The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-05-13
PRES!gENT IELLs
tcontInned from paee Is

II -
these natural resources has prnmosaS
q an extraordinary degree Inc CONF
plexity Of our Industrial ana social
life. Moreover, this nnexampled de-
yelcpment has had a determining ef-
feet npon the character ana opinions
Of onrs people. The demand for a.
fieieney In the great task has given.
us vigor, effectiveness, decision ana
power, and q capacity tor achieve
ment which in Its own lines has never
yet been matched. SO great and 81
rapid has been our material growth
that there has been tendency to lag
behind in spiritual andfmoral growth /:
but that Is not the subject upon
which speak to You today.
We have become great because al
the lavish use Of our resources ana
We have just'reason to be proud Of
our growth. But the time has come
70 inquire seriously what win happen
when our forests are gone. when the
coal, the iron, the oil. and the "a
are exhausted, when the soils shan
have still further impoverished and
washed into the streams, polluting
the rivers, denuding the fields. and
'obstructing navigation.
The natural resources / have en-
umerated can be divided into two
sharply, distinguished classes accord
ingly as they are or are not CAPABLE
of renewal Mines IL used mnst
necessarily be exhausted. The min
erals do'not and can not renew them
selves. Therefore in dealing with
tn coal. the oil, the, gas, the iron. the
metals generally, all that we can do
Is to try to see that they5are wisely
used. The exhaustion is certain to
come in time.
The second class of resources con-
sists of those which can not only be
used in such manner as to leave them
undiminihed for our children. but
can actually be improved by wise
use. The soil, the forests, the water
ways come in this category. In
dealing with mineral resources. man
Is able to improve on nature only by
putting the resources to beneficia,
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 re-
new and even reconstruct themselves
in such manner as to serve increas-
ingly beneficial uses-while the liv-
ing waters can be so controlled as
to multiply their benefits.
We are coming to recognize as
never before the right of the Nation
to guard its own future in the essen-
tial matter OF natural resources. In
the past we have admitted the right
of the individual to injure the future
of the Republic for his own present
profit. The time has come for a
change. AS, ~ people we have the
right and the duty. second to none
other but the right and duty of obey
Ing the moral law, Of requiring and
doing Justice. to protect ourselves
and our children against the wasteful
development of our natural resouf-
ces, whether that waste Is caused by
the actual destruction of such re-
sources or by making them impos-
sible of development hereafter.
We do not think the proposed leg
,islation would operate to take" pri-
vate properky4 within the Inhibition
OF the Consultation While it might
restrict the owner of wild and un-
cultivated lands in his use OF them.
might delay his taking some Of the
product, might delay his anticipated
profits and even thereby might cause
him some loss of profit, 1t would
nevertheless leave him his hands,
their product and increase, untouch-
ed, and without diminution of title,
estate, or quantity. He would still
have large measure of control and
large opportunity to reallve values.
He might suffer delay but not de-
privation. -" The proposed leg
islation would be within the
legislative power and would not OPP
crate as taking of private property
for which compensation must be
made.
Finally, let us remember that the
conservation OF our natural re-
sources, though the gravest problem
of today, is yet but part OF another
and greater problem to which this
Nation is not yet awake, but to
which 1t will awake in time, and
with which 1t must hereafter grapple
II 1t is to liye-the problem of ma
tional efficiency, the patriotic duty
of insurlng the safety and continu-
ance of the Nation. When the peo-
pie OF the United States consciously
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 national life, and to do this
because it is the first OF all the dut-
les of true patriotism, then and not
till then the future OF this Nation,
in quality and In time, win be as
sured.
The president was applauded many