The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-14

resources or by making them impossible Of development hereafter.
 i Any right thinking father earnestly de l sires and strives to leave his son both an untarnished name and a reasonable equip ment for the struggle of life. So this nation as whole should earnestly desire and strive to leave to the next genera 1 tion the national honor unstained and the l national resources unexhausted. There ] are signs that both the nation and are states are waking to a realization of this great truth. On May 19, 190S the su- preme court of Maine rendered an eX- ceedingly important judicial decision. This opinion was rendered in response to ques- i tions as to the right of the legislature ] to restrict the cutting of trees on private i land for the prevention of droughts and l floods, the preservation of the natural water supply and the prevention of the erosion of such lands and the consequent filling up of rivers, ponds and lakes. The l forests and water power of Maine consti- tute the larger part of her wealth and l form the basis of her industrial life, and 1 the question submitted by the Maine sen ate to the supreme court and the answer of the supreme court alike bear testi- mony to the wisdom of the people of Maine and clearly define a policy of con- servation of natural resources the adop- ton of which is of vital importahce not merely to Maine but to the whole country. chiIdren's Heritage.
 Such policy will preserve soil, forests, | water power as a heritage for the chill dren and the chldren's children of the men and women of this generation; for any enactment that provides for the wise utilization of the forests, whether in pub | lic for ba servation of the water resources of the 1 country, must necessarily be legislation l that will promote both private and public welfare: for flood prevention, water pow CT development, preservation of the soil and improvement of navigable rivers are all promoted by such policy of forest 1 conservation.
 1 The opinion of the Maine supreme court bench sets forth unequivocally the prin- | clple that the property rights of the indi- 1 vdual are subordinate to the rights of the community, and especially that the waste I of wild timber land derived originally from the state, involving as it would the | impoverishment of the state and it's peo- pie and thereby defeating one great pur- pose of government, may properly be 1 These decisions reach the root of the idea of conservation of our resources in the interests of our people.
 Finally, let us remember that the con- servation of our natural resources, though the gravest problem of today, is 1 yet but part of another and greater prob- 1 lem to which this nation is not yet awake but to which it will awake in time, and with which it must hereafter grapple if | it is to live-the problem of national eff cheney, the patriotic duty of insurng the l safety and continuance of the nation. | When the people of the United States con- | sciously undertake to raise themselves as citizens, and the nation and the states in their several spheres, to the highest pitch | of excellence in private, state and na- tional life. and to do this it is the first of 1 all the duties of true patriotism, then and not till then the future of this nation in quality and in time, will be assured. 1 Informal Reception.
 The session ended at noon when tn g President and Vice President gave an informal reception to those who had attended the meeting. Immediate y afterward he met the governors, mem bers of the supreme court and oth CTS who were his minor guests last nigot in the blue drawing room.
 After the reception the governors assembled on the portco of the Whire House with the President and Vice President and the specially invited guests, which included w. J. Bryan Andrew Carnegie, J. J. Hill and Gus tav SchWab, where several groups oi photographs were made.
 President Roosevelt opened the aft ernoon session and called Governo
 Noel of Mississippi to the chair t' preside, explaining that his dutle.
 would not permit of his being in con stant attendance at the conference. Introductory to his remarks on th' conversation of ores and related min
 erals, MT. Carnegie departed some
 what from his written remarks wh CT
 he expressed the hope that when thu
 conference adjourned it would do st at the call of the President.
 Governor Johnson Speaks.
 Governor Johnson of Minnesota mad
 lively talk in which he took issl,
 with Mir Carnegies statement as t.
 what was the full methods that pre-
 vailed in iron mining in the Lake Su
 perior region. Two problems. he said
 confronted the conferences; one was tn, I conservation of the nations resources the other the true development of in
 dustry. One, he said, was as great al
 the other.
 Technical information was next sup
 piled the conference by pr. c. R. Var
 Heise of the University of Michigan and John Hayes Hammond, a mining engineer.
 The climas of the afternoon sessior
 was the speech of Secretary of State
 Elihu Root, who was received witr | great enthusiasm.
 Elihu Root Speaks.
 "Forty-four sovereign states are rep
 resented here today" said MT. Root. Al
 are sovereign, here upon the invitation O
 the executive of the sovereign nation
 the United States.
 No one can overestmate the impor
 tance of maintaining each and every on
 of the sovereignties of the states, and n
 one can overestimate the importance O
 maintaining the sovereignty of the Uni
 ted States. The nation cannot perform
 the functions of the states sovereignties II If it were to undertake to perform thos | functions it would break down-the ma
 chinery would not be able to perform tn | duty. The pressure is already yer,