River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-09-15

wealth belonging to all the American peo-
pie should be handed over for nothing
to special interests. TINS was done I'M
der the plea Of encouraging individual
enterprise and the Fastening of local de-
velopment.
And SO forests which once BELONGED to
all the people have been ruthlessly felled
and upon their ruins have risen the en-
pires of our lumber kings. Priceless do
posts of coal iron ore ana copper which
once belonged to all the people have been
surrendered freely to special interestss
and these sources Of the peoples revenue
which should have flowed into the peoples
treasury to pay the expense of the peo-
pies government have been diverted by
the ditch dug by the provincial idea, into
the treasury Of -millionaires until
the peril Of their swollen fortunes is one
of the problems confronting American
craftsmanship.
Waste Must Be Stopped.
All this waste and robbery of the peo-
pies wealth must be stopped NO ancient
and provincial Interpretation Of states
rights must prevent the enforcement Of
the peoples rights. No special plea for
hasty local development must hinder
healthy general development. No tempo
rary state politics compelled by the
wealthy few must impair permanent Ma
tional craftsmanship for the general good
of ALL
Had we kent the natural resources OF
all the peonle and made private interests
pay the people q just return for exploit
ing those resources the Nations income
thus derived would now pay most of the
Nations expenses; those resources would
have been wisely used ana not exhausted;
and our whole growth would have been
rational and sound instead Of unbalanced
and defective We would have enjoyed
all the benefits from our natural re-
sources and vet our children would have
inherited colossal National wealth and
small National burdens instead of pri-
vate interests enjoying all the benefits
of our national resources and their chill
dren inheriting colossal private wealth
and small private burdens.
The Nation must keep and administer
for all the people those natural resources
belonging to all the people. Every state
should aid and not hinder the Nation in
doing this great duty. The state should
preserve for the public good the resources
belonging exclusively to 1t, the munich
pality the resources belonging exclusively
to it: and both should help the Nation
! in doing the same thing with resources
belonging to all.
Had certain states conserved their re-
sources which the Nation gave them, in
stead of turning them over to private
; exploitation, the people Of those states
better off tomorrow and their economic
| condition better now and for all time to
come.
Had the Nation conserved the resources
which belonged to all the American peo-
| pie instead Of abandoning most OF them
to cunning, strength and greed, our prog
| ress would have been sounder and more
sure.
Common Sense Policy.
Co-operation Of municipality, state and
| Nation to correct past mistakes and pre-
| serve and administer for the general good
| of all the people the natural resources
vet remaining-this is the policy of COM
| mon sense and common honesty. STRIFE
| and division to the end that the reign or
waste and pillage under the false name
| of DEVELOPMENT shall go on and the fever
| ish upbuilding Of private wealth upon
the ruins Of the peoples resources Stall
continue-this Is the policy OF private
avarice and private p1under. Forests ana
coal, water powers and phosphates-al
the wealth that belongs to all the people
must be kept and developed for the bene-
| fit of all the people.
This great policy for the welfare OF all
the people is now we'll under way. Let US
beware how we hinder or retard 1t. 1t is
another step in the glorious process or
the building OF the Nation. Already 1t
| has saved the people much that remains
of their resources: it must save the people
all that remains Of their resources.
''FTonor to whom honor is due"-let us
not forget that the man who in thought,
deed and word has championed this vast
and historic reform until today he is its
decentralization, is that courageous, pure,
unselfish young American, the president
of the National Conservation association,
| Clifford Pinchot. For years he has fear
lesslv fought, and ceaSelessly toiled, to
npOnlA the
erty Of the people; and in that nation
wide battle has been the field officer OF
| the man who first made this mighty
movement a permanent and practical pol
icy Of American craftsmanship, Theo-
dore Roosevelt.
The soul of our prosperity as a people,
our very life itself, depends on the idea
Of our unity and our Observation-Disclosures
| nicipaIity, state and Nation each work.
ing within it's province for the common
good Of all the people instead Of munc1-
pality, state and Nation within its pro-
vince conniving at the perilous enrich
ment Of the few to the injury and i'm
poverishment Of all. The economic and
honest care of the peoples common well
fare means the just advantage to which
individual ability, industry and thrift are
entitled: the uneconomic and immoral up
building Of SPECIAL interests by the sac
rifice of public wealth means the denial
of that Just advantage to which individ-
ual ability, enterprise and thrift are en-
titled. This is government of all the
people; it should be conducted for all the
people.
Duty of the Young Man.
The duty Of the young men today in
WORKING for themselves Is to think and
act for what the constitution calls ''the
general welfare" Of the Milton as a
whole. Only as the eu:i1e Nation is pro<-
porous can any state be really prosper
GUS. Only as the entire Nation IS power
ful can any state be really safe from foes
foreign and domestic. Young men Of to-
day are not the heirs OF the provincial
ideal which has hindered so much the
real progress Of the people, wasted 80
much of their resources. shed so much
Of their blood.
No. the young men OF today are the
heirs of all the advancement that our
struggling millions have made toward
their common brotherhood. The young
men of today are the heirs Of all the
victories which statesm IN and heroes
have won for the general welfare. The
Young ynen. OF today are the heirs Of the
l,,uif,rfn,r work of all the inventions ssby
which the genius Of man has woven all
the American people into one great fam
fly.
The you,g men of today are in diff
ferent environment than that which saw
the birth of the provincial idea And so
the young men Of today must think in
the terms of the Nation; the blood Of our
common citizenship must pulse In their
veins: their Thoughts and acts must be
for the common good OF all. On that
foundation only can be built the individ-
nal GOOD of each: and though 1.-The rains
descend and tire foods c"me and the