The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-05

the water power now running to waste l or for purifying the waters so as to re- l duce or remove the tax of soil waste, tc 1 promote manufacture and safeguard life l It is the part of wisdom to adopt not a tumble or unrelated plans, but a single l comprehensive scheme for meeting all the l demands so far as possible at the same I time and by the same means. This is the reason why the inland waterways commis- 1 sion was created in March last, largely in response 10 petitions from citizens of 1 the interior, including many of the mem- | bers of this Congress. Broad instruc- l tions were given to the commission in l accordance with this general policy that no plan should be prepared for the use 1 of any stream for a single purpose with out carefully considering, and so far as practicable actually providing for, the use of that stream for every other pur- pose. Plans for navigation and power should provide with special care for sites and terminals not only for the immediate present but also Tor the future. It is be- cause of my conviction in these mat ters that I am here. The inland water ways commission has a task broader than the consideration of waterways alone. There is an intimate relation be- tween our stream and the development and conservation of all the other great permanent sources of wealth. 1t is not possible rightly 10 consider the one with out the other No study of the problem of the waterways could hope to be suc- cessful which failed to consider also the remaining factors in the great prob lem of conserving all our resources. Ac- cordingly, 1 have asked the waterways commission to 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 are being rapidly exhausted, or in cer- tain regions have actually disappeared. Coal mines, oil and gas fields, and iron mines in important numbers are already worked out The coal and oil measures which remain are passing rapidlN or have actually passed, into the possession of great corporations. who acquire ominous power through an unchecked control of these prime necessities of modern life; a control without supervision of any kind. We are consuming our forests three times faster than they are being repro duced. Some of the richest timber lands of this continent have already been de- stroyed, and not replaced, and other vast areas are on the verge of destruction. Yet forests, unlike mines, can be so handled as to ylelu the pest results or use, without exhaustion, just like grain fields.
 Our Public Lands.
 Our public lands, whose highest use is to supply homes for our people, have been and are still being taken in great quantities by large private owners, to whom home-makng is at the very best but a secondary motive subordinate to the desire for profit. To allow the public lands to be worked by the tenants of rich men for the profit of the landlords, instead of by freeholders for the liveli- hood of their wives and children, is lit tie less than crime against our people and our institutions.
 We are face to face with the great fact that the whole future of the nation is directly at stake in the momentous de- cision which is forced upon us. Shall we continue the waste and destruction of our natural resources, or shall we con serve them? There Is no other question of equal gravity now before the nation. As I have said elsewhere, the conser- vation of natural resources is the funda- mental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others. To solve it, the whole nation must undertake the task through their organizations and associations, through the men whom they have made specially responsible for the welfare of the several states, and finally through Congress and the executive. As a preliminary step, the inland waterways commission has decided with my full approval, to call a co .'-" conservation of nat ural lg, of course the stre Washington during the This conference ouf fe most important ga ory, for none have ha stion to consider.
 The #e Ia Canal.
 fr.. ional project already LII 'tr snders the improve n sippi river and it's u needful. l mean the digging of that canal O the whole country 0 the states of the aa.I the gulf; and if the .fs 'erly improved, to the
 ich it flows. The dig
 Ia canal is the greatest
 which has yet been at-
 globe. The work has most successfully and a. wbacks and difficulties
 h ed hope. When under 5 7t Panama we took pos-
 canal zone I was conf #H.I |ft ould be able to build the #a. J |.f )k 1t for granted that we
 ..1 nany unexpected difficult ~ in the actual work but because of. the diseases lde the lsthmus a byword
 lness The work done in Hi conditions Son the isthmus as ,ver, has been so successful
 ent Ine death rate among
 a1 IS of Americans engaged in #w ork Is lower than in most ai the United States. The or
 aas been perfected, the ma- f14t tailed, and the actual work. fa# iges, the steam shovels, and
 'ains, is going on with con-
 reasing rapidity and effective aer le month of August over 2Oo,-
 ards of material were removed
 jm the Culebra cut-the record
 and if this rate can be kept LID.
 we 1t will be kept up, the work
 rl lg will be through in half a
 ars. The finishing of the locks f eat dam may take little longer: egins to look as though the work
 completed even sooner than we
 lmated.
 mber, gentlemen, that any work
 lis entails grave responsibilities.
 ne intolerable position for self
 ting nation, as for self-respectinsy
 Is to bluff and then not be able to
 good. We have accepted the Mon
 octrine as cardinal feature of our
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