The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-22

ing our descendants
Rivers as Highways.
We know now that our rivers can
and should be made to serve our peo-
PIE EFFECTIVELY in transportation, but
that the vast expenditures for our
waterways have not resulted in main
tanning, much less in promoting, in
land navigation. Therefore, let US
take Immediate steps to ascertain the
reasons and to prepare and adopt
comprehensive plan for inland water
way navigation that will result in CIV
ing the people the benefits for which
they have paid but which they have
not yet received We know now that
our forests 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 govern
ment, and to enact laws to check the
wasteful destruction of the forests in
private hands There are differences
of opinion as to many public queS-
lions; but the American people stand
nearly as unit for waterway develop
ment and for forest protection.
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 $3OO,O00,O00 a year.
Therefore, let US undertake without
delay the Investigations necessary be-
fore our people will pc IN position,
through state action or otherwise, to
put an, end to this huge loss and waste,
and conserve both our mineral re-
sources and the lives of the men who
take them from the earth.
desire to make grateful acknow-
ledgme nt to the men, both in and out
of the government service, who have
prepared the first inventory of our ma
tural resources. They have made 1t
possible for this nation to take a great
step forward. Their work is helping
us to see that the greatest questions
before US are not partisan questions,
but questions upon which men of all
parties and all shades of opinion may
be united for the common good.
Among such questions on the material
side, the conservation of natural re-
sources stands first. 1t is the bottom
round of the ladder on our upward
progress toward a condition in which
the nation as a whole, and its citizens
individuals, will set national
efficiency and the public welfare be-
fore personal profit.
Typical of His Policy.
The policy of conservation is per-
haps the most typical example of the
general policies which this govern
ment has made peculiarly it's own dur
ing the opening years of the present
century. The function of our govern
ment is to insure to all its citizens,
now and thereafter, their rights to life, |
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. |
If we of this generation destroy the
resources from which our children |
would otherwise derive their liveli- |
land to support a population, and so |
either degrade the standard of living |
or deprive the coming generations of
their right to life on this continent. |
If we allow great Industrial organiza- |
tions to exercise unregulated control |
of themeans of production and the |
necessaries of life, we deprive the !
Americans of today and of the future |
of industrial liberty, right no less |
precious and vital than political free |
dom. Industrial liberty was fruit !
of political liberty, and in turn has
become one of its chief supports and |
exactly as we stand for political demo-
cracy SO we must stand for the in |
dustrial democracy.
The rights to life and liberty are !
fundamental and like other funda- |
ed, they are little dwelt upon. The |
right to the pursuit of happiness is the |
right whose presence or absence is |
most likely to be felt in daily life. In |
ed to accomplish, the administration |
which is just drawing to close has at |
least seen clearly the fundamental |
need of freedom of opportunity for
every citizen. We have realized that |
the right of every man to live his own /
life, provide for his family, and en-
deavor, according to his abilities, to |
secure for himself and for them a fair |
share of the good things of existence, |
should be subject to one Limitation and |
to no other. The freedom of the in
dividual should be limited only by the |
present and future rights, interests |
make up the community. We should |
do all in our power to develop and |
protect individual liberty. individual |
initiative, but subject always to the |
need of preserving and promoting the |
general good. When necessary, the |
private right must yield, under due |
process of law and with proper COM
pensation, to the welfare of the COM
monwealth. The man who serves the |
community greatly should be greatly |
rewarded by the community; as there
must be great inequality of reward;
but no man and no set of men should
be allowed to play the game of COM
petition with loaded dice.
All this is simply good common
sense. The underlying principle of |
conservation has been described as the
application of common sense to COM
mon problems for the common good
If the description is correct then con-
servation is the great fundamental |
basis for national efficiency. In this
stage of the worlds history to be fear
less, to be just, and to be efficient are
tional life. National efficiency is the
result of natural resources well han
died, OF freedom of opportunity for
every man, and of the inherent ca
pacity, trained ability, knowledge and
will, collectively and individually to
use that opportunity.
Some Things Achieved.
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 sin
gle, consistent effort to secure and |
enlarge the rights and opportunities of |
the men and women of the United.
States. We are trying to conserve