The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1910-09-09
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON
OUR NATIONAL EFFICIENCY
In Address Before the Conservation Congress
at ST. Paul He Says New Methods Of De-
veloping ard 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 busi-
ness on the farm the farmers themselves
have given scant attention. One OF the
most urgent needs Of our civilization II
that the farmers themselves should I'M
dertake to get for themselves better
knowledge along these lines. and then to
apply it. Sir Horace Plunkett, for many
years q Wyoming cattleman, and now de-
voting himself in Ireland to the country
life problem there, has suggested In his
recent book on the Country Life Prob
lem in America" the creation Of 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. /
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 olso intensely inter-
esting and instructive.
As a people we have not yet learned to
economize One of the virtues we Ameri-
cans most need Is thrift. It Is a mere
truism to say that luxury and extrava-
gancc 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-
gance and luxury put together. I mean
the needless. useless, and excessive loss
to our people from premature death and
the grief. tho suffering. and the wretehed-
ness which they cause, the material loss
each year has been calculated at nearly
twice what It 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-
lleve our people from this dreadful bur-
den.
National Conservation Commission.
One Of tho 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 uf the governors the meeting
was followed by the appointment OF
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 an amendment to the
Sundry civil service bill was introduced
by q congressman from Minnesota with
the purpose Of putting stop TO The work
SO admirably begun. Congress passed the
amendment It's object was to put an
end to the work of number Of commits
sions. which had been appointed Ivy the
president, and whoss contribution to tho
public welfare had been simply incalcu-
liable. Among these were the commission
Tor reorganizing the business methods Of
the government. the public lands COM
mission, the country life commission,
and the National conservation commits
sion itself. When signed the Sundry
civil service bill containing this amend
ment, I transmitted with 1t as my last
official act a 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 would pay to It no
attention whatever
The National conservation commission
tkerrlp0n became dorm an. n'he suspen-
sion Of its 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 moment Tho No
tional conservation association was or
gan;Zed It took UP The work which 9TH
erw;sa would not have been done. end it
exercised a most usstul influence II pre-
venting had leg'3lelion, In securing tho
Introduction OF better conservation meas
ures at the past session of congress and
in promoting the passage of wise laws. 1t
deserves the confidence and sur port Of
every citizen Interested in the ",sa de-
velop:1ent and preservation Of our nat
ural resources. and in preventing them
iron, rassing into t',e hands of uncon-
trolled monopolies. II Joins with .hc Ma
tirral conservation congress In holding
this meeting. am here by the Joint in
vitatlon 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 its 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
ncnt for the benefit Of its 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 monopolization had not gone so far
as they had with US. So It 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 resources
their forests. their mines. their water.
and their soils-will create enormous
wealth. II Is to the mutual interest of
the United States and our sister Ameri-
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 II Is a good thing
for a 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 ard promote
their legitimate and reasonable develop
ment, future generations will owe their
misfortunes to US Of today. A great pa
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