Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-08-24
Conservation and Improvement of
Rural Life Are Discussed.
PEOPLE ARE MOVING TO CITIES
Urban Communities Are Growing al
Expense of Suburban.
BOTH SHOULD CONTINUE TO GROW
Advancement of Neither should BE n
Burden TO the Other-Place of the
Expert and the student I'm
working out Problem.

UTICA, N. Y, Aug. 23.-Theodore Roose-
welt this afternoon delivered the first ad-
dress of his western tour at Summit park,
this city. He spoke as follows:
There are no two public questions of
more vital Importance to the future of this
country than the problem of conservation
and the problem of the betterment of rural
! life. Moreover these two problems are
really interdependent for neither of them
| can be successfully solved save on condi-
tion that there is as least a measurable
| success in the effort to solve the other. In
any great country the prime physical asset
the physical asset more valuable than any
other-is the fertility of the soil. All our
industrial and commercial welfare, all our
material development of every kind, de-
pends in the last resort upon our preserving
and increasing the fertility of the soil This.
of course, means the conservation of the
soil as the great natural resource; and,
equally, of course, 1t furthermore implies
the development of country life. for there
cannot be a permanent Improvement of the
soil II the life of those who live on it. and
make their living out of it, Is suffered to
starVe and languish, to become stunted, and
weakened and inferior to the type Of life
lived elsewhere. We are now trying to
preserve, not for exploitation by individuals,
but for the permanent benefit of the whole
people, the waters and the forests and we
are doing this primarily as means of add
ing the fertility of the soil; although in
each case there is a great secondary use
both of the water and of the forests for
commercial and industrial purposes In the
same way lit is essential for the farmers
themselves to try to broaden the life of the
man who lives in the open country; to make
1t more attractive, to give it every adjunct
and aid to development which has been
given to the life of the man of the cities
! Therefore friends. the conservation and
rural life policies are really two sides OF
the same policy; and down at the bottom
this policy rests upon the fundamental law
that neither man nor nation can prosper
unless, in dealing with the present, he
steadily take thought for the future.
; Problem is Old One.
In one sense this problem with which
we have to deal is very, very old Wherever
civilizations have hitherto sprung up they
have always tended to go through certain
stages and then TO fall. No nation car
develop a real civilization without cities
Up to certain point the city movement IL
thoroughly healthy; yet it is a strange anC
lamentable fact that always hitherto afte
|. this point has been reached the city hal
tended to develop at the expense of TIT
country by draining the country of what Il
best in it and making an Insignificant re
turn for this best. In consequence, in tn
past every civilization in its later stage
has tended really to witness those condi
tions under which the cities prosper an,
the men decay There are ugly signs tina
these tendencies are at work in this nauol
of ours. But very fortunately we see nov
what never before was seen in any civiliza
! tion-an aroused and alert public interes
! in the problem a recognition OF its gravit.
and desire to attempt its solution.
THE problem does not consist merely Il
I the growth of the city. Such a growth II
itself is a good thing and not a bad thin
for the country. The problem consists q
the growth of the city at the expense o
the country; and, even where this is no
the case, in so great an equality OF growt
= In power and interest as to make the cit
> more attractive than the country. an
therefore apt to drain the country of tn
I. people who ought to live therein.
Work of Students Valuable.
''The human side OF the rural life prot
"a lem is 10 make the career of the farme
and the career Of the farm laborer as a.
y tractive and as remunerauve correspond
,s ing careers in the city, Now l am we
r aware that the farmer must himself TAX
r the lead in bringing this about A centur
rs and a quarter ago the wise English farme
ID Arthur Young, wrote Of the efforts to in
prove French wool: A cultivator at II
head OF a sheep farm of 1900 or 1000 acre
X would in q few years do more for the
woods than all the academicians and ph
Il, losophers will effect in ten centuries 1t
absurd TO think that any man who hJ
studied the subject only theoretically is {
al to direct those who practically work
TO the matter. But, friends. l wish TO inst
,a TO you hereto you practical men who oW
a, and work your farms-that II is a perniciol
.r absurdity for the practical man TO refui
. to benefit by the work of the student III
English farmer 1 have quoted, Young WI
a practical farmer. but he was also a scie
- tific farmer. One reason why the gre
'' business men of today-the great industri
Us leaders-have gone ahead. while the farm
40 has tended\to sag behind the others, is tn
IL they are far more willing and indeed cage
~ to profit by expert and technical know
Continued on Page Two)