The Washington herald., 1908-05-14
GOVERNORS TO PRESERVE NATURAL RESOURCES OF NATION

than there was fifty years ago.
Finally. we began with soils of un-
exampled fertility and We have so
impoverished them by inJudicious use
and by falling 10 check erosion that
their erop-producing power Is dimin-
ishing instead Of increasing. In
word, we have thoughtlessly, and 20
a large degree unnecessarily, dimin-
ished the resources upon which not
only our prosperity but the prosperity
OF our children must always depend.
Time to Pause Is Now.
I'VE 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 serious
ly what will happen when our forests
are gone. when the coal. the iron. thc
oil and the gas are exhausted. when the
soils shall have been still further i'm
poverished and washed into the streams
ponuting the rivers. denuding the fields.
and. obstructing navigation. These ques-
tions do not relate only 10 the next CEN
tury or to the next generation. 1t Is
time for US now as a nation TO exercise
the same reasonable foresight in dealing
with our great natural resources that
would be shown by any prudent man in
conserving and widely using the property
which contains the assurance OF well-be-
ing for himself and his children.
THE natural resources have enumer-
ated can be divided into two sharply dis
tingulshed classes accordingly as they
are or are not capable OF renewal. Mines
II used must necessarily be exhausted.
The minerals do and cannot renew them
selves Therefore, in dealing with the
coal, the oil. the gas, the iron, the metals
generally all that we can do is 20 try
to see that they are wisely used. The
exhaustion is certain TO come IN time.
The second class Of resources consists
OF those which cannot only be used in
such a manner as 70 leave them undimin-
ished for our children. but can actually
be improved by wise use The soil the
forests, the waterways come in this cat
| egory. In dealing with mineral resources
man is able to improve on nature only
| by putting the resources to a beneficial
use which in the end exhausts them; but
! in dealing with the soil and its products
man can improve on nature by compel
ling the resources 10 renew and even re.
construct themselves IN such manner as
TO serve increasingly beneficial uses
while the living waters can be so control
| led as to multiply their benefits.
Remembers POsterity.
Neither the primitive man nor the
pioneer was aware OF any duty to pos
terity in dealing with the renewable re-
sources. When the American settler fell
| ed the forests he felt there was plenty
Of forest left for the sons who came after
him. When he exhausted the soil Of bis
/ farm he felt that his son could go West
+ and take Up another. So Il was with his
| immediate successors. When the soil
wash from the farmers field choked the
| Ineighborlng 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 exercise wis
/ dom. No wise use OF a farm exhausts
/ its fertility. So with the forests We
are over the verge Of a timber famine
! IN this country, and il is unpardonable
for the nation or the States 70 permit
any further cutting OF our timber save
! in accordance with a system which
! VIII provide that the next generation
1 shall see the timber increased instead
] of diminished. Moveover, we can
] add enormous tracts OF the most
valuable possible agricultural land 10
/ the national domain by irrigation in
/ the arid and semi-arid regions and by
/ drainage Of great tracts OF swamp land
in the humid regions. We can enor-
! mously Increase cur transportation
facilities by the canalization OF our
rivers so as 70 complete a great sys-
TEN Of waterways on the Pacific. At
lantic, and Gulf coasts and in the MS
slssippi Valley. from the Great Plains
20 the Ailegheuies and from the north
| ern lakes to the mouth OF the mighty
| Father Of Waters. But all these various