The Detroit times., 1909-12-27
FUTU RE OF MEN
AND WOMEN IS
At STAKE
.vQEw -cIEEOun pI<cuoT
Chief Forester Says II Solid Fibre of
Citizenship Is To Be Main
tanned Natural Resources
Must Be Saved.
Monopoly Makes It Impossible for
Vast Number of People To
Earn Fair Living.
-GIFFORD PINCHoT.
BY CLIFFORD PiNsHoT.

w ON, DeC. 81 lie
American people have evidently made
up their minds that our natural re,
sources must oe conserved. That is
good. but 1t settles only half the
question. For whose benefit shall
they be conserved-for the benefit OF
te many. or for te use and profit OF
tho few? The great conflict now be,
ing fought will decide.
There is no other question before
us that begins to be so important, OF
that will be so difficult to straddle. as
the great question: between the privil-
eges OF the few and the rights OF the
many; between government by me for
human welfare and government by
monye for profit; between the men
who stand for the Roosevelt policies
and te men who stand against them.
The conservation issue is as men
get possession of one or through
ownership of natural resource or
through unfair business methods, and
use that control TO extort undue pro-
fits. as in the recent cases OF the
sugar trust and the beef packers, they
injure the average man without good
reason. and they are guilty OF moral
wrong. II does not matter wheter
te undue profit comes trough sitting
competition by rebates or other crook
ed devices through corruption of pub
lie officials or through seizing and
monopolizing resources which belong
to the people he result Is always
the same-a toll levied on the cost OF
living for the benefit OF special
privilege.
Future of Plain People at Stake.
The income OF the average family
In the United States is less than 5000
n year To increase te cost OF living
10 such a family beyond the reason
able profits OF legitimate business is
wrong II is not merely question
of few cents more a day for the
necessaries of life. or of a few cents
less a day for wages. Far more is
NJ stake-the health or sickness or
little babies. thea education or ignor-
ance OF children virtue or vice In
Young daughters, honesty or criminal
ty i'm young sons, the working power
of breadwinners the integrity or
families the provision for old age
In a word. the welfare and happiness
of the plain people are involved In
the cost OF living
We must face the trut tat monopoly
of tie sources of production makes II
lmnossble for vast numbers of men
and woomen TO earn a fair living.
Right here the conservation question
touches the daily life of the great
body of our people. who pay the cost
of special privilege. And the price
Is heavy. That price may be the
chance to save the boys from the sa-
looms and the corner gang, and the
IN lyp pnnI
citizens OF them instead OF bad: for
an appalling proportion of the TRACE
dies OF life spring directly from the
lack of a little money.
DeIusion Is Passing Away.
The people OF the United States
have been the complacent victims OF
n system OF plunder often perpetrated
by men who would have been sur
prised beyond measure TO be accused
of wrong-doing. and many of whom
In their private lives were model
citizens. But they have suffered
from a curious moral perversion by
which II becomes praiseworthv to do
for a corporation things which they
would refuse with the loftiest scorn
TO do for themselves Fortunately
for us all, that delusion is rapidly pass
ing away.
A man Is not bad because he Is
rich. nor good because he is poor.
Exceptional capacity in business. as
in any other line OF life, should meet
with exceptional reward. Rich men
have served this country greatly.
Washington was a rich man. But 1t
Is merry clear that excessive profits
from the control OF natural resources
monopolized by a few, are not worth
to this nation the tremendous price
they cost us.
1.-THE People Should Rule"
We have allowed the great corpora
tions to occupy with their own men
the strategic points in business. In
social, and in policical life. II Is our
fault more than theirs. We have al,
lowed II when we could have stopped
II. Too often we have seemed TO for
get thst a man in public life can no
more serve both the special interests
and the people than he can serve God
and Mamman. There is no rason why
the American people should not take
into their hands again the full polite
al mower which Is theirs by right, and
which they exercised before the spe
cial interests began to nuli-y the Will
OF te majority.
Tere are many men who believe.
and who will always believe. in the
divine right Of money to rule. With
such men argument. compromise. or
cancellation is useless or worse. The
only thing TO do with them is to- fight
them and beat them
II Is the honorable distinction Of
the forest service that it as been more
constantly. more violently and more
bitterly attacked by the representa-
tives Of the special interests In recent
years than any other government bur
eau. These attacks have increased In
violence and bitterness Just In. pro-
portion as the service has offered eff
fective opposition To predatory wealth.
The more successful we have been
In preventing land grabbing and the
absorption OF water power by the spe-
cial interests. the more ingenious, the