The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-09-10

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 tho farm and to better busi-
ness on the farm the farmers themselves
have given scant attention. One OF the
most urgent needs of our civilization 10
that the farmers themselves should un-
dertake to get for themselves . better
knowledge along these lines, and then to
apply II. Sir Horace Plunkett. for many
years Wyoming cattleman. and now de-
voting himself in ireland to tho country
life problem there. has suggested in his
recent book on the Country Life Prob
try Life institute az . center where 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 hope to see 1t 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 elso intensely inter-
esting and Instructive.
As a people we have not yet learned to
economize. One of the virtues we Ameri-
cans most need IL thrift. 1t 10 a mere
truism to say that luxury and extrava-
eanco 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 10 loss
greater than is caused by both extrava-
Ranco and luxury put together. I 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 1t costs to run the Federal
government. In addition to the state and
city health oficers and ORGANIZATIONS.
there is urecntly needed a Federal bu-
reau OF health. to act. SO far as tho Ma
floral government properly may. to re-
lieve 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 Nav, 1903.
to consider the conservation question. BY
the advice Of the governors the meeting
was followed by the appointment of
National conservation commission. Tho
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 dehniteness and supplied II
with a practical program. But at tho
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
bv . congressman from Minnesota with
the purpose Of putting a stop 70 the work
admirably begun. Congress rassed the
amendment. Its object was TO put an
end to the work Of number of commits
e'ons. which had been apoointed bv the
~ Nd Nyh
public welfare hnd been simply tnca1cu-
liable Among these we're the commission
for reoreanizing the b,stncs, methods NJ
the government. the public lands com
mission. the country lfe commission
and the National conservation commits
sion itself When I signed the sundry
civil service bill containing this amend
ment, transmitted with II - my last
off1cial act a memorandum declaring that
the amendment was void. because " was
an unconstitutional Interference With the
rights Of the executive. and that II I were
10 remain president would pay to II no
attention whatever.
The National conservation commission
thereuoon became dorm su-. The susne n
sion Of its work carre at a most unrsr-
tunatc time, and ther. was serious dan
ger tina. the progre-. aIreadv made would
be lost A.. this cr!t!,rsl moment 'l'e NJ:
tional con-erva ton association was or-
Ean'zed. II took up m. work which 9TH
erw.se would not have been done. end II
exercised a most :,s,>t;Il influence pre-
venting taS lee'7isti,n in securing the
in ro.l,,rtson OF better conservation mems
ures at the past session OF conercs~ ard
IN promoting the massage Of wise laws. II
deserves tho confidence and sur onrt of
every .,it'zen int,~..ted IN the H,s. de.
velop.1ent and preservation Of our nat
uraI resources. and in preventing them
from, T.essing into t'a hands of uncon-
'-cllcd moncpolie-. " Joins wit, n" Ma
u,,.si conservation c';B@-ess ir holding
TIL. meeting, am here by the Joint in
vitation OF both
Pan-American Construction.
when tire government of the IYo'ted
States awoke to the idea of conservation
and saw that II was good. II lost no time
in communicating the advantages of the
new point Of view TO its immediate neigh
bors among the nations. A 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 conti
nen. for the benefit of its people was
asked and promised. The nations uoon
our rorthern and southern boundaries
wisely realized that their opportun'tv to
conserve the natural resources was better
than ours because with them destruction
and noncrolizatton had not gone 40 far
as thev had with U.S. so II is with the
republics of Central and South America.
Obviously they are on the verge Of a
period Of great material progress. The
DEVELOPMENT CT their natural resou-res-
their forests. their mines. their water.
and their soils-wil 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 manufactur-
ing Industries offer a market for more
and more Of their natura! 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 inseparabiy involved
with our own. Thank heaven. we of this
continent are now beginning to realize.
what in the end the whole world will
reaIize that normally II IL a good thing
for nation to have Its neighbor nations
prosper We Of the United States are
genuinely and heartily pleased to see
Ia L. - l.