The Washington herald., 1908-04-12

Is the convention for considering the
great questions connected with the con-
servation of the natural resources of the
United States. which the President has
called to meet in Wasl ington May 10. to
be the greatest of an conventions ever
held in the country or only the second
greatest?
The coming convention viii be opened
by the twenty-sixth Pre5ident of the
United States IN an address dealing with
subjects OF great moment; the only living
ex-President has been invited to make
one Of the most important addresses and
has accepted the invitation: all Of the
governors have been invited and all have
| accepted; many scientists and citizens en-
inent IN all walks of life will be present;
the questions to be debated are momen-
tous TO the welfare and well being OF the
people Of our own generation and still
more so to the generations yet TO come
Evidently this convention has IN its com
position and its themes the elements OF
greatness.
And yet there was once in this country
a very small convention. called like this
| to consider the best use Of natural re-
sources. which led to consequences so
vast that the coming convention can
hardly exceed it in results. however much
Il Outclasses Il IN magnitude At any
rate, the circumstances invite drawing
briefly a historic parallel.
The Mount Vernon Convention.
In 17S5-l23 years ago this May-the then
First Citizen of the country, afterward
It's first President, was the host Of q halt
dozen gentlemen OF Maryland and Vir-
ginia. who got together at Alexandra 10
consider the matter OF regulating the
navigation Of the waters bordering those
two States. From Alexandria they ad-
journed. at Gen. Washlngton's invitation.
/ TO enjoy the hospltalities Of Mount Yer
non. Two or three days were spent there
/ IN talking over the best treatment for one
/ Of the four great natural resources which
are now recognized as composing the es-
/ sential wealth Of the nation-the resources
/ upon which all else depends, and which
must be carefully husbanded and ecOno-
mized II the prosperity and happiness Of
the American nation and people ara TO be
! perpetBated through the coming centuries.
! These resources are. OF course, soil, for
ests minerals, and water. In Washing
/ tons time water was the only one that
/ there was any thought Of conserving or
I Of adapting 10 human needs. OF soil
there was so much that no man of that
/ age could have dreamed II its exhaustion.
/ Wood was 50 superabundant that II was
/ thought Of as s hindrance 10 be got rid of.
| Minerals had not been discovered; even
] hFf fatr sr7sa 4
was there any thought OF any lack Of
/ water. What was in mems minds was
! the improvement of navigable waterways.
and few men looked so far ahead IN this
matter as Washington. u was one Of the
dreams Of his life that the waters OF the
/ Potomac might be connected with those
I of the Western streams and thus q prac-
ticable communication for commodities be
/ created with the interior OF the country
and he left IN bis will 81. coo toward this
( contamination In this day wagon roads
hardly existed, and railroads had not been
/ dreamed of. In fact. the steam engine
4 had bat just been born. and in all Amer
I lea there was not one in operation. The
+ best that was then thought Of was water
| navigation, by san OF by oar or paddle.
That was then the acme OF transporta-
/ ton, and the regulation and Improvement
/ Of il was the theme OF discussion at
Mount Vernon 123 years ago.
The Fifth and Greatest Resource.
Scientists viii at the coming convention
discuss the treatment of the four great
physical resources. But President Roose-
veit. who is not scientist. viii discuss
a fifth resource. more important than ali
others.
/ Lord Beaconsheld. statesman and coin
or Of epigrams, said OF the French in the
Franeo-German war OF 1870 "They have
the defensive. the Notifications, the in
ner lines. and they had the mitrailleuse.
but of the instrument called a man they
could not produce a single specimen"
Germany had Moltke and a few other
specimens, and against them the newly
invented machine gun. the mitrsilleuse
cOSld not prevail
II Is OF man, the fifth and greatest re
source Of the country, and Of the waste
of him that President Roosevelt, it is I'M
deTstood and believed, viii chiefly speak
az the coming convention. In no other
/ civilized country is the conservation Of
human life so greatly needed, nowhere
else is the sacredness Of human life so
little regarded, nowhere else IN Chris
tendon is Il so wasted and slaughtered.
Shocked By conclusive proof that those
who forward the great divisions OF COM
merce now regard human life lightly and
look upon the man-machine as cheap and
easily replaced, President Roosevelt viii
tell the delegates that the time has come
TO appraise a life and screate a plan
whereby those Of responsibility can be
held accountable for all life wastage.
He Will ask that The railroads be pre-
vented from taking the lives Of 10000
human beings every twelvemOnth: that
conlagrstions in buildings be no longer
allowed to snuff out 5000 men, women.
and children every year, and that coal
mine owners be made TO see the waste
fulness Of destroying $500 men during the
working hours of a year. Ii is & reck-
less waste OF money to kin men, even II
no higher humanitarian thought be al
lowed to enter into the consideration of
the subject. Some OF the most conserva-
tive life insurance companies OF the old
World have placed a cash value Of $10,00e
on human being If worth that IN Eu-
rope. a man should be worth as much
here; but one observing the almost flip
pasi manner in which employers toss
them into t..s jaws Of the molochs Of
manufacture and transportation is forced
to a contrary view.
Thousands Of Lives Sacrificed.
In 1906 the lives of 5000 men. women.
and children were sacrificed through fires
in the seventy principal cities OF the
country, and besides that awful loss OF
life. the fires entailed a loss of S240. 600 coo
beyond the other millions spent in the
equipping and maintaining of freight
ing companies and In fire insurance poll
cies. An annual .mpost of So on every
one Of the S00o0.oo0 people Of the country
through conflagratiohs shows a radical
need for conservation. as such loss is
complete. The countries of Europe guard
their people and their buildings far bet
ter. the per capita loss from fires there