take
little longer; but it begins to look as
though the work will be completed even
sooner than we had estimated.
Remember, gentlemen, that any work
like this entails grave responsibilities
The one intolerable position for self
respecting nation. as for a sef-respect-
ing man, is to bluff and then not be able
to make good. We have accepted the
Monroe doctrine as a cardinal feature
of our foreign policy. We have under
taken not only to build but to poIce
and to guard the Panama canal. rms
means, unless we are willing to accept
the humiliation of being treated some
time by some strong nation as VAN
and weak braggart, that we must bulld
and maintain our navy at the highest
point of efficiency. When the canal is
finished our navy can move from one
ocean to the other at will; for. remem-
Der that our doors open on both oceans
Until then our battle feet, which should
unit, ought now to appear In our nome
waters in one. ocean and new to appear
in our home waters in the other
No Room for Partisanship.
And, oh my friends and fellow |
Americans, 1 most earnestly hope all
our people will remember that in the
fundamental questions most deeply |
affecting the life of the nation there |
can be no proper division on party
lines Matters of such grave moment |
should be dealt with along the lines
of consistent and well thought-out |
policy, without regard to any change |
of administration or of party at Wash |
ington. Such questions as the up
building and maintenance OF the
United States navy, the completion of |
the Panama canal in accordance with |
the plans now being carried out. and |
the improvement of the Mississippi |
river, are net party questions. l am
striving to accomplish what l can in ,
such matters as these because the |
welfare of the nation fmperiously de-
mands the action that I am taking. 1t /
IS action in the interest of all the peo-
pie, and the need for it will be as
T }, cnd Of
public life as it is now. On these
great points that have mentioned, as
on others 1 could mention, from the
of the nation the policy is
portancc who carries it out so long as
It actually is carried out. Therefore,
[ hope you will see to it, according to
your best endeavor, that the policy is
accepted as permanent as something
10 be persevered in because of the
interest OF the whole people, and
without regard to any possible politi-
cal changes.
Before closing let me say a word
upon the subject of the regulation of
interstate commerce clause of the
constitution. In my Judgment the old
lays and happy-go-lucky Indifference
IN the part of the public to the con-
1uct of the corporations have passed
rhe American people has made UP its
mind that the conditions of modern
are such as imperatively
o demand supervision in the interest
If the people as a whole over these
great corporations. Most .emphatical1y
We. should do full justice to them: but
n return we should exact Justice from
hem to the public. Some of them have {,
become so habituated to disregard
ng everything but their own. wishes
md interests that the effort to estab-
ish a proper supervision over them
las aroused on their part curl
'usly unreason able antagonism.- Their
do not seem to be aware i
hat in what we have been trying to do
We have not been Improperly radical; |
tho y..nrd In It's ri2ht sense we