The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-02-07
CONSERVATION
MOVEMENT.
Arouses Antagonism In Cef1a'n
Quarters.
EDITOR M'lEAN'S SAD HUM0R

dents Plan Of Ending Exp'o'tat'o"
of Peoples Observation-Disclosures
and Tariff Revision-Duty Of Minor
itv In Conqress-Republica Ante
election Promises Ignored.
By WILLIS }. ABBOT.
| A newspaper which once was s)emo-
cratic. edited by man VINO once
aspred 10 be the partys nominee lof
president. hut which nowadays Is like
tho Ia.Giccans-ne neither hot nor cold.
therefore. according to Holy writ, de-
serving to be spewesl forth by al real
! Democrats-tlle Washington Post thus
speers ut the splendid movement Tor
conservation of natural resources:
| "'The nationa, conservation commits
| sion overlooked one iteul of waste-salt
/ wasted in the ~, can. S5.VoOOW0O0.
/ Put on an the tipaers you please.
Aud thus:
! The president i'm bis conservation
! message inalz no mention of the aw-
/ fu' waste of language that has been
! going "a recent !.
/ For he sake of he saving quality %
wholesome hun ~ let us accepl the lat
/ ter editorial >qnib rs merely good ma
: turcd l,ukiug of fun al the parties to
( the late quarrel between the congress
/ and hc chief executive
/ But for the sake Of the magnificent
| i,tea contained in the movement for
/ 10. us condemn the former quotation
as a cheap fling. hut let us also take
consolation from the much quoted feI-
low who. kicked 10y mule, said
| '.Fricn,ls, l consider the source
Reason For McLean's Cheap Fling.
In order that one may avoid being
| misunderstood and by the last quota
ton be regarded as himself making
cheap fling. wish to cite that Editor
| Mclean. as owner If invaluable fran
chises IN the District Of Columbia and
elsewhere. doubtless realizes that Re is
directly In line to feel the force of the
onmarching ideas which are back If
! this conservation movement.
1t was in 1890. as ] remember the
date when Henry George put forth his
now highly estimated book. progress
and Poverty Read by thousands. 1t
became anathema toultra conservatives
the world over because it presented a
general idea IN concrete form and
sought to illustrate that general idea
by applying II to the particular thing
we call taxation.
But there was more than the land
tax in the Henry George system-there
was the whole scheme If the present
conservation movement the funda men
tai principle that that which! the Al
mighty made and placed here and
which Is essential to all the people
should not 10 monopolized by any pri-
vate corporation or by any one person.
Will End Exploitation.
There should Ike No surprise that
such ultra conservatives az Editor Me-
Lean oppose the conservation. move
ment. because It will put an end to the
era Of exploitation Of all Of the peo-
pies possessions for the enrichment of
a few Editor Mclean is not different
from the Rockefellers the Morgans.
the Hartmann. the Carnegies. the
tricks. the Elkinses. the-every one
VIII" has taken all the peoples prop
erty he could get his hands on
ain surc nll bread minded citizens
will come to tn" support Of this great
to1u tad 4 fc
th" nation not as the Henry George
idea. In, ~ the Roosevelt idea
Probably the president and some of
his closest friends would object to
having his plan named as il should be
named 1.-The Henry George plan. IT f.
that. nevcrt l,eless. and will be all the
better for hcin- properly designated.
and !" great man who in his day was
often sc"rned by some Of the present
enthusiastic cxDGnente If the Cenr1n
idaas. renamed Roosevelt ideas. will q,
last come into his own.
These citations. however will euaf,,t,
US to got nur hi tory on straiul,."
None with sound ideas world rel,
President RooSevcit # one whit. IF tho
fTcuIt ui" Jim Tor fHIi ne has iu1p
gurated the enterprise Of cata!oyui,,.
conserving and using wisely the great
natural resources Of this nation Il j.
patriotic. il uIa'-es for the PROTECTION
of the iirthright Of coming pepero
tions. and it should have received tho
devoted attention Of the leaders ,,~
thought in 1880 when Henry Georg.
gave forth his able work on PRO
ress and Poverty
The Democratic Program.
The program Of the Democrats I,
the congress on the tariTt'
What should it be: Answer is not
difficult as 10 the principle which
should govern. although exact det,iIo
on the several schedules cannot now.
he given by any one.
The minority should stand for
lower tariff whenever it be possible ia
decrease the duties with due ree,r1
for the established businesses which