The daily sentinel., 1908-05-13

use of natural resources previously
unused. Without such progressive
knowledge and utilization of natural
resources population could not grow,
nor industries multiply, nor the hid
den wealth OF the earth be developed
for the benefit of mankind.
From the first beginnings of civ
ilization on the banks of the Nile and
the Euphrates, the industrial progress
OF the world has gone on slowly, with
occasional setbacks. but on the whole
steadily, through tens of centuries
to the present day. But of late the
rapidity of the process has increased
at such rate that more space has been
actually covered during the century
and a quarter occupied during the
preceding six thousand years that
take us back to the earliest monu-
ments of Egypt, to the earliest cities
of the Babylonian plain.
when the founders of this nation
met at Independence Hall in Phila-
delphia the conditions of commerce
had not fundamentally changed from
what they were when the Phoenician
keels first furrowed the lonely wa
ters of the Mediterranean The diff
ferences were those of degree, not of
kind and they were not in all cases
| even those of degree. Mining was car
ried on fundamentally as it had been
carried on by the Pharoahs in the
countries adjacent to the Red Sea.
The wares of the merchants of
Boston or Charleston. like the wares
of the merchants of Nineveh and ST.
don. if they went by water, were car
ried by boats propelled by sails or
oars; if they went by land were car
I .,,. Ia. 4
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 propelled
by sails; and on land, the roads We're
not as good as the roads of the Ro-
man Empire, while the service of the
posts was probably inferior.
In Washington time anthracite
coal was known only as a useless
black stone: and the great fields of
bituminous coal were undiscovered
AS steam was unknown. the use of
coal for power production was un-
dreamed of. Water was practically
the only source of power, save the
labor of men and animals: and this
power was used only in the most
primitive fashion. But a few small
nun uSlloHiAo lldb pCtn lOulu III lnlS
country, and the use of iron by our
countrymen was very small. Wood
was practically the only fuel, and
what lumber was sawed was consum-
ed locally. while the forests were re-
garded chiefly as distractions to set
tlement and cultivation.
Such was the degree of progress
TO which civilized mankind had attain
ed when this nation began its career.
II is almost impossible for us in this
day to realize how little our Revol-
ytionary ancestors knew of the great
store of natural resources whose dis
covery and use have been such vital
factors in the growth and greatness
of this nation. and how little they re-
quired to take from this store in or
der to satisfy their needs.
Since then our knowledge and use
of the resources of the present terri
tory of the United States have in
creased a hundred-fold. Indeed. the
growth OF this nation by leaps and
bounds makes one of the most strilS-
ing and important chanters in the his
tory of the world Its growth has
been due to the rapid development.
and alas, that il should be said. to
the rapid destruction, of our natural
resources. Nature has supplied to us
in the United States, and still sup
plies to us. more kinds of resources
in a more lavish degree than has ever
heen The case at any other time or
with any other people. Our position
in the world has been attained by the
extent and thorouehness of the CON
troll we have achieved over nature
but We are more, and not less, de-
pendent upon what she furnishes
than at any previous time of history
since the days of primitive man.
Yet our fathers, though they knew
so little of the resources of the coun-
try, exercised a wide forethouEht in
reference thereto. Washington clearly
saw that the perpetuity of the states
could only be secured by union, ard
that the only feasible basis of union
was an economic one: in other words
that il must be based on the develop
mont and use of their natural re-
sources. Accordingl~ he helped TO
outline n scheme of commercial de-
velopment. and bv his influence an
Interstate waterways commission was
appointed by Virginia and Maryland
1T met near where we are row
meeting. in Alexandria. adjourned to
Mount Vernon md to9l- up The CON
sideration of intcratlte commerce by
the only means then available that of
water. Further conferences We're ar
ranged. first at Annapolis and then ut
PHILADELPHIA. II was in Philadelphia
that the representatives of alt the
: ates met for what was in its original
conception merely waterways CON
ference: but when they had closed
their deliberations the outcome was
The Constitution which made the
states into a nation.
The Constitution of the United
States thus grew in large part out of |
the necessity for united action in the
wise use of one of natural resources. |
The wise use of all of our natural re-
sources. which are our national re-
sources as we'll. is the great material |