The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-05-15

empire. while the service Of the post
was probably inferior.
In Washington's time anthracit
coal was known only as a useles
black stone; and the great fields Q
bituminous coal were undiscovered
As steam was unknown, the use o
coal for power production RAJ un
dreamed Of. Water was practical,
the only source Of power, save tn
labor Of men and animals; and thi
power "a used only in the most prim
tive fashion. But a few small iro1
deposits had been found In this coun
try. and the use Of iron by coun
trynen was very small. Wood wal
practically the ,nly fuel, and wha
lumber was sawed was consumed 10
cally, while the forests were regarded
chiefly as distractions to settlemen,
and cultivation.
Progress Phenomenal.
Such was the degree Of progress te
which civilized mankind had attained
when this nation began its career. II
is almost impossible for us in this day
to realize how little our revolutionary
ancestors knew of the great store OF
natural resources whose discovery and
use have been such vital factors In
the growth and greatness of this ma.
tion, and how little they required to
take from this store in order to sat.
isfy their needs.
Since then Dur knowledge and use
Of the resources Of the present terri.
tory Of the United States have in
creased a hundred-fold. Indeed, the
growth of this nation by leaps and
bounds makes one Of the most strik-
ing and important chapters in the his
tory Of the world. It's growth has been
due to the rapid development, and
alas! that It should be said, to the
rapid destruction Of our natural re-
sources. Nature has supplied to us in
the United States, and still supplies
to us, more kinds Of resources in a
more lavish degree than has ever been
the case at any other time or with any
other people. Our position in the
world has been attained by the extent
and thoroughness of the control we
have achieved over nature; but we
are more, and not less, dependent
upon what she furnishes than at any
previous time OF history since the
days of primitive man.
Washington Perfects Scheme.
Yet our fathers, though they knew
so little Of the resources of the coun-
try, exercised a wise forethought in
reference thereto. Washington clear
ly saw that the perpetuity of the
states could only be secured by union,
and that the only feasible basis of
union was an economic one; in other
words, that it must be based on the
development and use of their natural
resources. Accordingly, he helped to
outline a scheme of commercial devel-
opment, and by his influence an inter-
state waterways commission was ap-
pointed by Virginia and Maryland.
1t met e where we are now meet
ing, in Alexandria, adjourned to Mi.
Vernon, and took up the consideration
Of interstate commerce by the only
mean then available, that Of water.
Further conferences were arranged,
first at Annapolis and then at Phila-
delphia. It was in Philadelphia that
the representatives Of all the states
met for what was in its original con-
ceptfon merely a waterways confer
ence; but when they had closed their
deliberations the outcome was the
constitution which made the states
into a nation.
Natural Resources Material Question.
The constitution of the United
States thus grew in large part out of
the necessity for united action in the
wise use Of one of u natural re-
sources. The wise use of all of our
natural resources, which are our ma
tional resources as we'll, is the great
material question of today. I have
asked you to come together now be
cause the enormous consumption of
these resources, and the threat Of i'm
minent exhaustion Of some of them,
due to reckless and wasteful use, once
more calls for common effort, common
action.
Since the days when the constitu-
ton was adopted steam and electricity
have revolutionized the industrial
world. Nowhere has the revolution
been SO great as in our own country.
The discovery and utilization Of min.
eral fuels and alloys have given us
the lead over all other nations in the
production of steel. The discovery
and utilization Of coal and iron have
given us our railways, and have led
to such industrial development as has
never before been seen. The vast
wealth OF lumber in u forests, the