Bryan morning eagle. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1898-1909, 1909-01-23

population and the still more rapid II
crease in consumption our people wi
hereafter make greater and not les
demands per capita upon oil the natl
raj resources for their livelihood, con
fort and convenience. IL is high tim
to realize that our responsibility to tn
coming millions is like that of parent
to their children and that In wastin
, our resources we are wronging our de
scendants.
We know now that our rivers cal
and should be made 10 serve our PEG
pie effectively In transportation, bu
that the vast expenditures for our wa
terways have not resulted In maintain
ing. much less I'm promoting. INLAND
navigation. Therefore let us take I'm
mediate steps to ascertain the reason:
and to prepare and adopt a compre
hensive plan for inland waterway nav
igation that will result I'm giving the
Ipeople 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 falling 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 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 s3000O0.O0O 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 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 In which the nation
as whole and It's citizens as indlvidu-
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. I
The function of our government Is to /
insure to all its citizens now and here (
after 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 livelihood we reduce the
capacity of our land to support a popu-
Iation and so either degrade the stand
ard of living or deprive the coming
generations of their right to life on
his continent. II we allow great in
lustral organizations to exercise I'M
regulated control of the means of pro-
luction and the necessarieS of life we
leprive the Americans of today and of
he future of industrial liberty, right
10 less precious and vital than polit-
cal freedom. Industrial liberty was
ruit of political liberty and in turn
las become one of its chief supports,
nd exactly as we stand for political
so we must stand for indus
rial democracy.
The rights to life and liberty are
and, like other funda-
mental necessities, when once acquired
hey are little dwelt upon. The right
o the pursuit of happiness is the right
whose presence or absence is most
likely to be felt in daily life. In what
yer It has accomplished or failed to
ccomplish the administration which
5 just drawing to a close has at least
cen clearly the fundamental need OF
reedOm of opportunity for every clti-
en-. We have realized that the right
f every man to live his own life, pro-
ide for his family and endeavor ac-
ording to his abilities, to secure for
imself and for them a fair share OF
he good things of existence should be
ubject to one limitation and to no
ther. The freedom Of the individual ,
hould be limited only by the present
nd future rights. interests and needs ,
the other individuals who make up |
nc community. We should do all In I
ur power to develop and protect indi- ,
idual liberty. individual initiative, but I
Ibject always to the need Of preserv- Y
lg and promoting the general good. [
Ihen necessary the private right must I
Ield. under due process of law and '
18th proper compensation, to the well
ire of the commonwealth. The man c
tho serves the community greatly t
lould be greatly rewarded by the Q
AS there is great Unequal v