Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-09-09
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON
OUR NATIONAL EFFICIENCY
In Address Before the Conservation Congress
at St. Paul He Says New Methods of De-
veloping and Using Natural Resources
of Country Are Needed.

| prove country life. AS yet we know COM
| paratively little of the basic facts Of rural
| civilization. The means for better farm
| ing we have studied with care, but to bet
| 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 civilization Is
| that the farmers themselves should I'M
| Gertake to get for themselves a better
| knowledge along these lines, and then to
| apply it. Sir Horace Plunkett, for many
| years a 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 a 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,
and I hope to see it 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
portance and were also 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 a mere
truism to say that luxury and extrava-
| gancc are not good for a Nation. So far
as they affect character. the loss they
cause may be beyond computation. But
in the material sense there is loss
greater than is caused by both extrava-
gance and luxury put together. I mean
the needless, useless, and excessive loss
to our people from premature death and
avoida bic diseases. Wholly apart from
the grief, the suffering, and the wretched-
ness which they cause. the material loss
each year las been calculated at nearly
twice what it costs to run the Federal
government. In addition to the state and
city health officers and organizations.
there is urgently needed Federal bu-
reau of health. to act SO far as the Ma
tional government properly may. to re-
leve our people from this dreadful bur-
den.
National Conservation Commission.
One of the most important meetings in
our recent history was that Of the gov
errors in the white house in May. 1908.
to consider the conservation question. BY
the advice IF the governors the meeting
was followed by the appointment of
National conservation commission. The
meeting OF the governors directed the
attention Of the country to conservation
as nothing else could have done. while
the work Of the commission gave the
movement definiteness and supplied 1t
with a practical program. But at the
moment when the commission was ready
to begin the campaign for putting its pro-
gram into effect amendment to the
Sundry civil service bill was introduced
by a congressman from Minnesota with
the purpose of putting stop TO the work
so adrnira bly, begun. Congress passed the
~1~1A o.
end to the work of A number Of commits
sions which had been appointed ny the
president, and whose contribution to the
public welfare had been simply fncalcu-
liable Among these were the commission
Tor reorganizing the business methods Of
the government. the public lands com
mission. the country life commission,
and the National conservation commits
sion Itself When I signed the Sundry
civil service bill containing this amend
ment, I transmitted with 1t as my last
official act a memorandum declaring that
the amendment was void. because 1t was
an unconstitutional interference with the
rights Of the executive, and that If were
to remain president would pay to 1t no
attention whatever
The National conservation commission
theraupon became dorm an-. The suspen-
sion of it's work came at most Unfor-
tunate time, and there was serious dan
the progress
be lost. A. this critical moment tho M"
ttonaI conservation association was or
ganized It took up he work which 9TH
erw,sa would not have been done. end it
exercised most Is1TI1 influence II pre-
venting bad legislation. IN securing the
mi reduction of better conservation meas
ures at the past session Of congress ard
in promoting the passage of wise laws. 1t
deserves the confidence and support Of
evcrv citizen Interested in the >"'Sa de-
velop;r1ent and preservation of our nat
ural resources, and in preventing them
from Passing into I've hands Of uncon-
t~ollcd nionopolies. II Joins with he Ma
linr.al conservation congress II holding
this meeting I am hcrc by the joint in
vitation of both.
Pan-American Construction.
When the government Of the United
States awoke to the idea Of conservation
and saw that it was good. 1t lost no time
in communicating the advantages of the
new point of view TO it's immediate neigh
bors among the nations. A North Amer1-
can conservation conference was held In
Washington and the cooperation of
Canada and Mexico In the great problem
OF developing the resources Of the CONT
nent for the benefit Of its people was
asked and promised The nations uoon
our orthern and southern boundaries
wisely realized that their opportunity to
conserve the natural resources was better
than ours because with them destruction
and decentralization had not gone so far
as they had with us. So It Is with the
republics of Central and South America.
Obviously they are on the verge Of
period of great material progress. The
DEVELOPMENT CT their natural r"sou~r"s-
their forests their mines, their water,
and their soils-will create enormous
wealth It IS to the mutual interest Of
the United States and our sister Ameri-
can republics that this development
should be wisely done. Our manufacture
ing industries offer a market for more
and more OF their natural wealth and
raw material while they will increasingly
desire to meet that demand In CONNER
cial exchange. The more we buy from
them, the more we shall sell to them.
Their prosperity Is insep2rably involved
with our own. Thank heaven we of this
continent are now beginning to- realize.
what in the end the whole world will
realize. that normally it is q good thing
for nation to have its neichnor nations
prosper We OF the United States are
genuinely and heartily pleased to see
growth and prosperity in Canada, in
Mexico in South America
Unless the governments Of all the
American republics. including our own.
enact in time such laws as will both pro-