The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-11

afternoon:
The most valuable citizen OF this
or any other country is the man
who owns the land from which he
makes his living. No other man
has such a stake in the country.
No other man lends such steadiness
and stability to our national life.
Therefore, no other question con-.
Germs US more intimately than the
question of homes. Permanent
homes for ourselves, our children
and our nation-this is the central
problem. The policy of national ir-
rigation is of value to the United
States in very many ways, but the
greatest OF all is this, that national
irrigation multiplies the men who
own the land from which they make
their living. The old saying: who
ever heard OF a man shouldering his
gun to fight for his boarding house"
reflects this great truth. that no
man is so ready to defend his coun-
try, not only with arms, but with
his vote, and his contribution to
public opinion as the man with a
permanent stake in it. as the man
who owns the land from which he
makes his living.
Our country began as nation of
farmers. During the periods that
gave it its character, when our indie
pendence was won and when our
union was preserved. we were pre-
eminently a nation OF farmers. We
can not, and we ought not, to con-
tinue exclusively, Or even chiefly, an
agricultural country, because one
man can raise food enough for
many. But the farmer who owns
his land is still the backbone Of
this nation; and one of the things
we want most is more of him.
The man on the farm is valuable
to the nation, like any other citi-
zen, just in proportion to his in
telligence, character, ability and
patriotism, but unlike the other citi-
zens, also in proportion to his at
tschment to the soil. That is the
principal spring of his steadiness,
his sanity, his simplicity and direct
ness. and many of his other desir-
able qualities He is the first of
home makers.
The nation that will lead the
world will be a nation of homes.
The object of the great conservation
movement is just this, to make our
country a permanent and prosperous
home for ourselves and for our chill
dren, and for our children's children,
and it is a task that is worth the
best thought and effort of any and
all of us.
To achieve this or any other great
result, straight thinking and strong
action are necessary, and the
straight thinking comes first. To
make this country what we need to
have it, we must think clearly and
directly about our problems, and
above all we must understand what
the real problems are. The great
things are few and simple, but they
are too often hidden by false issues,
and conventional, unreal, thinking.
The easiest way to hide real issue
always has been. and always will
be. to replace it with a false one.
The first thing we need in this
country, as President Roosevelt so
well set forth in that great message
which told what he had been trying
to do for the American people, is
equality of opportunity for every
citizen. No man should have less,
and no man ought to ask for any
more. Equality of opportunity is
the real object or our laws and
institutions. Our institutions and
our laws are not valuable in them
selves. They are valuable only be-
cause they secure equality of oppor-
tunity for happiness and welfare for
, our citizens. : An institution or a
law is a means, not an end, a means
to be used for the public good, to be
modified for the public good, and
to be interpreted for the public
good. One of the great reasons why
President Roosevelt's administra-
ton was of such enormous value
to the plain American was that he
understood what st. Paul meant
when he said: ''The letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life" To fol-
low blindly the letter of the law,
or the form of an institution. with
out intelligent regard both for its
spirit and for the public welfare, is
nearly as dangerous as to disregard
the law altogether. What we need