Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30
SAVING, NOT WASTE
Secretary BaIIinger Explains
Meaning of Conservation.
STATES VIEWS TO CLUBS
Declares Against Policy Which
Would Bottle Resources.
REFERS TO EXTREME VIEWS
Duty Of Congress to Give to Execu-
tive Branch Power to
Protect.

PROVIDENCE, r. T.. January 29-Sec-
rotary Ballnger. speaking tonight before
the Conservative Club of Rhode Island
and the Economic Club of Providence,
which met together to hear him. gave
his views on conservation of natural re-
sources. and declared that conserving
them does not mean bottling them up.
The Secretary said he did not believe
that conservation which merely preserves
the resources of the nation interests the
public. but that he did believe the public
is interested in conservation which.
through development. saves them from
waste and improper use.
Some people. l fear" declared the Sec
rotary, "have a notion that to conserve
our natural resources we must pickle
them or bottle them up. All kinds of ex-
IRENE notions are likely to be advanced
by those who take an impractical view of
this subject. / was confronted recently
by the suggestion that the government
build homes upon the remaining public
lands. fence them and stock them and
rent them to applicants and become the
landlord of the public domain
Reasonable Restraints Proper.
1T is all right to place reasonable re-
sources to prevent the mischiefs which
result from monopoly and greed and ex-
tortion. but when you attempt to regulate
a mans private business or declare how
he shall use his property, so that he can
no longer exercise a reasonable independ-
ence over 1t, he may as well surrender his
business and his property to the state and
let the state operate it.
individuality and incentive for indus
uyin a irly
system of public regulation and control
which imposes a strictly governmental
guardianship over the citizen. The Amer
lean system of government contemplates
the freest possible exercise of individual
liberty, consistent with the public good,
and in discussing the conservation of
our national resources and the super
vision, regulation and control that are
proper to be imposed by federal or state
authority this principle should be con-
stantly recognized.
System of Frugality and Economy.
After all the question of conservation
is question of practicing with our re-
sources frugality and economy. Profit
gacy and wanton waste of our inheritance
in this particular of course. are to be
restrained whenever and wherever the
power exists. and particularly when the
kind.
Our nations future, in the highest de-
gree, is involved in the perpetuity of our
wealth and the ability of our people to
live in happiness and prosperity in all
generations to come; therefore we can
justly say that no man can crafty his
lust for wealth or his ambition for
power by destroying the opportunities of
others to live and enjoy their share of
the bountieS of nature"
Ir1l rof -4e.g
dent TaftS recent message to Congress,
which declared that the soils of the
country which produce the foodstuffs are
also worthy of conservation. and the
Secretary declared that the soil should
be included in conservation with the
forest, the mine and the water resources.
Government Should Develop.
Water power resources should be de-
veloped under government control, Mr..
Ballinger insisted, to save the coal and
the forests from being consumed for fuel.
Mr.. Balinger declared that such develop
ment should be through private enter
prise, under government supervision and
control, and that Congress should give
to the executive branch of the govern
ment the authority to obtain those re-
suits
I'm view of the national interest in
these resources, concluded the Secretary,
lit is incumbent upon Congress to give
to the executive branch of the govern
ment sufficient power and authority to
protect against the continued waste and
reckless disposition of the public domain,
and it is the earnest desire of this ad-
sufficient authority and equipped with
the necessary machinery to accomplish
all that is possible through federal
agencies in this particular.