Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-09-08
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON
OUR NATIONAL EFFICIENCY
In Address Before the Conservation Congress
at ST. Paul He Says New Methods of De-
'eloping and Using Natural Resources
of Country Are Needed

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 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
nave given scant attention. One Of the
most urgent needs Of our civilization is
that the farmers themselves should IN
dertake to get for themselves a better
knowledge along these lines, and then to
apply it. Sir Horace Plunkett, for many
years Wyoming cattleman, and now de-
! voting himself in Ireland 10 the country
life problem there, has suggested In his
recent book on the Country Life Prob
lem in America" the creation Of q 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 7
am strongly in sympathy with this idea,
and I hope to gee il 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 we're of the utmost practical i'm
esting and instructive
As people we have not yet learned to
economic. One of the virtues we Ameri-
cans most need is thrift It ia a mere
truism to say that luxury ard extrava-
ganco 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 a loss
greater than is caused by both extrava-
Eance and luxury put together. mean
the needless, useless, and excessive loss
to our people from premature death and
avoidable diseases. Wholly apart from
the grief, the suffering, and the wretched-
ness which they cause, the material loss
each year has been calculated at nearly
twice what IL costs to run the Federal
government. In addition to the state and
city health officers and organizations,
there IS urgently needed a Federal bu-
reau of health, to act, so far as the Ma
tional government properly may to re-
lieye 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
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 a
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 defniteness 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 a stop TO the work
/ L. vN1c sd
amendment. It's object was to put an
! end to the work Of number Of commits
| sions which had been appointed by the
! president, and whose contribution TO the
| public welfare had been simply incalcu-
| liable. Among these were the commission
for 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 it as my last
official act q memorandum declaring that
the amendment was void. because 1t was
an unconstitutional interference with the
| rights of the executive, and that II were
to remain president I would pay to 1t no
| attention whatever.
The National conservation commission
| tkereupon became dornanr. The suspen-
! sion of It's work came at a most unfOr-
| tunate time, and there was serious dan
! ger that the progress already made would
| be lost. A. this critical mement The NJ
| tionaI conservation association was or
ganized It took up the work when 9TH
| erVrtse would not have been done, and it
! exercised most uscEuI influence II pre-
| venting had 1egt7Isgion, In securing the
| Introduction of better conservation meas
| ures at +he past session of congrcss. ard
| in promoting the passage of wise laws. It
| deserves the confidence and rpprt NJ
! every citizen Interested in the srisa de-
! velsp7nent and p preservation of our nat
| ursl resources, and in preventing them
| from Passing into t''a hands of uneon-
trolled manopolies It joins with he Ma
! tinnal conservation congress in holding
this meeting. I am here 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 II 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. North Ameri-
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 it's people was
| asked and promised. The nations upon
| our orthern and southern boundaries
| wisely realized that their opportunity to
| conserve the natural resources was better
! than ours. because with them destruction
| and monoRolization had not gone so far
| as they had with us. So it is with the
| republics of Central and South America.
| Obviously they are the verge OF a
| period of great material progress. The
| DEVELOPMENT Of their natural resources
/ their forests. their mines. their water
! and their soils-wiN create enormous
| wealth. It is to the mutual interest OF
| the United States and our sister Aneri-4
| 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 inseparably 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 a good thing
| for 8 nation to have its neighbor 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-
| tect their natural wealth and promote
their legitimate and reasonable develop
| ment future generations will owe their
! naisfortunes to US of today. A great pa
Worse Yet.
Maudie: That horrid old cat told