The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-12-07


other movement. The constant pur-
pose of the government in connection
with the reclamation service has been
to use the water resources of the
public lands for the ultimate greatest
good of the greatest number; IN
other words, to put upon the land
permanent home makers, to use and
develop it for themselves and for
their children and children's chill
dren. There has been, of course, OPP
position to this work; opposition
from some interested men who de-
sire to exhaust the land for their own
immediate profit without regard to
the welfare of the next generation,
and opposition from honest and we'll
meaning men who did not fully I'M
derstand the subject or who did not
look far enough ahead. This oppo-
sition is, | think, dying away, and
our people are understanding that 1t
would be utterly wrong to allow
few individuals to exhaust for their
own temporary personal profit the
resources which ought to be devel-
oped through use so as to be con-
served for the permanent common
advantage of the people as a whole.
PRESERVATION OF THE FORESTS
Optimism is a good characteristic,
but if carried to an excess 1t be-
comes foolishness. We are prone to
speak of the resources of this coun-
try as inexhaustible; this is not so.
The mineral wealth of the country,
the coal, iron, oil, gas, and the like,
does not reproduce itself, and there
fore is certain to be exhausted ult1-
mately; and wastefulness in dealing
with it today means that our descend
ants will feel the exhaustion gem
Grafton or two before they otherwise
would. But there are certain other
forms of waste which could be en-
tirely stopped-the waste of soil by
washing, for instance, which is
among the most dangerous of all
wastes now in progress in the United
States, is easily preventable, so that
this present enormous loss of fertil-
ity is entirely unnecessary. The
preservation or replacement OF the
forests is one of the most important
means of preventing this loss. We
have made a beginning in forest
preservation, but it is only begin
ming At present numbering is the
fourth greatest industry in the Unit
ed States; and yet, so rapid has been
the rate of exhaustion of timber in
the United States in the past, and so
rapidly is the remainder being eX-
hausted, that the country is unques-
tionably on the verge of timber
famine which will be felt in every
1 ~, 1,o al
ready been a rise in the price of lum-
Der, but there is certain to be more
rapid and heavier rise in the future.
The present annual consumption of
lumber is certainly three times as
great as the annual growth; and if
the consumption and growth continue
unchanged, practically all our lum-
Der will be exhausted in another gem
Grafton, while long before the limit
to complete exhaustion is reached the
growing scarcity will make itself felt
in many blighting ways upon our ma
tional welfare. About 20 per cent
of our forested territory is now re-
served in national forests; but these
do not include the most valuable tim
Der lands, and in any event the pro-
the reserves can accomplish more
than a mitigation of the trouble
which is ahead for the nation.
THE RELATIONS OF
CAPITAL AND LABOR
1t is certain that for some time to
come there will be constant in
crease absolutely, and perhaps rela-
| lively, of those among our citizens
who dwell in cities or towns of some
| size and who work for wages. This
means that there will be an ever-in-
creasIng need to consider the prob
! lens inseparabe from great indus
trial civilization. Where an immense
and complex business, especially in
those branches relating to manufac-
ture and transportation is transacted
| by large number of capitalists who
employ very much larger number
of wage earners, the former tend
more and more to combine into cor
porations and the latter into unions
| The relations of the capitalist and
wage worker to one another, and of
each to the general public, are not
always easy to adjust; and to put
them and keep them on satisfactory
| basis is one of the most important
| and one of the most delicate tasks
before our whole civilization. Much
of the work for the accomplishment
of this end must be done by the in
dividuals concerned themselves
whether singly or in combination /;
and the one fundamental fact that
must never be lost track of is that
bn nha Of
whether he be a man of means or a
man who works with his hands, is
the most important factor in solv-
ing the problem Alright. But it is
almost equally important to remem-
Der that without good laws it is also
impossible to reach the proper solu-
ton. 1t is idle to hold that without
good laws evils such as child labor,
as the over working of women, as
the failure to protect employees from
loss of life or limb, can be effectively
reached, any more than the evils of
rebates and stock watering can be
reached without good laws To fail
to stop these practices by legislation
means to force honest men into them,
because otherwise the dishonest who
surely will take advantage of them
will have everything their own way
If the states will correct these evils,
well and good; but the nation must
stand ready to aid them.
EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN.
No question growing out of our
rapid and complex industrial devel-
opment is more important than that
of the employment of women and
children. The presence of women in
industry reacts with extreme direct