Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-08

had occasion to appoint. under the provt-
engineers 60 sxsmine ana report upon the
Ohio river improvements, both upon q SIX
and a nine-foot basis and upon It's feasi-
a thorough examination, unqualifiedly re-
ported that the Improvement be made.
One-fifth Of the work had beens done
under previous reports and approyals, but
the rate Of progress was such that one
half century would not see its completion
A policy which brooks such delay Is
wasteful, II nothing worse. Some steps
toward a new departure in river and har-
Dor appropriations are apparent In the
rivers and hArbors bill passed by the
fifty-ninth congress. wherein provision is
made for the completion OF a much larger
proportion Of projects than In any pre-
vious measure"
the framing OF a broad, comprehensive
policy Of river and harbor improvements ~
being exerted by the national rivers and
harbors congress-, OF which body your asso-
citation Is a member, Its motto Is, MOI
a project" through its work the question
Of waterway improvements has been most
prominently and favorably brought before
the public and men Of the highest character
and Influence throughout the country are
enlisted In Its cause.
people, Prof. II. l. Brewer Of Yale univer4
sity, used to say that the haroest task
ever performed by man was that by tne
pioneers who settled that portion OF our
country lying west of the Allegheny. Tho
land was densely wooded. the nome or
hostile Indians and savage beasts Oniy
men Of high courage entered the Wilder
ness and only the vigorous and hardy were
able to endure It's hardships, fell the Tor
ests, roll the logs together for burning,
remove the giant roots and thus by the
most heartbreaking labor clear the SOL
for fields. Both earlier and later pioneers
required the firmer courage; those o, ,rnds
also physical strength and fortitude never
Did the effort payP Yes, in the largest
| aanso We ouyp nttr existence today to the
work of the pioneerss
Greatness of Nation.
Three things have made this nation great
among the nations OF the world-first, the
INVENTIVE genius, energy and industry OF
its people; second, the character OF us m
stitutlons: and third, its coal ana IRON ls
fertile fields and abundant productsnln a
its natural resources. But what Will me
ability and organization Of our people profit
us II the coal and iron are wasted anp u
the fields and forests lose their productive
This is not the time for statistics, but
repeat a few of the estimates recently
made by experts. If our present rate OF
use and destruction OF timber continues our
forests will be exhausted within a genera,
ton: II our currently increasing use OF all
of our known deposits continues, all our
high grade ore will be consumed during the
century; If the present eonsumpt on OF e and
other Goals will be gone before the endsoI
the next century. At any reasonable rate
last more than two or three generations,
and at the present appalling ratS Of waste
Our best natural fuel-gas-wil be ex-
hausted within a decade or two.
Conservation is the use Of Intelligent com.
mon sense and ordinary business foresight
in IIp,6 dsa lin bN with i6hrd 94E na az aSr p resTuTgt
Ten years ago conservation was uhhear1
of and we giOried In what we were pleased
to call our inexhaystlble resources During
this year 1905, following the suggestion of
the great conference OF governors held at
the White House last May we have begun
.. - 4 .N,Hlr - NAa EaHhnFHhc Most nf us
are now ready to face the issue courage
ously as our forefathers faced the untrod-
den wilderness and begin to conserve the
natural sources of our prosperity. As a
people we have the problem Of making our
forests outlast this generations, our iron
out last this century, and our coal the next;
not merely as a matter of convenience or
comfort, but as a matte of stern national
necessity.
to conserve our products were suggested.
Our development of water transportation
on the Mississippi and other inland water
ways of the country was brought about.
This is one of the greatest objects which
ever inspired aNconvention or awakened
a nation, not for\the objects of the con-
sumers of merchandise, but as equally nee
essary as one OF the central features of the
great policy of conservation on which our
whole future depends.
Carrying Ont improvements. "
My Judgment is that every great i'm
pr9yement' IKE that of ot the lakes to the
gull; IKE that Of me ONO ana MissouIl
q q = . AAN1 kAR -HSt1 eA@-
waterboards, should be treated as one
great enterprise. Just as the Panama canal,
and that provision should be made by bond,
OF otherwise, for the setting aside of a
fund sufficient to complete it as rapidly as
possible.
TO leave progress in this matter to the
fitful consideration of the appropriation Of
congress influenced by a desire to reduce
the total expenditure each year as much as
possible, is to impair the necessary support
of every one of these great enterprises and
to drag them along from year to year and
greatly to delay their ultimate completion.
A plan should not be adopted until fully
adopted by expert option and careful inves-
t~igation, but when 1t is investigated and
its utility is made certain, then It is neither
economy to- the government in the matter
Of expenditure nor is It a benefit TO the
people to delay the furnishing as rapidly
as It can be economically expended. OF the
full amount of money needed to make the
improvement a useful and completed thing.
Such associations as this are of the ut
most benefit. because they followed all leg
i~slatlve action In this matter to the closest
scrutiny and will not permit the temporary
fears and short-sighted political conditions
Of the members Of either legislative body
to interfere with the rapid construction Of
these needed improvements by movements
Of real economy.