The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-13
With an Address Outlining the
Objects of the Meeting.
WEIGHTIEST PROBLEM
That Is Now Before the Nation.
He Declares
Is the Danger of Exhaustion to
Our Natural Resources.

the conference on the conservation
or natural resources at the White
House today, President Roosevelt
spoke as follows:
Governors of the Several States: and
Gentlemen:
1 welcome you to this conferences at
the White House. You have come
nltner at my request so that we NAV
JOIN together to consider the question
OF the conservation and use of the
this nation. So vital is this Question.
tnat Tor the first time in our history
the chief executive officers of the states
separately, and of the states together
slider 1t.
With the governors come men from
each state chosen for their special ac-
qua1ntance with the terms of the prob
lem that is before us. Among them are
experts in natural resources and repre-
sentatives of national organizations
concerned in the development and use
or these resources: the senators and
representatives in congress; the su-
preme court, the cabinet, and the in
land waterways commission have like
wise been invited to the conference.
which is therefore national in a pecul-
lar sense.
This conference on the conservation
| or natural resources is in effect meet
ing 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 meeting lies in the fact that the
natural resources Of our country are
in danger Of exhaustion If we permit
| the old wastefu1 methods of exploiting
them longer to continue.
With the rise of people from savag-
cry to civilization, and with the conse-
quent growth in the extent and variety
of the needs Of the average man. there
comes 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 realization Of this dependence
upon nature.
Savages and very primitive peoples
generally, concern themselves only
with superficial natural resources; with
those which they obtain from the act
ual surface of the ground. AS peoples
become a little less primitive. their in
: dustries, although in rude manner,
. are extended to resources below the
: surface; then, with what we call civil
} ization and the extension of knowledge.
more resources come into use, indus
tries are multiplied and foresight be-
gins to become a necessary and prom
inent factor in life. Crops are cultivate
ed; animals are domesticated; and
metals are mastered.
Progress Marked by Discovery.
Every step of the progress OF man
kind is marked by the discovery and
use of natural resources previously un-
\ used. without such progressive knowl-
edge and utilization of natural re-
sources population could not grow. nor
industries multiply, nor the hidden
wealth Of the earth be developed TOT
the benefit of mankind.
From the first beginnings Of civiliza-
ton. on the banks of the Nile and the
Euphrates, the industrial progress OF
the world has gone on slowly, with oc-
casional setbacks. but on the wnoie
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
and a quarter occupied by our national
life than during the preceding SIX tnou-
sand years that take us back to the
earliest monuments of Egypt, to the
earliest cities Of the Babylonian plain
| When the founders Of this nation
met at independence hall in Philadel-
phia the conditions of commerce had
not fundamentally changed from
what thew were when the Phoenician
keels first furrowed the lonely waters
of the Mediterranean. The differ
ences were those of degree, not or
kind. and they were not In all cases
even those of degree. Mining was
carried on fundamentally as it had
been carried on by the PhaTaons -. IN
the countries adjacent to the Red sea.
The wares of the merchants OF Bos-
ton. of Charleston, like the wares OF
the merchants of Nfneveh and Sidon.
if thew went by water, were carried
by boats propelled by sails or oars; II
they went by land were carried IN
wagons drawn by beasts of draft or
An hacks 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,
hut they were Of the same type, after
| aI1-they were wooden ships pro-
nelled 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 INFERIOR.
) when Coal Was Unknown.
In Washington's time anthracite
coal was known only as useless
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 la
, Dor of men and animals; and this
| power was used only in the most
| primitive fashion. But few small
, | IRON deposits had been found in this
, country. and the use of iron by our
. countrymen was very small. Wood
, was practically the only fuel. and
| what lumber was sawed was con-
sumed locally, while the forests were
regarded chiefly as distractions to
| settlement and cultivation
Fl Such was the degree of progress to
) which civilized mankind mad attained
when this nation began its career. 1t
: is almost impossible for US in this day
{ to realize how little our revolutionary
{ ancestors knew of the great store OF
| natural resources whose discovery
and use have been such vital factors