Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-05-14

Land thoronghness of the control we
| have achieved over nature; but we are
more. and not less, dependent upon
what she furnishes than at any pre-
vious 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 wise forethought in
reference thereto Washington clearly
saw that the perpetuity of the States
could only be secured by union, and
that the only feasible basis Of union
| was an economic one; in other words,
that it must be based on the develop
ment and use of their natural re-
sources. Accordingly, he helped to
| outline scheme of commercial de-
velopment, and by his influence an in
terstate waterways commission was
| appointed by Virginia and Maryland.
It met near where we are now meet
| ing, in Alexandria, adjourned to
Mount Vernon, and took up the con-
| sideration of interstate commerce by
| the only means then available, that OF
| water. Further conferences were ar
ranged, first at Annapolis and then
| at Philadelphia. 1t was in Philadel-
phia that the representatives of all
the States met for what was in its
original conception merely a water
| ways conference; 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 nee
| eSsity for united action in the wise use
| of one CT our natural resources. The
wise use of all of our natural resourc-
| es, which are our national resources as
well, is the great material question of
| today. L have asked you to come to-
getler now because the enormous con-
sumption of these resources, and the
threat of imminent exhaustion of some
Of them. due to reckless and wasteful
| use, once more calls for common effort
| common action.
| Since the days when the Constitution
was adopted. steam and electricity
have revolutionized the industrial
world. Nowhere has the revolution
been 50 great as in our own country.
The discovery and utilization of min
eral fuels and alloys have given us the
lead over all other nations in the pro-
duction of steel The discovery and
utilization of coal and iron have given
us our railways, and have led to such
industrial development as has never be-
| fore been seen. The vast wealth of
lumber in our forests the riches of our
soils and mines, the discovery of gold
and mineral oils, combined with the
efficiency of our transportation, have
made the conditions of our life unpar-
allied in comfort and convenience
The steadily increasing drain on these
natural resources has promoted to an
extraordinary degree the complexity of
our industrial and social life More
| over, this uneXampled development has
had determining effect upon the
character and opinions of our peoIl
| The demand for efficiency in the great
task has given us vigor, effectiveness,
decision, and power, and a ca.,.tcity
for achievement which in it's own lines
has never yet been matched. So great
and So rapid has been our material
growth that there has been tendency
TO lag behind in spiritual arI mora!
growth; but that is not the subject up
on which. l speak to you today.
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 ne tural re-
sources are used. 1t is equally clear
that these resources are the final basis
of national power and perpetully
Finally, it is ominously evident that
rapid exhaustion '
This "a
that it's landed possessions were illimi-
table and capable Of supporting all the
people who might care to make our
country their home; but already the
limit of unsettled land is in sight, and
indeed but little land fitted for agricul-
ture now remains unoccupied save
what can be reclaimed by irrigation
and drainage. We began with an I'M
approached 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 inexhaus-
tible, and many experts now declare
that the end of both iron and coal is in
sight.
The mere increase in our consumption
of coal during 1907 over 1906 exceeded
the totai consumption in 1876, the Cen
tennial year. The enormous stores OF
mineral oil and gas areF largely gone.
Our natural waterways are not gone.
but they have been SO injuredkby ne
glect, and by the division of sresponsi-
bility and utter lack. of system in deal
ing with them, that there is less navi
CATION on them now than there was
fifty years ago. Finally, we began with
soils OF unexampled fertility and we
have so impoverished them by injud-
cious use and by failing to check ero~
sion that their crop producing power
is diminishing instead of increasing.
in wcrd, we have thoughtlessly, and
to large degree unnecessarily, dinin-
ished the resources upon which not on
ly our 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 in
quire seriously what will happen when
Eour forests are gone, when the coal,
| the iron, the oil, and the gas are ex-
hausted, when the soils shall have
been still further impoverished and