The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-14

the Centennial year The enormous stores of mineral oil and gas are large " gone Our natural waterways are not gone. but they have been so in, Jured by neglect, and by the division or responsibility and utter lack of system in dealing with them. that there IS less navigation ,on them now than there was fifty years ago. Finally, we began with soils of unexampied fer tility and we have so impoverished them by iniudicious use and by fail- ing te check erosion that their crop producing power Is diminishing instead of increasing. In word. We have thoughtfully. and to a large degree un- necessarily, diminished the resources upon which not only ou, prosperity but the prosperity Of our children must always depend.
 We 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 seriously. what will hap pen when our forests are gone, when the coal, iron. the soil and the gas are exhausted when the soils shall have been still impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers. denuding the fields, and ob-- structing navigation These questions do not relate only to the next cen tury or to the next generation. It is time for us now as a Nation to ex- ercise the same reasonable foresight in dealing with our great natural res ources that would be shown by any prudent man conserving and widely using the property which contains the and and his % cblidren. essssnk 4. 10r h''''sn
 The natural res6urcss I have en- umerated gam be divided Into two sharply distinguishsd classes accord ingly as they are or are not capable of renewal Mines if used must nec- esSarfly hd exh The l. do not and can not renew themselves. Therefore in dealing with the coal the oil. the gas, the iron, the metals generally. all that we can do is to try to see that they are wisely used The exhaustion Is certain to come in time.
 The second class of resources con sists of those which cannot only be used in such manner as to leave them ur unfinished for our children, but can os t- Fly be improved by wise use. The soil the forests, the waterways come 1T tAts category. In dealing with mineral resources. man is able to im- prove 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 compelling the resources to renew and then re- construct themselves in such manner as to serve increasing beneficial uses while the living waters can be so controlled as to multiply their bene- fits.
 Must Conserve Timber.
 Neither the primitive man nor the pioneer was aware of any duty to pos serity sey in dealing with the renewable relied the forests, he felt that there was plenty of forest left for the sons wno VI came after him. When he exhaust his son could go West and take up another So 1t was with his immedi- ate ate, successors % When the soil: wash neighboring river he thought only of using the railway rather than boats moeSing e.Nng his a' Ps9pduee Psp6 ss and supplies
 average the son of a farmer of today farm. There is no dimculty in doing dom. No wise use of farm exhausts are over the verge of a timber famine for the Nation or the States to permit any further cutting of our timber save m accordance with a system which VII provide that the. next generation of diminished. Moreover we can add enormous '~s-ts of the most valuable possible agricultural land to the na- and semiarid regions and by drainage | of great tracts of swamp land in the 1 humid regions. We can enormously increase our transportation facilities | by the canaiization of our rivers SO as | to complete 3 great system of water | ways on the Pacinc. Atlantic, and Cuff | from the Great PlSins iiTs,pP to the V1lisy. AiIsy.. ghenies and from the northern lakes t99 the S,o9 mouth Of the mighty Father pious pL waters nsss But all these va Hscded that bhey Should dflSSseiS Ss cOordinst- GGa cd and should be. treated as part of | one coherent plan and not in haphaz- ard and piecemeal fashion.
 It is largely becaust of this that I | appointed the Waterways Commission last year and that have sought to perpetuate its work. I wish to take | this opportunity to express in hearti- | sst fashion my acknowledgement to all | the members of the Commission. At | great personal sacrifice of time and eff fort they have rendered a service to the public for which we can not be too | initiative, the energy. the devotion to duty and the farsigh tedness of Gifford | Pinchot. to whom we owe so much of | the progress we have already made in | handling this matter of the co-ordIna- tfon and conservation of natural re- sources. If it had not been for him @ tnis convention S neither would nor could
 We are coming to recognize as nev- CT before the right of the nation to guard It's own future in the essential
  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 Asa people we have the right and the duty | second to none other but the right and | duty Of obeying the moral law, of re- quiring and doing justice, to protect | wasteful development of our natural | resources. whether that waste Is caused | by the actual destruction of such re- sources or by making them impossible | of development hereafter.
 Resources for POsterity.
 Amy right thinking father earnest ty desires and strives to leave hls son | sonable equipment for the struggle of | life. So this nation as a whole should | earn estly desire and strive to leave to | the next generation the national honor | unstained and the national resources | unexhausted. There are signs that | both the nation and the states are | waking to a realization of this great | Court of Maine rendered an exceeding ly important judicial decision. This | opinion was rendered in response to questions as to the right of the Legis- lature to restrict the cutting of trees on private land for the prevention of | droughts and floods, the preservation of the natural water supply. and the | and the consequent filling up of rivers. | ponds and lakes. The forests and wa ter power of Maine constitute the | larger part of her wealth and form the 1 basis of her industrial life, and the | question submitted by the Maine Sen ate to the Supreme Court and the an- swer of the Supreme Court alike bear | NA