Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-02-02
PlNCHoT SCORES
SPECIAL INTERESTS
Warns 6~ainst Conservation in In
tcrcst Of the Few With Disre.
gard For the People at Large
Golden Rule Not In It.

NLW IORh- special interests
have made repeated attacks on the
United states forest service and these
attacks have increased In violence
just In proportion as thu service has
offered effective opposition TO preda,
tory. wealth. said Clifford ,Pinchot.
chief Of the United States forest serv.
ice, in a speech Mondry at luncheon
! given him by number of publishers
Of New York at the University Cub.
Mr.. Pinchot took as his subject for
his speech, Conservation and Equal
Opportunity" Mr.. Pinchot said:
1.-THE American people have evident
~ made up their minds that our nat
| ural resources must be conserved.
That Is good. but II settles only half
the question. For whose benefit shall
they be conservation the benefit CT
the many for the use and profit Of
the few? The great conflict now be.
ing fought will decide.
, There is no other question before
us that begins to be so important, or
= will be so difficult to straddle, as the
great question between special inter-
est and equal opportunity, between
the privileges Of the few and the
rights OF the many, between govern.
ment by men for human welfare and
, government by. money for profit be.
tween the men who stand for the
Roosevelt policies and the men who
stand against them. This is the es.
sence Of the conservation problem to.
day.
| THE conservation issue Is a moral
Issue. When few men get posses.
sion Of one Of the necessities OF life
either through ownership OF natural
resource or through unfair business
methods, and use that control to ex.
tort undue profits, as In the recent
cases Of the sugar trust and the beef
packers. they injure the average man
/ without good reason. and they are
guilty Of moral wrong.
II believe In one forr OF govern.
/ ment and believe in the golden rule.
But We must face the truth that
monopoly Of the resources Of p-oduc-
ton makes II impossible for vast num-
bers OF men and women to earn a
fair living. Right here the conserva-
ton question touches the daily life
OF the great body of our people, who
pay the cost Of special privilege.
and the price is heavy.
THE people Of this country have
lost vastly more than they can ever
regain by gifts of public property.
forever and without charge. to men
who gave nothing in return. It is
true that we have made superb ma.
terial progress under this system, but
It 10 not well for US to rejoice too
freely In the slices the special inter.
ests have given us from the great
loaf Of the property Of all the people.
\ THE people OF the United States
have been the complacent victims OF a
system OF plumber often Pc 'petI ate |
by men who would have been sur
prised beyond measure to be accused
OF wrong-doing, and many of whom in
their private lives were model citizens.
But they have suffered from Curious
moral perversion by which 4 becomes
praiseworthy to do for corporation
things which they would refuse with
the liftiest scorn to do for themselves
Fortunately for us all that delusion
is passing rapidly away. ID
1T Is the honorable distinction of
the forest service that Il has been
moro constantly, more violently and
more bitterly attacked by the repre-.
sentatives Of the special interests In
recent years than any other govern
meht bureau. ut
These attacks have increased In
violence and bitterness Just In pro
portion as the service has offered ef
fectlve opposition to predatory wealth
Tho more successful we have been in
preventing land grabbing and the alb
sorption of water-power by the special
interests. the more ingenious. the
more devious and the more dangerous
these attacks have become. A favorite
one is to assert that the forest service
In It's zeal for the public welfare. has
played ducks and brakes with the acts
of Congress.
The fact Is, on the contrary. that
the service has had warrant of law
for everything 1t has done. Not once
since II was created has any charge
OF illegality, despite the most search
Ing investigation and the bitterest
attack. ever led to reversal or re-
proof by either House OF Congress
or by any congressional committee.
another and unusually plausible
form of attack Is to demand that all
land not now bearing trees shall be
thrown out Of the national forests.
"6till another attack, nearly sue
cessful two years. ago. was at attempt
10 prevent the forest service from
telling the people, through the press
what 1t Is accomplishing for them
and how much this nation needs the
forest.
Since the forest service called pub
lie attention to the rapid absorption
, OF the water-power sites and the