The Washington times., 1908-05-13
Great White House Confer
ence Hears Plea for
Conservation.
BREADS DEPLETION
OF NATURAL WEALTH
Future of the Country, He De-
clares, Depends on Correcting
Defects of Present.

The President made the follow
ing address to the governors Of the
States at the opening of the con
ference on the conservation of natu-
rel resources in the White House
this morning:
Governors of the several Stetes: and
gentlemen:
welcome you to this conference at
The White House. You have come
nither at my request so that we may
join together to consider the question
Of the conservation and use Of the
great fundamental sources OF wealth
OF this nation. So vital Is this ques-
ton, that for the first time in ou- his
tory the chief executive officers OF the
States separately, and Of the States to-
gether forming the nation. have met to
consider il.
With the governors come men from
each state chosen for their special
acquaintance with the terms Of the
problem that is before ms. Among Vhem
are experts in natural resources and
representatives OF national oTganiza-
tons concerned in the development and
use of these resources; the Senators
and Representatives In Congress: the
Supreme Court. the Cabinet. and the
Inland Waterways Commission have
likewise been invited 10 the conference.
which is therefore national in a pecu-
liar seuse.
This conference on the conservation Of
natural resources Is I'm effect a meeting
of the representatives OF all the people
of the United States called to consider
the weightiest problem now before the
nation; and the occasion for the meet
ing lies In the fact that the natural re-
sources OF our country are in danger OF
exhaustion If we permit the old waste
fuI methods Of exploiting them longer
to continue.
With the rise Of peoples from saw
ageTy TO civilization, and with the con-
sequeut growth In the extent and va
riety OF the needs OF the average man,
there comes a steadily Increasing growth
of the amount demanded by this aver
age man from the actual resources OF
the country. Yet, rather curiously, at
the same time the average man is apt
10 lose his realization OF this dependence
uTon nature.
Savages Are Superficial.
Savages. and very primitive peoples
generally, concern themselves only with
superficial natural resources; with
those which they obtain from the actual
surface Of the ground. AS peoples be
come a little less primitive, their in
dustries. although in a rude manner.
are extended 10 resources below the
surface, then. with what we cal civil
Ilzation and the extension Of llnowI-
edge. more resources come into use,
industries are multiplied, and foresight
begins to become a necessary and
prominent factor in life Crops are
cultivated; animals are domesticated;
and metals are mastered
Every step of the progress Of man
kind is marked 10y the discovery and
use OF natural resources previously an
used. without such progressive knowl-
edge and utilization Of natural resources
population could not grow, nor indus
tries multiply, nor the hidden wealth
OF the earth be developed for the bene-
Mt OF mankind.
From the first beginnings of Civiliza-
ton on the banks Of the Nile and the
Euphrates. the industrial progress OF
the hNIlI nae ENllF tAA eAk ~ WIN wv
casional setbacks, but on the whole
steadily through tens OF centuries, to
the present day. But Of late the rapid
ity OF the process has increased at such
a rate that more space has been actual
~ covered during the century and a
Quarter occupied by our national life
than during the preceding 5000 years
that take US back TO tine earliest mon
uwents Of Egypt 10 the earliest cities
OF the Babylonian plain.
When the founders of this nation
met at Independence Hall in Phlla-
dolphin. the conditions of commerce
had not fundamentally changed
from what they were when the
PhoenIcian keels first furrOwed the
lonely waters of the Mediterranean.
The differences were those of de-
gree, not of kind, and they were
not in all eases even those Of de-
gree. Mining was carried on fun
damentally as it had been carried
on by the PharaOhs i'm the cOun-
tries adjacent to 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, We're carried by
boats propelled by sails or oars; II they
went by land were carried in wagons
drawn BY beasts of draft or 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 propelled by sails. and on
land, the roads were not as good as the
roads Of the Roman Empire, while the
service of the posts was probably in
ferior.
In Washington's time anthracite coal
was known only as a useless black stone,
and The great fields Of bituminOus coal
were undiscovered. AS steam was un-
known, the use Of coal for power pro-
duction was undreamed of. Water
was practically the only source OF
power, save the labor of men and ami
mails: and this power was used only in
the most primitive fashion. But a few
small iron deposits had been found IN
this country. and the use Of iron by our
c0untrymen was very small. Wood was
practically the only fuel, and what
lumber was sawed was consumed To-
cally while the forests were regarded