The Mena weekly star., 1909-01-28

ner as to regulate commerce..
 Broad plans should be adopted provfd. ing for a system of waterway improve. ment extending 10 all uses of the waters and benefits to be derived from their con. trol. including the clarifcation of the water and abatement of floods for ths benefit of navigation; the extension of IT. rigation: the development and application of power: the prevention of soil wash the purihcation of streams for water supply; and the drainage and utilization of the waters of swamp and overflow lands.
 National Efficiency.
 Since the greatest of our national as- sets Is the health and visor of the Amer ican people, our efficiency must depend on national vitality even more than on the resources of the minerals. lands. for ests and waters.
 .sOur annual mortality from tuberculo- sis is about 150.000. Stopping three fourths of the loss of hfe from this cause. and from typhoid and other preva- lent and preventable diseases, would in crease our average length of life over It years.
 There are constantly about o,00f persons seriously i'll in the United States, of whom 500, 600 are consumptiyes. More than half this illness Is preventabie. 'Tf we count the value of each life lost at only s1,700 and reckon the average earning lost by illness as S70o per year for grown men. we find that the eoonom- ic gain from mitigation of prevsntable disease in the United States would ex- ceed q, 800, ,000,0 600 a year. In addition. ws would decrease suffering and increase happiness and contentment among the people This gain. or the lengthening and strengthening of life which 1t measures, can be secured through medical investi- gation and practice. school and factory hygiene restriction of labor by women and children. the education of the people in both public and private hygiene. and through improving the efficiency of our health service. municipal, state and na- tional The national government has now several agencies exercising health functions which only need to be concen- trated to become co-ordinated parts of . greater health service worthy of tho nA- ton.
 'sThe permanent welfare of the nation demands that its natural resources be conserved by proper use. To this end the states and the nation can do much by legislation and example. Our welfare depends on conservation, The pressing need is for a general plan under which citizens. state and nation may unite Tn za effort to achieve this great end The lack of cooperation between the states themselves, between the states and the nation. and between the agencies of the national government. is potent cause of the neglect of conservation among the people An organization through which all agencies, state, national, municipal. associate and individual, may unite In common effort to conserve the founda- lions of our prosperity is indispensable to Inc welfare and progress Of the nation. To that end the immediate creation or . national agency Is essential Mahy states and associations of citizens nave taken action by the appointment or per manent conservation commissions. It re- mains for the nation to do likewise, Tn order that the states and the nation. as- sociatfons and individuals, may join m the accomplishment of this great purpose. Accompanying this report, and trans nitted as part thereof. are detailed statements by the secretaries of the sev- eral sections, and many papers and H. tustrations prepared by experts at the request of your commission.
 "GIFFORD PINCHOT.
 Chairman.
 .'w. j. MGEE.
 .Secretary Section of Waters.
 "OyERTON w. PRICE,
 .Secretary, Section of Forests.
 "aEoRGE w. WOODRUFF.
 .Secretary, Section of Lands.
 "J. A. HOLMES,
 .secretary, Section of Minerals. "Attest:
 THOMAS B. SHIPP.
 secretary to the Commission.
 ''December T. 1soS."