The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-05-21

uedFOTS 10 lay FOUNDATION Tor the pro
motion of the fortunes of his son, Sc
should this nation strive to build and save
for the next generatiOn-this was th'
keynote of President Roosevelt's address
at the opening of the conference on thu
conservation of natural resources.
If the future is not wisely anticipated
President Roosevelt believes, the country
as whole will suffer greatly. Inasmucl
as it is now within the power of the gov
eminent and of the people to begin a saD'
and sensible program of conservation, VIII.
not do it? The President emphasized
these points strongly. lie opened hi:
speech with a word of welcome, and ther
said in part:
This conference on the conservation o.
natural Resources Is in effect a meeting OF
the representatives of all the people of the
United States called TO consider the weight
lest problem now before the nation; ant
the occasion for the meeting lies in the fac
that the natural resources of our country
are IN danger of exhaustion If we permit
the old wasteful methods of exploiting then
longer to continue
1t is almost impossible for us in thi.
day TO realize how little our revolutionary
ancestors knew of the great store of natura
resources whose discovery and use have beer
such vital factors in the growth and great
ness of this. nation, and how little they re
quired TO take from this store in order Il
satisfy their needs.
Since then our knowledge and use Of thu
resources of the present territory of The
United States have increased a hundredfold
Indeed, the growth of this nation by
leaps and bounds makes one of the mos
striking and important chapters In the his
tory OF the world
Its growth has been due TO the rapiC
development, and alas that it should b.
said, to the rapid destruction. of our nat
ural resources
Nature has supplied to us in the United
States, and still supplies to us, more kinds
of resources in a more lavish degree thar
has ever been the case at any other time oil
with any other people.
Our position in the world has been at
tanned 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 pre-
vious time of history since the days o.
primitive man.
The wise use of all of our natural re
sources, which are our national resource.
as well, is the great material question o.
to-day.
| have asked you to come together rov
resources and the threat of imminent ex
haustion of some of them. due to rockies:
and wasteful use, once more calls for com
mon effort, common action.
Disregarding for the moment the ques
ton of moral purpose, it is safe to say tina
the prosperity of our people depends directly
on the energy and intelligence with which
our natural resources are used
IL Is equally clear that these resources ar
the final basis of national power and per
petuity- Finally, IL Is ominOusly evident
that these resources are in the course o.
rapid exhaustion.
This nation began with the belief that 1t.
landed possessions were illimitable ant
capable Of supporting all the people wht
might care to make our country their home
but already the limit of unsettled land il
in sight, and indeed but little land fitted
for agriculture now remains unOccupieG
save what can be reclaimed by irrigation
and drainage.
Timber Half Gone.
We began with an unapproached heritag,
of forests more than half of the timber
is gone.
We began with coal fields more extern
sive than those Of any other nation ant
with iron ores regarded as inexhaustible
and many experts now declare that the enc
of both iron and coal Is in sight.
The mere increase in our consumption
of coal during 1907 over 1906 exceeded the
total consumption in 1876. the centennia
year.
gas are largely gone.
Our natural waterways are not gone, but
they have been so injured by neglect, ant
by the division of responsibility and utter
lack of system in dealing with them. thai
there Is less navigation on them now thar
there was fifty years ago.
Finally, we began with soils of unex
ampled fertility and We have so impOver
ished Their. by injudcious use and by failini
to check erosion that their crop-producn,
A. incrpa 81
We have become great because OF the
lavish use of our resources and we have
just reason to be proud of our growth.
But the time has come to inquire seri
ously what Will happen when our forest:
are gone. when the coal. the iron, the oil
and the gas are exhausted. when the soil:
shall have been still further impoverished
and washed into the streams, polluting th'
rivers. denuding the fields, and obstructint
navigation.
1t is time for us now as a nation t.
exercise the same reasonable foresight IL
dealing with our great natural resource.
that world be shown by any prudent maj
in conserving and widely using the prop
erty which contains the assurance of well
being for himself and his children.
Cannot Renew Minerals.
The natural resources have enumerate,
can be divided into two sharply distinguish
ed classes accordingly as they are or ar
not capable or renewal.
Mines IL used must necessarily be ex
hausted The minerals do not and canno
renew themselves. Therefore in dealing will
the coal, the oil, the gas, the iron. tn
metals generally, all that We can do is &
try TO see that they are wisely used Tn
exhaustion is certain to come in time.
The second class of resources consist
Of those which can not only be used in sue
manner as TO leave them undiminished TO
our children, but can actually be improves
by wise use. The soil, the forests, tn
waterways come in this category.
In dealing with mineral resources. ma
is able to improve on nature only by put
ting the resources to beneficial use whicl
in the end exhausts them; but in dealin
with the soil and its products man cal
improve on nature by compelling the re
sources to renew and even reconstruct them
selves In such manner as to serve increas
ingly beneficial uses-while the livin
waters can be so controlled as TO multip
their benefits
Neither the primitive man nor the pionee
was aware Of any duty to posterity In deal
ing with the renewable resources.
When the American settler felled tn
forests, he felt that there was plenty o
forest left for the sons who came after him
he felt that his son could go west and tax
up another. SO 1t was with his immediat
successors.
When the soil-wash from the farmer
thought only of using the railway rattle
than boats for moving his produce and sur
plies
Now all this Is changed. On the aver
age the son of the farmer of to-day mus
make his living on his fathers farm.
There is no difficulty in doing this
the father will exercise wisdom. No wis
use of farm exhausts its fertility.
with the forests. We are over the verg
of a timber famine in this country, and
is objectionable for the nation or the State
to permit any further cutting of our tin
Der save In accordance with a system whic
will provide that the next generation sha
see the timber increased instead of dimir
fshed
Value of Irrigation.
Moreover, we can add enormous tract
of the most valuable possible agriculture
land TO the national domain by irrigation /
the arid and semiarid regions and by drair
age of great tracts of swamp land in tn
humid regions.
We can enormously increase our tran.
portation facilities by the canalization {
our rivers so as to complete a great sy.
TEN of waterways on the Pacific, Atlantic
and gulf coasts and in the Mississippi Va
ley. from the great plains to the ALI