The Ordway new era., 1910-09-09

1
| In the middle west have made marvellous
| progress. yet even the best of them like
| communities Of every other kind. are not
beyond improvement, while much needs
| to be done in some other sections to I'm
prove country life AZ yet we know com
paratively little Of the basic facts Of rural
| etviiisation. Tho means for better farm
| ing We have studied with care, but to bet
ness on tho farm the farmers themselves
have given scant attention. One OF the
most urgent needs Of ouc civilization IL
that the farmers themselves should un-
dertAke to get for themselves a better
knowledge along these lines. and then to
| apply II. Sir Horace Plunkett. for many
years a Wyoming cat,leman. and now de-
voting h!mselt in Ireland TO tho country
| life problem there. has suggested in his
| recent book on the Country Life Prob
lem in America" tho creation of Coun-
| try Life institute a. . center whore the
work and knowledge OF the whole world
concerning country life may be brought
| together for the use Of every nation.
am strongly in sympathy with this idea
and I hope to SEQ II carried out with tho
| cooperation and assistance Of our own
| people Last spring. while Waiting 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 ana were bl1o intensely
est!nE and instructive.
As a people We have not yet learned to
economize Ono Of tho virtues We Ameri-
cans most need II thrift II IL a mere
truism to say that luxury and exerava-
eanco are not good for . Nation. So far
a. they affect character. the loss they
cause may be beyond computation. But
IN the material sense there II loss
greater than 10 caused by both extrava-
Ganes and luxury put together. I mean
~ M
to our people from premature death and
avoIdable diseases. Wholly apart from
th. grief. the suffering. and the wretchsd-
ness which they cause. the material loss
each year has been calculated at nearly
twice what II costs TO run tho Federal
government. In addition to the state and
city health oflcers 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-
Nevs our people from this dreadful bur
den.
National Conservation Commlsslon.
One Of tho most important meetings in
our recent history was that Of the gov
ernors in the white house in May. 1908.
to consider the conservation question. By
the advice Of 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
the work Of the commission gave the
movement dehnitsness and supplied II
with q practical proEram. But At the
moment when the commission was ready
to begin the campaign for putting its pro-
gram into effect An amendment to the
sundry civil service bill was introduced
by . con9ressman from Minnesota with
the purpose Of putting stop 10 tho work
20 admirably begun. Congress passed the
amendment. Its object was to put an
aRA No hA oP
sions. which had basn appointed hy the
preaident. and whose contribution TO tho
public welfare Ind been simply incaicu-
liable. Among theao were the commission
tor raorRanixinS tho business methods of
~. government the public lands COM
mission. the country life commission.
and the National conservation commits
sion itself When I signed the Sundry
ment. transmitted with II ns my last
ofyicial act a memorandum declaring that
the amendment was void. because " was
an unconstitutional Interference with the
rights Of the executive. and that II we're
to remain president I would pay to II no
attention whatever.
The National conservation commission
tkercuoon became dorns The susren-
sion Of Its work came nt a most unfnr-
tunste time. and there was se-lous dam
ger tina. the progress already mad. would
he lost. ~ this crt.:Al moment 'hc Mr.
Nonal conservation tssociation was or
eanized. II took ur IN. work which 9th
erw:s~ would not have been done. end II
'e<crri.ed a most uss!ll influence VI PIE.
venting hsr Legislation. in securing the
int troIu.,ion Of better conservation Mons
urss ~ IRE past session Of con@rcss nrd
IN promoting the passage OF wise laws. II
c.-c-ve. thc confidence and sur port of
evcrv ..iszen Interested In the ~'-, de-
velop:,ent and preIs-vat!on Of our nat
rr,l resources. and In preventing them
frn~, raasInE into -. hands "f unenr-
'-olle.i n'ononr'i"s. u Joins with n" N".
ti",.ai conservation c"ngrc>s ir holding
this meeting. 7 am here by the Joint In
vitation Of both.
Pan.AmerIcan Construction.
v-~e, .rn pov~r-rent NJ IN" United
State. nwoke to tho idea OF conservation
and saw that II wns good. II lost no time
in communicating the advantages of the
new roint Of view to its immediate neigh
bors among the nations. North Ameri-
can conservation conference was held In
Washington. and the cooperation OF
Cnradn and Mexico in the great problem,
OF Developing tho resources OF tn" conti-
rcn. for the benefit Of Its people was
| asked and promised. Tho nations uoon
our rorthcrn and southern houndartcs
Wisely realized that their opportunity 10
conserve the natural resources was better
| ttnn ours. because with them destruction
| and monoroIization had not gone SO far
| as thev had with us. So II Is with the
| republirs Of Central and South America
Obviously they are on the verze Of
| period or great material progress. The
dcvelorment Of their natural resourc"s-
| their forests. their mines. their water.
and their soils-vill create enormous
wealth 1t '. to the mutual interest OF
| the United States nnd our sister hmeri-
| can republics that this development
| should be wisely done. Our manufacture
| ing Industries offer market for more
| and more of their nnturR, wealth and
| raw material. while they will increasingly
| desire to meet that demand in CONNER
| cial exchange. Tho more buy from
| them. the more We shall sell to them
| Their prosperity ia inscparably Involved
| with our own. Thank heaven. OF this
| continent are now beginning to realize
.l,af h. .holn mill