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

w.s,-hstur fer himself aud his call
dr~E
The natural resources ! have eat
ua~rat.a ean b. divided tnfo ro
sharply distinguished classes Aceosa =
tnxIy as they are or are not capaeae
Of renewal Mines il used must nsc*ss~
xmrlry he exhausted The minerals
do not and e2nno; renew themselves
Therefore. in dealing ~ith the coal
the oil. the gas. the iron ID" netAis
generally. all that we can do is To ny
to see that they are wisely used TIE
exhaustion Ii certain 10 come In Tune
The second class OF resources COP
xists of those which cannot only De
used ia such manner as 10 leave them
unftminlgh-d for our children. oa'
can actually be impoverished by Ssse
use The soil. the forests. the water
ways comes In this category. IN
dealing with mineral resources man
Is able TO improve on nature only by
putting the resources 10 beneficial
use which In the end exhausts them
but In dealing with the soil and It's
products man can improve on nature
by compelling the resources To renew
and even reconstruct themselves In
such manner as TO serve increasingly
beneficial uses-while the living wa
tiers can be SO controlled as 10 multi
ply their benefits.
Duty TO Posterity.
Neither the primitive man nor the
pioneer was aware OF any duty to
posterity in dealing with the renew
able resources. When the American
| settler felled the forests he felt that
there was plenty of forest left for the
sons who came after him. When he
exhausted the soil of his farm he felt
| that his son could go West and take
up another. So it was with his i'm
mediate successors. When the soil
| wash from the farmers fields choked
| the neighboring river he thought
| only of using the railway rather than
boats for moving his produce and
supplies.
| Now all this is changed. On the
average the son of the farmer of to-
| day must make his living on his
| fathers farm. There is no difficulty
in doing this if the father will exer'
else wisdom. No wise use of farm
exhausts its fertility. So with the
| forests. We are over the verge OF
| a timber famine in this country, and
| it is objectionable for the nation Oh
the States to permit any further cut
ing of our timber save in accordance
with a system which will provide
that the next generation shall see the
timber increased instead of dimin
ished. Moreover, we can add enor
nous tracts of the most valuable
possible agricultural land to the ma
tional domain by irrigation in the
arid and semi-arid regions and BY
drainage of great tracts of SWAMP
land in the humid regions.
i We can enormously increase oul
transportation facilities by the can
alizatiOn of our rivers so as to com
plete a great system of waterway:
on the Pacific, Atlantic and Gul
coasts and in the Mississippi Valley
1
}. ghenies and from the northern lake
to the mouth of the mighty father O
waters. But all these various use
of our natural resources are so close
ly connected that they should be co
ordinated, and should be treated a
, part of the coherent plan and not II
haphazard and piece-meal fashion.
&c Of no
!, appointed the Waterways Commits
, sion last year, and that have sough
: to perpetuate its work. l wish t.
take this opportunity to express il
heartiest fashion my acknowledg
7 ment to all the members of the Com
mission. At great personal sacriflc
: of time and effort they have render
ed service to the public for whic
we cannot be too grateful. Especia
credit is due to the initiative, tn
energy, the devotion to duty and tn
far-sightedness of Guilford Pinchot
to whom we owe so much of tn
PROCESS we have already made i
y handling this matter of the co-ord
, nation and conservatism of natura
resources. If it had not been 70
/ him this convention neither woul
nor could have been called.
Il We are coming to recognize a
: never before the right of the natio
. to guard it's own future in the essen
tial matter of natural resources. I
the past we have admitted the RICH
of the individual to fnjure the fr
ture of the Republic for his own pres
+ ent profit. The time has come for
q change. AS people We have tn
right and the duty, second to non
q other but the right and duty of obey
ing the moral law, of requiring an
n doing justice, to protect ourselve
and our children against the waste
4 full development of our natural re
h sources, whether that waste is cause
n by the actual destruction of such r.
sources or by making them imposs
: BILE of development hereafter.
IL Duty of the Nation.
: Any right-thinking father carr
e estly desires and strives to leave h
s son both an untarnished name and
reasonable equipment for the stru,
gle of life. So this nation as
n whole should earnestly desire an
a strive to leave to the next generatio
the national honor ,,nsfo;raa 4,