Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-05-13

| ruIloualy, at the some time the average
man is apt to lose his realization of this
| dependence upon nature
Savagcs, and very primitive peoples
| generally, concern themselves only with
superficial natural resources; with those
| Whlch they obtain from the actual sur
lace of the ground. As peoples become
| q little less primitive. their industries,
| although in "A rude manner, are extend
| ed to resources below the surface: then,
with what we call civilization and the
| extension of knowledge, more resources
| come into use. Industries are multiplied.
| and foresight begins to become a ne
cessary and prominent factor In life.
Crops are cultivated; animals are do
mestcated; and metals are mastered.
PROGRESS OF MANKIND.
Every step of the progress of man
kind is marked by the discovery and
use of natural resources previously
unused. Without such progressive
knowledge and utilization OF natural
resources population would not grow
nor the hidden wealth OF the earth be
developed for the benefit of mankind.
From the first beginnings OF civili-
zation, 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 rapid
ity OF the process has increased at such
a rate that more space has been ac-
tually 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 monuments of Egypt, to the
earliest cities of the Babylonian plain.
OLD COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS,
When the founders of this nation
met at Independence Hall in Philadel-
phia the conditions of commerce had
not fundamentally changed from what
they We're when the Phoenician keels
first furrowed the lonely waters OF
the Mediterranean. The differences
We're those of degree, not of kind, and
they were not in all cases even those
Of degree, Mining was carried or
fundamentally as ii had been carried
on by the Pharaohs 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 Nineveh and Sldon.
If they went by water, We're carried
by boats propelled by sails OF oars; IL
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; ana on
land. the roads were not as good as the
roads of the Roman empire, while the
service of the posts was probably m
ferior
In washingtons time anthracite coal
was known only as a useless black
stone; and the great fields of bitum-
nous coal were undiscovered. As steam
was unknown, the use of coal for pow
er production 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 tho most primitive fashion. But a
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 consumed To-
cally. while the forests We're regarded
chiefly as distractions to settlement
and cultivation
Such was the degree of progress 10
which civilized mankind had attained
when this nation began its career. 1t
is almost impossible for us in TINS 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 in the
growth and greatness of this nation,
and how little they required to take
from this store in order to satisfy their
needs.
INCREASE OF KNOWLEDGE.
Since then our knowledge and use of
the resources of the present territory
of the United States have increased a
hundred fold. Indeed, the growth of
this nation by leaps and bounds makes
one of the most striking and import
ant chapters in the history of the world.
It:, growth has been due to the rapid
4 md .tu c. H
be said, to the rapid destruction, or
our natural resources. Nature has
supplied to us in the United states, and
still supplies to us, more kinds of re-
sources in a more lavish degree than
has ever been the case at any other
time or With any other people. our
position i'm the world has been attained
by the extent and thoroughness of the
control we have achieved over nature;
but we are more and not less, depen-
dent upon what she furnishes than AT
any previous time OF history since the
days Of primitive man.
FORETHoUGHT or FATHERS.
Yet our fathers, though they knew so
little Of the resources of the country,
exercised a wise forethought in refer
enca thereto Washington clarly saw
that the perpetuity of the states could
only be secured by union, and that the
only feasible DuSlS OF ullloh Was uh
economic one: In other words that II
must be based on the development and
use of their natural resources. Ac-
cordingly. he helped 10 outline scheme
of commercial development, and by
his influence an interstate 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 consideration
OF Interstate commerce by the only
means thon available, that of water.
Further conferences We're arranged,
first at Annapolis and then at Phila-
deIphla II was i'm Philadelphia that
the representatives OF all the states
mel for what was in its original con
reptlon merely n waterways confer
encc, but when they had closed their
deliberations the outcome was the Con-
stltutlon which made the states into
n nation.
GROWTH or CONSTITUTION.
The Constitution Of the United states
| thus grew IN large part out OF the nee
| ossity for united action in the wise
use of one of our natural resources,
| Tho wise use OF all of our natural re-
| sources.w which are our national resources
| as well. Is the great material question
OF today. have asked you TO come
together now because the enormous
consumption of these resources. and the
| threat of imminent exhaustion OF some
| of them due to reckless and wastetul
use. once more calls for common eff