The state herald., 1910-09-09


beyond Improvement, while much needs
to b done In some other sections to i'm
prove country life. Az yet We know COM
parativsly little Of the basic facts Of rural
civilization. Tho means for better farm
ing We have studied with care. but to bot
ter living on the farm and to better bust
ness on the farm the farmers themselves
have given scant attention. One Of the
most urgent needs Of our civilization is
that the farmers themselves should un-
dertake to get for themselves better
knowledge along these lines. and then to
apply II. Sir Horace Plunkett, for many
years Wyoming cattleman. and now de-
voting himself In Ireland to the country
life problem there, has suggested in his
recent book on the Country Life Prob
lem In America" the creation Of a coun-
try Life institute as q center where the
work and knowledge Of the whole world
concerning country life may be brought
together for the use Of every nation. I
am strongly In sympathy with this Idea,
md I hope to see II carried out with the
cooperation and assistance OF our own
people. Last spring. while visiting the
capital of Hungary. Buda- -Pesth. I was
immensely impressed by the Museum of
Country Life. containing an extraordinary
series Of studies In agriculture, in stock
raising. In forestry. in mining; the ex-
hibits were Of the utmost practical i'm
pOftnnce ana were nlsO intensely inter
esting and Instructive.
As a people we have not yet learned to
economize. One of the virtues we Ameri-
cans most need is thrift. It is mere
truism to say that luxury and extrava-
Rancc are not good for 4 Nation. So far
Rs they affect character. the loss they
cause may be beyond computation. But
in tie material sense there is loss
greater than Is caused by both extrava-
"A l,t,,t ,,t go vv,na
the necdless, useless. and excessive LOST
to our people from premature death and
avoidable diseases. Wholly apart from
tn. grief. the suffering. and the wretched-
ness which they cause. the material loss
each year has been calculated at nearly
twice what II costs TO run the Federal
government. In addition to the state and
city health ofhcers and organizations.
there is urgently needed a Federal bu-
reau Of health. to act. so far as the Ma
tioral government properly may. to re-
lieve our people from this dreadful bur-
den.
National Conservation Commission.
One OF the most important meetings in
our recent history was that OF tho gov
ernors In the white house In May. 1915
to consider the conservation question. By
the advice Yf the governors the meeting
Was followed by the appointment OF a
meeting Of the governors directed the
attention OF the country to conservation
as nothing else could have done. ~hile
the work Of the commission gave the
movement dehnitenesa and supplied II
with a practical program But at the
moment when the commission was ready
TO begin the campaign for putting Its pro-
Rrnm into effect an amendment TO the
Sundry civil service bill was introduced
by a congressman from Minnesota with
the purpose Of putting a stop 70 The work
10 admirably begun. Congress PASSED the
amendment Its object was 10 put an
end TO the work of a number n commits
sions. which had been appointed hy the
president. hnd WHOSE contribution 10 the
public wclfkre hrd ben simply incaicu-
liable. Among these were the commission
for renrga MIXING the business methods rt
the government. the public lands rom-
mission. the country life commission
and the Snt'ora, conservation rnmnris-
sion itself when I signed the sundrv
civil service bill containing this amend
ment. I transmitted with II r- my last
cffeisi act q memorandum declaring that
the amendment was void because n was
nm unconstitutional Interference with the
rights OF the executive. and that II I were
to remain pre.id-n, would pay TO II no
attention whatever.
The National conservation commission
thercunon becafne dorm an. --he su-rsn-
,ion of Its work cane n, most unt"r-
funafe time. and their was se-lous dan
ger tina. tho progrcs. already msd- would
he lost. A. this cri'.'sl moment ~" SF-
uonni conservation b'socin,ion was or.
ranised. II took ~ N. work which 9TH
erw.r~ would not have been dove, rni n
eS-r~lsed n most nsNsli influence pre-
venting tss lrr'liLii1n, In securing the
iniroJus,i,n of b~,t-r conservation mems
a. -
IN promoting the pa-saw. of-~fi-. laws. n
dsTcsves the confidence and -uf port ~
~vnry ''itx@n int s--s'ei IN tho si-, de-
y~iopsl-nt and pr-i.-vst'on Of our rst-
urai resources and In preventing them
from Tossing into ~. hands nt unenn-
'.niiei manopoli.r, n toin- with N" Ss.
t'Trai conservation congress 'r holding
this meeting. 7 am hcfv by ;hs Join, In
vitation OF both.
Psn.Ameriean construeticn.
when N. wovsrnrsn, ~ the United
Hts,er nwok- 10 N. idea Of conservation
and saw that n was good, II lost no tins
In communicating the ADVANTAGES Of the
new point Of view 10 i,s ifnmedis'. neigh
hcrr among the nations. A North Ameri-
~sn conservation conference was held In
Washington. rnd the cooperation Of
csrHda and Mexico In the rrrs, problem
Of Developing the resources ot the CONT
ffrf Tor tHr f~Nfnt W ltH tHott" WIS
asked and promised The nations unan
our or,h~rn and southern boundaries
wisely realized that their opportunity tn
conserve the natural resources was better
than ours. because with them destruction
and monoroiiEaron had not rome ~ far
~ they had with us, no n Il with N.
republic. of Central and South America.
Obviously they are - IN. verv- ~
period Of grsr' mat iai progress The
d-,.iormsnt of ih~ii natural resources
their forests, their mines, their water.
and their soiis-wiii create enormous
wealth. n !. 90 IN. mutual interest ~
the United States and our sister Am-ri.
can republics that this deveinpr-n,
should be wisely done. our rarufar,ur.
inr Industries ofr-r a msrs~, Tor mnr-
and more ~ their natural wealth and
raw material white they will Increasingly
desire IN insr, tha, demand In CONNER.
ciai exchange. The more We buy sran
them. tho more We shall sell 10 them
Their prosperity 10 insaparahi, involved
with our own, Thank heaven W. Of this
continent are now beginning ,a tsat,-,
what In tho end the whole world will
realize. that normal, II IL a rood thing
for nation 20 have i,s nsishhar nations