The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1908-05-21

variety OF the needs OF the averags
| man. there comes . steadily increas.
fng growth OF the amount demanded
By this average man from the aetuai
/ resources Of the country. Yet. rath
er euriously. at the same time ths
average man Is apt to lose his reaii.
zation of this dependence upoE IA
ture.
Savages and very primitive peo.
Piles genearily concern themselves
only with superficial natural re.
sources-with those which they OBJ.
| tain from the actual surface of the
ground. As peoples become q little
less primitive their industries, al
though In a rude manner, are ex.
tended to resources below the sur
face: then, with what we call civili-
zation and the extension of knowl-
edge, more resources come into use
industries are multiplied and fore
sight begins to become a necessary
and prominent factor I'm life. Crops
are cultivated, animals are domesti-
Gated and metals are mastered
Every step of the progress of man
kind is marked by the discovery and
use OF natural resources previously
unused. Without such progressive
knowledge and utilization of natural
resources population could not grow.
nor industries multiply, nor the hid
den wealth of the earth be developed
for hn
From the first beginnings of civili-
zation. on the banks of the Nile and
the Euphrates, the industrial prog
ress of the world has gone on slow
ly, with occasional setbacks, but on
the whole steadily, through tens Of
centuries to the present day. But
of late the rapidity of the process
has increased at such a rate that
more space has been actually covered
during the century and a quarter oc-
cupied by our national life than dur
ing the preceding six thousand years
that takes US back to the earliest
monuments of Egypt. to the earliest
cities of the Babylonian plain.
In Days of Old.
When the founders of this nation
met at Independence Hall, in Phila-
had not fundamentally changed from
what they were when the Phoenician
keels first furrowed the lonely wa
ters of the Mediterranean. The diff
ferences were those of degree, not
of kind, and they were not in al
was carried on fundamentally as il
had been carried on by the Pharoahs
| in the countries adjacent to the Red
| Sea.
The wares of the merchants OF
Boston, of Charleston, like the wares
don, If they went by water, were car
ried by boats propelled by sails OF
oars; if they went by land they were
carried in wagons drawn by beasts o.
draft or in packs on the backs o.
beasts of burden. The ships tina
crossed the high seas were better
than the ships that had once crossed
the Aegean, but they were of th'
same type, after all-they were
wooden ships propelled by sails; ant
on land, the roads were not as goot
as the roads of the Roman Empire
while the service of the posts wa
probably inferior.
In Washington's time anthracite
coal was known only as a useles
black stone; and the great fields o
bitumous coal were undiscovered. A
steam was unknown, the use of Goa
for power production was undreame'
lOf. Water was practically the Onl
source of power, save the labor o
men and animals; and this powe
was used only in the most primitiv
fashion. But a few small iron de
posts had been found in this coun
try, and the use of iron by our coun
trymen was very small. Wood wa
practically the only fuel, and wha
lumber was sawed was consumed lC
cally, while the forests were regard
ed chiefly as distractions to settle
ment and cultivation.
Such was the degree of progress
settlement and cultivation.
Such was the degree of progress
| to which civilized mankind had a
tained when this nation began il
| career. 1t is almost impossible fe
us in this day to realize how litt
z lour revolutionary ancestors knew {
e the great store of natural resource
Y whose discovery and use have bee
: such vital factors in the growth ar
f greatness of this nation, and how Ii
f tie they required to take from tn
s store in order to satisfy their needs
Growth of the Nation.
d Since then our knowledge and u
e of the resources of the present teri
tory of the United States have /
n creased a hundredfold. Indeed, Il
= growth of this nation by leaps al
# bounds makes one of the most stri
g ing and important chapters in t
&c history of the world. Its growth b
r been due to the rapid developmel
J. and alas! that it should be said,
): the rapid destruction, of our natur
n resources. Nature has supplied
,e US in the United States, and still su
IS plies to us, more kinds of resourc
n in a more lavish degree than has ey
is been the case at any other time
ar with any other people. Our positi
in the world has been attained by
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