The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-06-01
Conserving the Natural Resorces
By a Staff Writer.

| be secured by union, and that the only
feasible basis of union was an eco
nomic one; in other words, that it
must be based on the development and
use of their natural resources. Ac-
cordingly, he helped to outline a
scheme of commercial development,
and by his influence an interstate
waterways commission was appointed
by Virginia and Maryland.
Further conferences were arranged,
first at Annapolis and then at Phila-
delphia. 1t was in Philadelphia that
the representatives of all the states
met for what was in it's original con-
I ception merely a waterways confer
ence; but when they had closed their
deliberations the outcome was the Con-
stitution which made the states into
| Nation.
every step of the progress of man.
| kind has been marked by the discov-
cry and use of natural resources pre-
viously unused Without such progress
sive knowledge and utilization of nat
ura1 resources population would not
grow, nor the hidden wealth of the
earth be developed for the benefit of
mankind.
"From the first beginnings of civil.
aztion, on the banks of the Nile and
the Euphrates, the industrial progress
of the world has gone slowly, with
occasional 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
rate that more space has been &C
tua1ly covered during the century and
quarter occupied by our national life
than during the preceding six thou
sand years that take us back to the
earliest cities of the Babylonian plain
"Since the days when the Constitu
tuition was adopted. steam and cleo
tricity have revollitionized the indus
| trial world. Nowhere has the revolu-
ton been so great as in our own coun-
| try. The steadily increasing drain on
these natural resources has promoted
| to an extraordinary degree the complex
| iy of our industrial and social life.
Moreover, this unexampled develop
ment has had determining effect upon
the character and opinions Of our peo-
| pie.
"Disregarding for the moment the
question of moral purpose, it is safe to
| say that the prosperity Of our people
| depends directly on the energy and in
telligence with which our natural re-
sources are used. 1t is equally clear
that these resources are the final basis
of natural power and perpetuity. Final
| ly, it is ominously evident that these
resources are in the course of rapid ex-
haustion.
ALREADY the limit of unsettled land
| is in sight,, and indeed but little land
fitted for agriculture now remains I'M
occupied save what can be reclaimed by
| irrigation and drainage. We began
with an unapproachable heritage OF
| forests; more than half of the timber
| is gone. We began with coal fields
more extensive than those of any other
nation and with iron ores regarded as
inexhaustible, and many experts now
declare that the end of both iron and
coal is in sight.
"Our natural waterways are not
gone, but they have been so injured
| by neglect and by the division Of re-
sponsibility and utter lack of system
| in dealing with them that there is less
navigation on them now than there
was so years ago. Finally, we began
with soils of unexampled fertility and
we have so impoverished them by in
judicious use and failing to check ero-/
sion that their crop producing power is
diminishing instead of increasing.
"The natural resources I have enum-
Grated can be divided into two sharply
distinguished classes accordingly as
they are or are not capable of renewal.
| Mines If used must necessarily be eX-
hausted. The minerals do not and can
not renew themselves. Theferore all
that we can do is to try to see that