The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-04

public land patented by the government TO
individuals is increasing out of all pro.
portion to the number of new homes. IL
is clear beyond peradventure that our
natural resources have been and are still
being abused, that continued abuse VIII
destroy them, and that We have at last
reached the forks of the road. We are
face TO face with the great fact that tn9
whole future of the nation Is directly at
stake in the momentous decision which is
forced upon us. Shall we continue the
waste and destruction of our natural re-
sources, or shall we conserve them? There
is no other question of equal gravity now
before the nation.
ut is the plain duty of those of us who
for the moment are responsible TO make
inventory of the natural resources which,
have been handle down to US, to forecast
as we'll as we may the needs of the future,
aud so to handle the great sources of our
prosperity as not to destroy in advance
all hope for the prosperity of our descend
ants.
walton of natural resources is the funda-
mental problem. Unless we solve that
problem 1t will avail us little to, solve all
others. To solve, It, the whole nation
organizations and associations, through
the men whom they ave made specially
responsible for the welfare Of the several
States. and finally through Congress and
tho executive. As a preliminary step, the
Inland Waterways Commission has de-
cided, 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
our history. for none have had a more
vital question to consider.
There is a great national project al
ready under way which renders the i'm
provement of the Mississippi River and its
tributaries specially needful. [ mean the
Panama Canal. The digging of that canal
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 I had dated 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 l took it for granted that
we should meet many unexpected difficult
ties, net only in the actual work, but
through, and because Of, the diseases
which had made the isthmus a byword
of unhealthfulness. The work done in
making the conditions 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 locali-
ties in the United States. The organiza-
ton has been perfected. the machinery
installed, and the actual work of de
dredges, the steam shovels and the dirt
trains Is going on with constantly in
CFtdSi1S Tdplully anu effectiveness. IN
the month of August over 10000 cubic
yards of material were removed, chiefly
from the Culebra cut--the record removal
and II this rate can be kept up, as
digging viii be through in half a dozen
years. The finishing of the locks of the
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 a self-respect-
ing nation, as for u self-raspecting man,
is to bluff and then not be able to make
good. We have accepted the Monroe doc
trine as a cardinal feature of our foreign
policy. We have undertaken not only to
build but to police and to guard the Pana-
ma Canal. This means, unless we are will
ing to accept the humiliation of being
treated some time by some strong nation
as a vain and weak braggart, that we
must build anu maintain our navy at the
highest point of efficiency. When the
canal is finished our raw can move from
one ocean to the other at will; for, re-
member that our doors ope on both
oceans. Until then oar battle fleet, which
should always be kept and maneuvered as
a unit. ought now to appear In our home
waters in one ocean and now to appear in
our bome waters in the other. And, oh
my friends and fellow-Americans. l most
earnestly hope all our people will remem-
Der that in the fundamental questions
most deeply affecting the life of the ma
tion there can be no proper division on
party lines. Matters of such grave mo-
ment should be dealt with along the lines
of consistent and well thought-out policy,
without regard TO any change of admins
tration or of party at Washington. Such
ortstions. as the upbuilding and mainte-
nance of the United States navy, the COM
pletion Of the Panama Canal in accord
ance with The plans now being carried out,
and the Improvement Of the Mississippi
River. are not party questions. am
striving to accomplish what I can in such
matters as these because the welfare of
the nation imperiously demands the action
that I am taking. 1t Is action in the in
terest of all the people, and the need for
it will be as great long after l have passed
out of public life as it is now. On these
great points that I nave mentioned, as on
others I could mention, from the stand
point of the nation the policy is every
thing, While it is of little Importance who
carries it out so long as it actually is car
ried cut. Therefore. l hope you will see
TO it. according to your best endeavor, that
the policy is accepted as permanent, as
something to be persevered in because OF
the interest of the whole people. and With
out regard to any possible political
changes.
Before closing let me say a word upon
the subject of the regulation of the rail-
ways by Congress under the interstate
commerce clause of the constitution. In
my judgment. the old days of happy-go-
lucky Indifference on the part of the public
to the conduct of the corporations have
passed. The American people has made up
It's nllnO IndI tine cOnulllOIS VI lnOutlA III
dustrialism are such as imperatively to de-
supervision in the interest of the
people as a whole over these great cor
porations. Most empnatically we should
full Justice to them; but in return we
should exact Justice from them to the
public. Some of them have become 50
hahituated to disregarding everything but
their own wishes and interests that the
effort to stablish a proper supervision
over them has aroused on their part a
curiously unreasonable antagonism. Their
spokesman do nc seem to be aware that
in what we have been trying to do we
have not been Improperly radical. using
the word in its right sense, we have been
conservative. We have merely taken the
first step in a policy which must be
permanent if our democratic Institutions
are to endure; while, as a matter of
course, we must also keep ever in mind
democracy to infliet, as tamely TO suffer,
tice to the railroads than injustice by
them; one course is as immoral and as
fundamentally mischievous and Injurious
to the people as the other.
''In the matter of supervision of the
great railway corporations we are acting as
all civilized governments have already
acted or are on the point of acting. TIL
unrestricted issue of railway securities
without any supervision, and under cir
cumstances which often result in the
gravest scandal. should not be permitted,
and only by governmental action can it
be prevented. It is already thus prevented
Ia England and Germany, for instance. In
England the first Royal Commission Of
Railways, of which that great parha-
mentary and popular leader, William