The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-03-03

q HAIL. WUlu1LA anu CIllu 4u I'll UNI
land; 1t will affect the daily life OF ever,
one OF us: and yet without confederation
without forests, without foresight. we have
placed ourselves, not deliberately, bu,
thoughtlessly. In a position where q timber
famine Is one OF the inevitable events oI
our near future.
Canada cannot supply US. for h viii
need her timber herself. Siberia cannot
supply us, for the timber is too far from
not supply US. because the timbers OF
that vast continent are of a differen,
character from those we use, n iii.
adapted to u needs. We must suffe,
because we ave carelessly wasted this
great condition Of success. It is impos.
sible to repair the damage in time to es.
cape suffering.
But forests only begin the story OF GU,
impaired capital. Oar anthracite Goals are
years. and u bitiuminous Goals early
IN the ext century; some OF u older
oil fields are already exhausted; the nat
ural gas has been wasted-burning night
and day In many towns of this country
until the supply has failed. Dur iron
deposits grow less each year. Our
ranges In the west. from which we first
drove the buffalo to cover them again
with cattle and sheep. are capable Of sup
~ 01SAS OAA0 A0AA 4A0S .LlACy
could under intelligent management; and
the price OF beef is raised. Nearly every
one of o u wonderful resources we have
used without reasonable foresight and
reasonable care. and as each becomes ex-
hausted a heavier burden Of hardship will
be laid upon us as q people.
Now what is our remedy? The rem
edy is the perfectly simple one OF common
sense applied to national affairs as com
nn0n ri Son0 tn To- a Nn0fn1 = ~n~n0~n ~Rn-s--
This is no abstruse or difficult question.
We have hitherto as q nation taken the
same course as did at first h young man
who came into possession Of his new prop
erty. 1t is time now for q change.
It Is r u that some natural
renew themselves. while others do not,
Our mineral resources once gone are gone
forever. It may appear. therefore, at first
thought that conservation does not apply
to them, since they can be used only once;
but this Is far from being the fact. Meth
DDS Of Goa mining. for instance. have been
permitted in this country which take out
on the average but half Of the coal, and
then in q short time the roofs sink In
on the other half. which thereafter can
never be mined. Oil and natural gas also
nave been and are being exploited with
great waste. n as though there never
would be an end to them. The forests we
CaIl Ieplaco ~ great Cost AnQ with III
Interval OF suffering. The soil which IL
washed from the surface Of our farms ev-
cry year to h amount Of q billion tons,
making, with the further loss Of fertilizinG
elements carried away in solution, the
heaviest tax the farmer has to pay, may
in h course OF centuries be replaced by
the chemical disintegration Of the rock;
but it Is decidedly wiser to keep what
we have by careful methods Of cultivation.
Wa ~ Y VpoW1r ~~1Atnh1Sy @k00 .vn,,<k{n~ 0,.~
farms into our streams, to be dug out at
great expense through river and harbor
appropriations. Fertile soil is not wanted
in the bed Of q stream. and 1t is wanted
on the surface of the soil of the farms and
the forest covered slopes of the noun
tains; yet we spend millions pom mill
lions OF dollars every year removing from
our rivers ought never to have got
into them.
Prevent Water Monopoly.
Besides exhausting the u~nrenewabie and
inpairing the renewable resources. we
have left unused vast which are
capable Of adding enormously to the
wealth OF the country. Our streams have
been used mainly in the west for irrigation
and mainly in the east for navigation. 1T
a not occurred to us that q stream 10
valuable not merely for one, but for a
considerable number Of uses: that these
uses are not mutually exclusive, and that
to obtain the full benefit of what the
stream car do for US we should plan to
develop all uses together. For example
when the national government builds dams
for navigation on streams, 1t often disre-
CARDS the possible use, for power. of the
water that flows over those dams. Engi-
neers say that many hundred thousand
horsepower are going to waste over gov
ernment dams in this way. Since q fair
price for power, where 1t Is in demand. is
from $50 to $50 per horsepower per year it
will be seen that the government has here
developed yet lying idea resource cap
able OF adding enormously to the natural
wealth. 80. also, In developing the west
ern streams for irrigation. in many places
irrigation and power might be made to
go hand in hand.
II the public does not see to 1t that the
control of water power is kept in the
hands of the public. we are certain in the
near future to find ourselves in the grip
Of those who will be able to control. with
a monopoly absolutely without parallel in
the past. the daily life Of our people. Let
us suppose a man in q western town, In a
region without coal. rising on q cold morn
ing. a few years hence, when invention and
enterprise have brought to pass the things
which he can already forsee as coming in
the application OF electricity. He turns on
~ nN I1AK~-Y