Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-17
OUTLINES VIEWS
Secretary Of Interior Addresses Min
nesota Conservation Congress.
AS ARDENT AS MOST RADICAL
Cabinet officer Declares for wise and
Careful Administration OF Pub
lie Lands and other Nat
urnI Resourccs

ST. PAUL, March ie.-The first Mime
sofa conservation and agricultural congress
opened today at the Auditorium with dele
gates present from all parts Of Minuesota
and from a number Of neighboring states.
Governor Eberhart welcomed the dele
gates and introduced Archbishop ireland,
who presided at the morning session.
The congress will continue four days and
a number OF noted speakers are on the
program, including a number Of govern
ment experts from the forestry and agri-
cultural departments at Washington.
Secretary OF the Interior BallInger was
the principal speaker on the program OF
this afternoons session.
As ardent an advocate Of wise conserva-
ton as the most radical, was the way the
secretary expressed his policy in regard
to the public lam question. But" he
added. ut must be wise conservation to
appeal to me-
Secretary Ballinger declared himself out OF
sympathy with those radicals. who fear
that all natural resources are being used
up without any consideration for future
generations.
Our country" he said. lis the richest
OF all in natural resources. Its soil. It's
minerals. its coal, its iron, its granite,
it's limestone, it's water power and it's
climate possess unreasonable wealth, and,
IL properly utilized. contain sufficient re-
source to care for all probable increase
in the population Of our country in the
years to come
He said that while "the doctrainaires
figure that the coal deposits of the United
States and Alaska will be exhausted in a
period Of about 100 years, the fact is that,
according to the production of coal in the
United States at the close Of 1908, only
four-tenths of l per cent of the original
supply of coal had been exhausted, leav-
ing as the apparent supply still available
1915 per cent Of the original supply. or
coal enough to last, as some claim, for a
period Of 1000 years"
After long Indifference on the part of
the people as to the public domain" he
declared, "a deep concern has suddenly
%arison, respecting the mommant of the ma
tional state. with a wholly exaggerated
notion of what should be done with it
by the government. There is much talk
about the conservation of our national re-
sources, and nebulous theories that sound
good to the ear, but are impossible of
practical application to existing conditions,
@AO INV oAAANta " NAS Ae WV hAA1N
on the one side and the tendency
to despoil the public domain on the other,
we will. it is hoped, be able to find the
true policy of the government"
Obligation of the states.
He expressed the opinion that "A greater
obligation rests upon the states than upon
the general government to inaugurate laws
to prevent waste in the utilization of ma
tional resources" There has been a
grossly exaggerated notion among some
people, he declared, as to what the general
can do in conserving the ma
tural resources that lie in the deposits of
minerals. and are contained in the soils
the streams. For the most part, he
pointed out, they nave passed into private
ownership and are under the municipal
ownership of the states.
1T seems to me-" he continued, that