The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1910-09-05
CONGRESS HEARS
PRESIDENT TAFT
Chief Executive Discusses
Conservation Movement.
WOULD PREVENT WASTE

! Declares Conservation Means Preser.
vation of Our Natural Resources for
Economical Use--Danger to State
and People From Dissipation of Na-
tcnaI Wealth-Reioices in Inherit
ing Roosevelt Poiicies-Time for
Halt in General Rhapsodies Over
Conservation.
st. Paul, Sept 5.-Tn his address be-
| fore the second National Conservation
| congress President Taft said, in part:
Conservation as an economic and
| political term has come to mean the
| preservation of our natural resources
| for economical use, so as to secure
| the greatest good to the greatest num-
Der. In the development of this coun-
| try, in the hardships of the pioneer, in
| the energy of the settler, in the anx-
| iety of the investor for quick returns,
| there was very little time, opportunity,
or desire to prevent waste of those re-
| sources supplied by nature which
could not be quickly transmitted into
money; while the investment of capi-
| tai was so great desiratum that the
people as a community exercised lit
| tie or no care to prevent the transfer
| of absolute ownership of many of the
valuable natural resources to private
individuals, without retaining some
| kind of contral of their use. The inn
pulse of the whole new community
was to encourage the coming of popu-
| lation, the increase of settlement, and
| the opening up of business; and he
who demurred in the slightest degree
| to any step which promised addition
al development of the idle resources
| at hand was regarded as a traitor to
his neighbors and an obstructor to
public progress. But now that the
communities have become old, now
| that the flush of enthusiastic expsn-
| sion has died away, now that the
| would be pioneers have come to rea-
| liGe that all the richest lands in the~
country have been taken up, we have
perceived the necessity for change
| of policy iE the disposition of our ma
| tional resources so as to prevent the
| continuance of the waste which has
| characterized our phenomenal growth
in the past Today we desire to re-
strict and retain under public control
the acquisition and use by the capi-
| talist of our natural resources.
Dissipation of National Wealth.
The danger to the state and to the
people at large from the waste and
| dissipation of our national wealth is
| not one which quickly impresses itself
| on the people of the older commune
| ties, because it's most obvious in.
| stances do not occur in their neighbor-
hood, while in the newer part of the
country the sympathy with expansion
| and development is so strong that the
| danger is scoffed at or ignored Among
scientific man and thoughtful OBJ
| servers, however, the danger has al
ways been present; but it needed
| some one to bring home the crying
need for a remedy of this evil so as
| to impress itself on the public mind
| and lead to the formation of public
opinion and action by the representa-
| tives of the people. Theodore r. ose-
welt took up this task in the last two
years of his second administration,
| and well did he perform it.
AS president of the United States l
have, as it were, inherited this policy,
and / rejoice in my heritage. | prize
my high opportunity to do all that an
i nynnntiun npn dn IN haIn
/! pie realize a great nation ambition.
For conservation is national. 1t af-
| fects every man of us, every woman,
every child. What | can do in the
cause ! shall do, not as president of a
| party, but as president CT the whole
people. Conservation is not ques-
ton of politics, or Of factions, or OF
persons. 1t is a question that affects
the vital welfare of all of us--of our
children and our children's children.
At the risk of wearying my audi
ence | have attempted to state as sue
cinctly as may be the questions of
conservation as they apply to the pub
lie domain of the government, the
conditions to which they apply and
| the proposed solution of them. In the
outset / alluded to the fact that con.
servation had been made to include
a great deal more than what | have
discussed here. OF course, as | have
| referred only to the public domain of
the federal government have left un-
touched the wide field of conservation
| with respect to which heavy re-
sponsibility rests upon the states and
| individuals as well.
am bound to say that the time has
come for halt in general rhapsodies
| over conservation, making the word
| mean every known good in the world;
for, after the public attention has
been reused, such appeals are of
doubtful utility and do not direct the
public to the specific course that the
people should take. or have their leg