The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-09-05
TEDDY'S POLICY !.
. o.K.'D -. BY TAFT u | |:
President Addresses National
., Conservation Congress.
PROBLEMS OF IMPORTANCE.

Chief Executive Makes Exhaustive Re.
port on His Heritage From Last Ad-
ministration and Says He Is Trying
to Carry Out Work Already Started.
st. Paul, Mimi. Sept. 5.-Gentlemen
of the National Conservation Congress
Conservation as an economic and po-
litical term has come to mean the pres
ervation Of our natural resources for
economical use so as to secure the
greatest good to the greatest number.
In the develoment Of this country, in
the hardships of the pioneer, in the
energy of the settler, in the anxiety Of
the investor for quick returns, there
was very little time, opportunity or
desire to prevent waste Of those re-
sources supplied by nature which
could not be quickly transmitted into
money, while the investment Of capt.
tai was so great desideratum that
the people as community exercised
little or no care to prevent the trans
fer of absolute ownership Of many Of
the valuable natural resources to pri-
waite individuals without retaining
some kind of control Of their use.
The impulse of the whole new COM
'munity was to encourage the coming
of population, the increase of settle
ment and the opening up Of business.
and he who demurred in the slightest
degree to any step which promised ad-
ditional development Of the idle re-
sources at hand was regarded as
traitor to his neighbors and an OBJ
structor to public progress. But now
that the communities have become old,
now that the flush of enthusiastic ex-
pansion has died away, now that the
would be pioneers have come to re-
alize that all the richest lands in the
country have been taken up, we have
perceived the necessity for change
of policy in the disposition Of our ma
tlOnal resources so as to prevent the
continuance Of the waste which has
characterized our phenomenal growth
in the past.
Today we desire to restrict and re-
tain under public control the acquisi-
ton and use by the capitalist Of our
natural resources.
A Roosevelt Heritage.
Among scientific men and thoughtful
observers, however, the danger has al
ways been present, but it needed some
one to bring home the crying need for
a remedy Of this evil so as to impress
itself on the public mind and lead to
the formation Of public opinion and &C.
ton by the representatives Of the peo-
pie Theodore Roosevelt took up this
task in the last two years Of his Sec
ond administration, and we'll did he
perform it.
AS president Of the United States
have, as it were, inherited this policy,
and rejoice in my heritage. I prize
my high opportunity to do all that an
executive can do to help great people
realize a great national ambition, for
conservation is national. 1t affects
every man Of US, every woman, every
child.
What I can do in the cause shall
do, not as president Of party, but as
president Of the whole people. Conser-
walton is not question Of politics or
of factions or Of persons. 1t is a ques-
ton that affects the vital welfare of all
of us-of our children and our chill
dren's children. l urge that no good
can come from meetings Of this sort
unless we ascribe to those who take
part in them and who are apparently
striving worthily in the cause all prop
er motives and unless we judicially
consider every measure or method pro-
posed with view to its effectiveness
in achieving our common purpose and
wholly without regard to who proposes
it or who will claim the credit for it's
adoption.
The problems are Of very great diff
Guilty and call for the calmest consider
alton and clearest foresight. Many of
the questions presented have phases
that are new in this country, and it is
possible that in their solution we may
have to attempt first one way and then
another.
What L wish to emphasize, however,
is that a satisfactory conclusion can
only be reached promptly if we avoid
acrimony, imputations of bad faith
and political controversy.
The public domain Of the govern
ment Of the United States, including
all the cessions from those Of the
thirteen states that made cessions to
the United States and including Alas
ka. amounted in all to about 100000
600 acres. OF this there are left as
purely government property outside of
Alaska something like 7O00OO,OOO of
acres. OF this the national forest re.
serves in the United States proper EN-.
brace IA, 100000 acres. 49,.
The rest is largely mountain or arid
country, offering some opportunity for
agriculture by dry farming and by
reclamation and containing metals as
Dgel as coal, phosphates, oils and nat.
ural gas. Then the government owns
many tracts of land lying along the