The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-09-24

fintt ~ llaeaA has msle great "A
thnfpt. it not Onc n sndden nor ~
particularly resent growth The Ped
sfsl nuftauu have been patiently pre-.
| pairing fof that time. when evidence
should exist that would enable the IRE.
sisiible logic ~ the movement 10 be
asserted and when n champion should
arise 10 whom the people should listen.
The man and the hour arrived In
Roo-eveits administration aud the
effective champion Appeared In clifford
pinchot. with his broad grasp, his earn.
est practical idealism and his charm.
ing personality.
with the contcmporaneous appear.
ance Of all these favorable factors the
movement suddenly blossomed out like
the cereus in night as it were, and
the nation woke up TO realization
that n great movement was underway.
Now that realization of the wisdom
Of the policy and of the need of action
has been forced upon the nation, the
time for definite constructive policies,
and for legislation is here. This does
not mean that the stock taking period
| is past. The census of our existing re.
sources is not by any means complete
and must be continued; and it does not
mean either that there has been no con-
servation legislation. There are initial
| laws among our Federal statutes and
you have territorial enactments that
| give force to the movement. In short.
the periods of the propaganda and Of
action. legislative and executive, over
lap; nevertheless, that period upon
which we have just entered is essen.
TALLY one of translating into law, those
conservation policies which are suffi-
GENTLY fully tested to justify this &C.
ton. There is danger in this move
ment, as in any movement that has be.
come popular. that its unwise friends
may bring about the passage of prema-
ture or of ill-considered laws that may
retard instead Of advance the funda-
mental idea of conservation, namely,
the maximum possible beneficial use Of
all resources, now and in the future,
or as it has been recently well ex-
pressed, "the greatest good Of the
| greatest number, for the longest time"
1t opposes undue sacrifice Of the future
for the present but it does not, as
some Of its opponents maintain, advo,
cate undue sacrifice of the present for
the future. 1t always opposes needless
waste.
The work which Mr.. leighton and
are beginning here by invitation OF
your Governor and other territorial Of.
Heials, has to do with the stoek.taking
phase of one branch of conservation
work, namely, conservation of the water
resources. AS all arid or semi.ari sec.
tions increase in population, there comes
q time when the mounting value of
agricultural land brings about keen
demand for water, through whose use
alone, dry lands can be made produe-
tive.
A shortsighted policy leads to the
easiest use in the cheapest possible way
of the most obvious sources, to the
neglect of Others of perhaps equal pc.
tential value. And the construction of
canals and irrigation systems on this
basis may make impossible the final
utilization of all the sources, just ss
hurried careless numbering may render
unavailable for mans use, more timber
than is harvested.
A farsighted policy on the other
hand calls first for study of all the
sources, their relations to one another
their character, the habit of flow, ,oi
streams, whether regular or spasm odic
the possibilities of storage and Of pow
er development, the relations of under
ground supplies to surface supplies and
to power, the best ways to integrate the
two, and the relations of soil and for
est cover to both. With data of this
kind in hand, as result of years OF
measurement and investigation, the irri
, cation engineer can so plan his con
struction as to make the fullest pos
sible use of all the water. Attempts
to construct without such data lead Ia
failures of type with which the arid
lands of the West are dotted. Expen
sive systems have been built in many
areas and it has been discovered later
that not sufficient water is available
to operate them, or that an important
source had been overlooked and could
not then be utilized.
1t is to avoid errors of this kind thai
a systematic survey of the waters of the
Territory is now being undertaken, ant
as 1t progresses, you will find yourselves
laying a broader and broader founda
, tion for that true development tina
! knows no retrogression because Il il
, founded on precise knowledge of thos,
factors upon which it depends.
Hosmer on Hawaii's Needs.
Ralph S. Hosmer, chairman of tht
Territorial Conservation Commission o.
Hawaii, spoke on Conservation in Ha
wall as follows:
Within the past eighteen months con
. servation has become household wore
: in Hawaii. For some years the peopl,
, of these islands have been familia
with the general principles underlying
, the movement, through seeing them il
actual operation. But it is only of lat,
! that there has come to be realized il
its true value the relation that exist
: between right use of the natural re
sources and the sustained economi,
7. prosperity of the Territory. 1t is no
4 necessary before this audience for m,
4 to define what is meant by the tern
) Conservation, nor to elaborate upon TIN
a principles that underlie the movement
e But in a movement that has deyelope,
/ SO rapidly and has so many ramifca
: tiOus uH does cOngarVation II ia M