River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-01-28
PRESIDENT SENDS
STRONG MESSAGE
ACCOMPANYING REPORTS
OF THE CONSERVATION
CONGRESS
URGES NEEDED LEGISLATION
Document In "A Measure Is De-
Tense of the Retiring Administration
Duty of the Present Generation to
Its Descendants Pointed Out-ObIi-
cations of Citizenship-Ureent Need
for the Development of the Coun-
try's Water Power.


try's Water Power.
the report of the national conservation
commission and accompanying papers,
President Roosevelt also sent message
to congress. The following is COM
prehensive synopsis of the document
The president declares his entire con-
currence with the statements and con-
illusions of the report and proceeds:
1T is one of the most fundamentally
important documents ever laid before the
American people. 1t contains the first in
ventory Of its natural resources ever
made by any nation. In condensed form
1t presents a statement of our available
capital in material resources, which are
the means of progress, and calls atten-
ton to the essential conditions upon
which the perpetuity, safety and welfare
of this nation now rest and must always
continue to rest.
1.-THE facts set forth in this report con-
stitute an imperative call to action The
situation they disclose demands that we,
neglecting for a time, If need be, smaller
and less vital questions, shall concentrate
an effective part of our attention upon
the great material foundations of ma
tional existence, progress. and prosperity.
1.-THE first of all considerations is the
true moral welfare, the highest form of
welfare, can not permanently exist save
on firm and lasting foundation of mate
rial well-being. In this respect our stu
alton is far from satisfactory. After
every possible allowance has been made,
and when every hopeful indication has
been given its full weight, the facts still
give reason for grave concern. 1t would
be unworthy of our history and our in
telligence, and disastrous to our future,
to shut our eyes to these facts or at
tempt to laugh them out of court. The
people should and will rightly demand
that the great fundamental questions
shall be given attention by their rep
resentatives. do not advise hasty or ill
considered action on disputed points, but
I do urge, where the facts are known,
where the public interest is clear, that
neither Indifference and inertia, nor ad-
verse private interests, shall be allowed
to stand in the way of the public good.
1.-THE great basic facts are already well
known. We know that our population is
now adding about one-fifth to it's numbers
in ten years, and that by the middle of
the present century perhaps 150,000,0O0
Americans, and by its end very many
millions more, must be fed and clothed
from the products Of our soil.
1--WE know now that our rivers can and
should be made to serve our people eff
fectively in transportation, but that the
vast expenditures IOr our waterways
have not resulted in maintaining, much
less in promoting, inland navigation.
Therefore, let us take immediate steps to
ascertain the reasons and to prepare and
adopt a comprehensive plan for inland
waterway navigation that will result in
giving the people the benefits for which
they have paid but which they have not
yet received. We know now that our for
ests are fast disappearing, that less than
one-fifth of them are being conserved,
and that no good purpose can be met by
failing to provide the relatively small
sums needed for the protection, use, and
Improvement of all forests still owned by
the government, and to enact laws to
check the wasteful destruction of the for
ests in private hands.
1--WE know now that our mineral re-
sources once exhausted are gone for
ever, and that the needless waste Of
them costs us hundreds of human lives
and nearly $500, 900 a year. Therefore,
let us undertake without delay the in
vestigations necessary before our people
will be in position, through state action
or otherwise, to put an end to this huge
loss and waste, and conserve both our
mineral resources and the lives of the
men who take them from the earth.
This administration has achieved
some things; it has sought, but has
not been able, to achieve, others; it
has doubtless made mistakes; but all
it has done or attempted has been in
the single, consistent effort to Sc
cure and enlarge the rights and oppor-
tunities of the men and women of the
United States. We are trying to con-
serve what is good in our social sys-
tenn, and we are striving toward this
end when we endeavor to do away with
what is bad. Success may be made too
hard for some if it is made too easy
for others The rewards of common
Industry and thrift may be too small
if the rewards for others, and on the
whole less valuable, qualities, are
made too large, and especially if the
rewards for qualities which are really,
from the public standpoint, undesir-
able, are permitted to become too
large. Our aim is so far as possible
to provide such conditions that there
shall be equality of opportunity where
there is equality of energy, fidelity and
intelligence; when there is reason
able equality of opportunity the dis
tribution of rewards will take care
of itself.
THE unchecked existence of monop-
oily is incompatible with equality OF
opportunity The reason for the ex-
ercise of government control over great
monopolieS is to equalize opportunity.
We are fighting against privilege. 1t
was made unlawful for corporations
to contribute money for election ex-
penses in order to abridge the power
of special privilege at the polls. Rail
road rate control is an attempt to Sc
cure an equality of opportunity for all
men affected by rail transportation;
and that means all of us. The great
anthracite coal strike was settled, and
the pressing danger OF a coal famine
averted. because we recognized that