The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-09-15
pend Just rates and prices to the peo-

Pend Just rates and prices to the peo-
pie.
Just as the idea Of provncialism has
worked other evils, 80 it has worked the
waste Of our national resources. The
} provincial idea was that the natural
wealth belonging to all the American peo-
pie should be handed over for nothing
to special interests. This was done un-
der the plea of encouraging individual
enterprise and the Fastening Of local de-
velopinent.
And so forests which once belonged to
all the people have been ruthlessly felled
and upon their ruins have risen the en-
pires Of our lumber kings. Priceless de-
posits of coal, iron ore and copper which
once belonged to all the people have been
surrendered freely to special interests;
and these sources Of the peoples revenue
which should have flowed into the peoples
treasury to pay the expense of the peo-
pies government have been diverted by
the ditch dug by the provincial idea. into
the treasury of multi millionaires until
the peril Of their swollen fortunes is one
Of the problems confronting American
craftsmanship
Waste Must BE Stopped.
All this waste and robbery Of the peo-
pies wealth must be stopped. No ancient
and provincial Interpretation of states
rights must prevent the enforcement Of
the peoples rights No special plea for
hasty local development must hinder
healthy general development. No tempo
rary state politics compelled by the
wealthy few must impair permanent Ma
tional craftsmanship for the general good
Of all.
Had we kept the natural resources of
| all the people and made private interests
pay the people just return for exploit
| ing those resources, the Nations income
| thus derived would now pay most Of the
| Nations expenses; those resources would
| have been wisely used and not exhausted;
and our whole growth would have been
rational and sound instead of unbalanced
| and defective. We would have enjoyed
| all the benefits from our natural re-
| sources and yet our children would have
| inherited colossal National wealth and
| small National burdens instead Of pri-
waite interests enjoying all the benefits
of our national resources and their chill
dren inheriting colossal private wealth
and small private burdens.
The Nation must keep and administer
for all the people those natural resources
belonging to all the people. Every state
should aid and not hinder the Nation in
doing this great duty. The state should
preserve for the public good the resources
belonging exclusively to it. the munich
pality the resources belonging exclusively
to it, and both should help the Nation
in doing the same thing with resources
belonging to all.
Had certain states conserved their re-
sources which the Nation gave them, in
stead of turning them over to private
exploitation, the people Of those states
would be better off today, their children
better off tomorrow and their economic
condition better now and for all time to
come.
Had the Nation conserved the resources
which belonged to all the American peo-
pie instead Of abandoning most of them
to cunning, strength and greed, our prog
ress would have been sounder and more
Common sense Policy.
Cooperation Of municipality, state and
Nation to correct past mistakes and pre-
serve and administer for the general good
of all the people the natural resources
yet remaining-this Is the policy OF COM
mon sense and common honesty. Strife
and division to the end that the reign OF
waste and pillage under the false name
of development shall go on and the fever
ish upbuilding of private wealth upon
the ruins of the peoples resources shall
continue-this Is the policy of private
avarice and private plumber. Forests and
coal, water powers and phosphates-al
the wealth that belongs to all the people
must be kept and developed for the bene-
fit of all the people.
This great policy for the welfare of all
the people is now we'll under way. Let us
beware how we hinder or retard 1t. 1t Is ,
another step in the glorious process Of
the building of the Nation. Already 1t !
has saved the people much that remains |
Of their resources; it must save the people |
all that remains Of their resources. |
Honor to whom honor is due"-let us |
not forget that the man who In thought, |
deed and word has championed this vast |
and historic reform until today he is its |
personification, is that courageous, pure, |
unselfish young American, the president |
of the National Conservation association, |
Clifford Pinchot. For years he has fear
lessly fought. and ceaselessly toiled. to
save and protect for the people the prop /
erty of the people; and in that nation
wide battle has been the field officer of
the man who first made this mighty |
movement a permanent and practical pol
icy of American craftsmanship, Theo-
dore Roosevelt.
The soul of our prosperity as people,
our very life itself, depends on the idea
of our unity and our brotherhood-mu-
nicipality. state and Nation each work.
ing within it's province for the common
good of all the people instead Of munci-
pality, state and Nation within its pro-
vince conniving at the perilous enrich
ment of the few to the injury and i'm
poverishment Of all. The economic and
honest care of the peoples common well
fare means the just advantage to which
individual ability, industry and thrift are
entitled: the uneconomc and immoral up
building of SPECIAL interests by the sac
rifice Of public wealth means the denial
of that Just advantage to which indivtd-
ual ability, enterprise and thrift are en-
titled This is a government of all the
people; it should be conducted for all the
people.
Duty of the Young Man.
The duty of the young men today in
working for themselves is to think and
act for what the constitution calls "the
general welfare" Of the Nation as a
whole. Only as the entire Nation Is pros
porous any state be really prosper
Gus. Only as the entire Nation is power
full can any state be really safe from foes
foreign and domestic. Young men of to-
day are not the heirs of the provincial
ideal which has hindered so much the
real progress of the people. wasted so
much of their resources, shed SO much
of their blood.
No, the young men of today are the
oil fIo odv hot