Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-13

In greeting those who have come to
Washington 10 attend the governors con-
ference on natural resources and who as
senrbled at the White House today. the
President said:
Governors of the several states; and gen.
tlemen:
/ welcome YOU to this conference at the
White House You have come hither at
my request SO that We may join together
To consider the question of the conserva-
;inn and use OF the great fundamental
sources of wealth of this nation. So vital
is this question, that for the first time
in our history the chief executive officers
uf the states separately. and Of the states
together forming the nation. have met to
consider 1t.
With the governors come men from
each state chosen for their special ac-
aIaintance with the terms of the prob
,em that is before US. Among them are
experts in natural resources and repre-
sentatives Of national organizations con-
cerned in the development and Of
these resources; the senators and repre-
sentatives in Congress: the Supreme
Court. the cabinet and the inland water
ways commission have likewise been N
vited to the conference. which is there
fore nationa! in d peculiar sense.
This conference on the conservation Of
natural resources is in effect meeting
of The representatives of all the people
OF the United States called to consider the
weightiest problem now before the ma
rion: and the occasion for the meeting
lies in the fact that the natural resources
of our country are in danger OF exhaus-
ton if we permit the old wasteful meth
tinue.
Mans Dependence Upon Nature.
With the rise of peoples from savagery
20 civilization, and with the consequent
growth In the extent and variety of the
needs of the average man, there comes
a steadily increasing growth of the
amount demanded by this average man
from the actual resources of the country.
Yet, rather curiously. at the same time
the average man is apt to lose his reaIiza-
tiun of this dependence upon nature.
Savages and very primitive peoples gen
rally concern themselves only with su-
perficiaI natural resources-with those
which they obtain from the actual surface
OF tic ground. As peoples become "a little
less primitive their Industries. although
II a rude manner, are extended to re-
IL,
with what we call civilization and
the extension OF knowledge. more
resources come into use, industries
are multiplied and foresight begins to
become necessary and prominent fac
1or in life. Crops are cultivated. ami
mails domesticated and metals are
,..astered-
Every step of the progress Of mankind
= - marked by the discovery and use OF
natural resources previously unused
Without such progressive knowledge and
utilization of natural resources popua-
lion could not grow. nor industries null
'ipiy, nor the hidden wealth of the earth
% developed for tn. benefit o: mankind
From The fi-st beginnings of civilization.
Jn the banks Of tn. Nile and the Eu-
pArateS. tne industrial progress OF the
world has gone on slowly. with occasional
setbacks. but on the whole steadily through
tens OF centuries 20 the present day. But
- late the rapidity Of the process has
increased at such rate tijat more space
haS been actually covered during the
century and quarter occupied by our
national life than during the preceding
TX Thousand years that take us back to
i..e earliest monuments of Egypt. To the
earliest cities of TIE Babylonan plain.
In Days of Old
When the founders cf this nation met
at Independence Hal. in Philadelphia
the conditions OF commerce had not furda-
mentally changed from what they were
when the Pnoenician keeis first furrowed
the lonely waters OF the Mediterranean
The differences We're those OF degree, not
Df kind. and they We're not IN all cases
even those of degree. Mining was carried
on fundamentally as ii had been carried
ON by the Pharaohs in the countries ad-
jaCent 10 the Red sea.
The wares OF the merchants Of Bos-
ton. of Charleston. like the wares of the
merchants of Nineveh and Sidon.. II they
went by water. were carried by boats pro-
PEELED by sails or oars; II they went BY
. land they were carried i'll wagons drawn
by beasts of draft in packs on the
backs OF beasts of burden. The ships that
crossed the high seas were better than
the ships that had once crossed the
Aegean but they were OF the same type.
after all-they were wooden ships pro-
uelled by sails: and on land. the roads
were not as good as the roads OF the