Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-09-08
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.

| communities of every other kind, are not
| beyond Improvement, while much needs
| to be done in some other sections to i'm
prove country ife. 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 our civilization is
| that the farmers themselves should I'M
| dertaka to get for themselves better
knowledge along these lines. and then to
| apply 1t. SIR Horace Plunkett, fer many
years Wyoming cattleman, and now de-
| voting himself in Ireland to the country
| HE problem there, has suggested In his
recent book on the Country Life Prob
lem In America" the creation of Coun-
try Life institute as center where the
work and knowledge of the whole world
concerning country life may be brought
together for the use of every nation. 1
| 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-
portance and We're nlso intensely inter
esting and instructive.
AS q people we have not yet learned to
economic One of the virtues wa Ameri-
cans most need is thrift. 1t Is mere
| truism to say that luxury and extrava-
Eancc are not good for 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-
ganco and luxury put together I mean
the needless, useless, and excessive loss
to our people from premature death and
avolda Bile diseases. Wholly apart from
the grief. the suffering and the wretehed-
ness which they cause the material loss
each year has heen calculated at nearly
twice what it costs to run the Federal
government In addition to the state and
city health officers and organizations
thera fs urgently needed Federal bu-
reau Of health, to act. SO far as tho Ma
tional government properly may, to re-
lteve our people from this dreadful bur
den.
National Conservation Commission.
One of tho most important meetings in
or recent history was thnt Of the gov
ernors in tho white house in Mag. 1893
to consider the conservatism question. BY
the advice Of the governors the meeting
was followed by tina appointment OF q
meeting Of tho governors directed the
attention Of the country to conservation
as nothing else could have done. while
the work Of the commission gave the
movement defnitcness and supplied 1t
with practical program. But at the
| moment when the commission was ready
to begin the campaign for putting It's pro-
gram into effect an amendment to the
Sundry civil service bill was introduced
by a congressman from Minnesota with
the purpose of putting a stop TO the work
SO admirably begun. Congress passed the
amendment. It's object TO put an
end to the work Of number Of connis-
sions. which had been appointed by the
president and whose contribution TO the
public welfare had been simply fnca1cu-
| liable. Among these were the commission
Tor reorgonfzfng the business methods Of
the government. the public lands COM
mission the country life commission,
end the National conservation commits
sion itself. When I signed the Sundry
civil service bill containing this amend
H7ent, T transmitted with It S my last
official act 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 I would pay to 1t no
attention whatever.
The National conservation commission
tEereupon became iorr.a ''he suspen-
sion Of its work at most unfor-
tunste time. and there was serious dan
ger that the progress already made would
be lost A. this crt!ttl moment The M
tional conservation 6esociatiop was or
ganiZed. It took UP the work which 9th
erwise would not have been done. end It
exercised most usct1l influence, " pre-
venting tsf lee!7lssion. in securing the
Introduction OF better conservation mcns-
ures at the past session Of consresF ard
in promoting the passage Of wise laws. It
deyc~ves the confidence and IMPORT Of
every >ttixen Interested IN the ",~e de-
velopr1ent and preservation OF our nat
ural resources, and in preventing them
from ressing into t''s hands Of uncon-.
t-nllcd ninnopolier. It Joins with he Ma
ti~nal 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 1t was good. St Lost no time
in communicating the advantages Of the
new point of view to it's immediate neigh
bors among the nations. North Aneri-
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 ane southern boundaries
wisely realized that their opportunity to
conserve the natural resources was better
than oars because With them destruction
and naonerolixation had not rene so far
as they had with Us. 10 II IL with tho
republics Of Central and seuth America.
Obviously they are on the verge OF q
period Of great material progrsss. The
development Of their NATURAL rsseurces-
their forests their mines, their water,
and their soilH-wil create enormous
wealth. It 10 to the mutual interest Of
the United states and cur sister Arnert-
can republics that this lsvslepn snt
Should - wisely done. Our nanxfae<ur-
Ing industries efrsr 4 market fer nsrs
and more Of their natura! wealth and
raw material. while they Win ncrsasinxiy
desire to meet that demand In csansr-
ctel exchange. The more W bvy from
them. the more We shall sell to them.
Their prosperity Is iaseparab3y involved
with our own. Thank heaven, w Of this
continent are now beginning to realize,
what In the end the whole world will
realize, that normally 1t Is good thing
for ne1en 10 i,aye In