The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1909-01-28

raj resources for their livelihood, com.
fort and convenience II is high time
to realize that our responsibility to the
coming millions is like that Of parents
to their children and that in wasting
our resources we are wronging our de-
scendants.
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 wa
terways have not resulted I'm maintain.
navigation. Therefore let us take i'm
mediate steps to ascertain the reasons
and to prepare and adopt a compre-
hensive plan for inland waterway nav
igation that will result In giving the
people the benefits for which they have
paid, but which they have not yet re-
ceived. 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 government and to enact
laws to check the wasteful destruction
Of the forests In private hands. There
are differences OF opinion as to many
public questions, but the American peo-
pie stand nearly as a unit for water
way development and for forest pro
lection.
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 $300000.O00 year. There
fore let us undertake without delay
the Investigations 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.
desire TO make grateful acknowl-
edgment to the men both in and out of
the government service who have pre-
pared the first inventory of our natu-
raj resources. They have made 1t pos
slble for this nation to take n 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 resources
stands first. 1t is the bottom round OF
the ladder on our upward progress to
ward a condition I'm which the nation
as a whole and its citizens as individu
ais will set national efficiency and the
public welfare before personal profit
Industrial Democracy In Danger.
The policy of conservation is per
haps the most typical example Of The
general policies which this government
has made peculiarly its own during the
opening years OF the present century
The function of our government Is L
insure to all It's citizens now and here
after their rights to life, liberty anC
the pursuit of happiness. If we of thii
generation destroy the resources frou
which our children would otherwise
derive their livelihood We reduce tht
capacity Of our land to support n popu
iation and so either degrade the stand
ard of living or deprive the coming
generations of their right to life OF
this continent, If we allow great in
dustrial organizations to exercise un
regulated control OF the means Of pro
duction and the necessaries of life W.
deprive the Americans of today and o.
the future Of Industrial liberty, righ
no less precious and vital than polit
ical freedom. Industrial liberty was 1
fruit Of political liberty and In turI
has become one of its chief supports
and exactly as we stand for politica
democracy so we must stand for indus
trial democracy.
The rights to life and liberty ar,
fundamental, and, like other funda
mental necessities, when once acquired
they are little dwelt upon. The righ
to the pursuit OF happiness is the righ
whose presence or absence is mos
ever 1t has accomplished or failed t
accomplish the administration whicl
Is Just drawing TO q close has at leas
seen clearly the fundamental need o.
freedom of opportunity for every citi
zen. We have realized that the righ
of every man to live his own life, pro
vide for his family and endeavor, &c
cording to his abilities. to secure fol
himself and for them a fair share O
the good things of existence should b'
subject to one limitation and to NJ
other. The freedom of the individual
should be limited only by the presen
and future rights, interests and needs
of the other individuals who make VI
the community We should do all II
our power to develop and protect indi
vidual liberty, individual initiative, bu
subject always to the need of preserv
Ing and promoting the general good
When necessary the private right mus
yield, under due process of law ant
with proper compensation. to the wei
fare Of the commonwealth. The maj
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