The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-05
greet Colonel Roosevelt James F
Garfield also comes tome
The address in full follows:
The Presidents Address.

The Presidents Address.
Gentlemen of the National Conserva-
| tion Congress-:
Conservation as an economic and po-
| litical term has come to mean the
| preservation of our natural resources
for economical use, so as to secure the
| greatest good to the greatest number.
| In the development Of this country, in
the hardships of the pioneer, in the
energy of the settler, in the anxiety 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 capital was so
great desideratum that the people as
| a community exercised little or no care
to prevent the transfer of abs&lute
ownership of many of the valuable nat
ural resources to private individuals.
without retaining some kind of control
of their use The impulse of the whole
new community was to encourage the
coming of population, the increase of
settlemen, and the opening up of bust
ness; and he who demurred in the
slightest degree to any step which
promised additional development of the
idle resources at hand was regarded as
traitor to his neighbors and an OBJ
structor to public progress But now
that the communities have become old,
now that the flush of enthusiastic ex-
pansion has died away, now that the
| would-be pioneers have come to realize
that all the richest lands in the coun-
try have been taken up, we have per-
ceived the necessity for a change Of
policy in 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 capl-
talist of our natural resources
The danger to the state and to the
people at large from the waste and dis
sipation of our national Wealtn is not
one which quickly impresses itself on
the people of the older communities.
because its most obvious instances do
not occur in their neighborhood, while
in the newer part of the country tne
sympathy with expansion and develop
menf is so strong that the danger Is
scoffed at or ignored. Among scientlrc
men and thoughtful observers, now
ever, the danger has always peen pres
| emf. but it needed some one to Drlng
this evil SO as to impress itself on the
public mind and lead to the formatlon
| of nublic opinion and action by the rep
resentatives of the people Ineooole
roosevelt took up this task IN the iast
two wears of his second administration
and we'll did he perform IT,
An Inherited Policy.
As president of the United States
have. as it were, inherited this pol
lev. and I rejoice in my heritage
prize my high opportunity 10 uo al
that an executive can 90 10 help
great people realize great nalioIlal
ambition. For conservation Is ma
+;onaI IT affects every man or US,
every woman, every child Wnat l
can do in the cause / shall DO, NOT as
president of a party, but as presloent
Of the whole people. ConserVatioel "a 10
f2C-
not q question of polltlcs, ,,as+ion
tions. or of persons IL Is q quesIiOrr : -
| that affects the vital welfare OF al
! ,fS ,,s.-of ON. children and our chllo-
4 ren,s children. l urge tndt no eoo
can come from meetings OF TINS sorc
unless we ascribe to those VINO take
..a,.t ~ them and who are apparently
! striving worthily in the cause, all
nroper motives, and unless We JudlcIdl,
| " consider every measure OF hheIhou
| nroposed and wholly WlthouI leSdl
TO who proposes it or VINO VIII claiLii
tho credit for its adoption. The prop
Iar,os are of very great difficulty and
coll for the calmest consideration ana
cIearest foresight. Many of the ques-
tions presented have phases that are
new in this country, and 1t Is posslpie
that in their solution we may nave "
| atteunt first one way and then an
other What 1 wish to emphasize
however. is that a satisfactory conclu-
sion can only be reached promptly II
we avoid acrimony. lmputatlohs VI
bad faith. and political controversy.
The public domain OF the govern
ment of the United States, 1neludlng
all the cessions from those OF tne
thirteen states that made cessions TO
the United States and including AIas-
ka. amounted in all to ABOUT i,ovO..
900 900 acres. OF this there Is Ie,I
as purely government property outslde
of Alaska something like 7Oo.ooO'VoU
/ of acres. OF this the national forest
| reserves in the United States proper
embrace IA. 100000 acres. Ihe rest
is largely mountain OF arid country
offering some opportunity LOT
culture by dry farming and by re-
/ clamation, and containing metals as
we'll as coal, phosphates, oils, ana
| natural gas Then the government
owns many tracts of land lying along
the margins of streams that have wat
er power. the use of which is neces-
| sarv in the conversion of the power
! into electricity and its transmission:
| shall divide my discussion unoer
the heads of Cd agricultural lands;
! (2) mineral lands-that is, lands con-
tanning metalliferous nlneraisi oi,
forest lands: (4) coal lands: tol OIL
! and gas lands; and (6) phosphate
landc.
I feel that it will conduee to bet
ter understanding of the problems pre-
sented if I take up each class and de-
SCTlD0, even at liiC -
what has been done by the last ad-
ministration and the present one in
| respect to each kind of land; second
what laws at present govern it's dis
position; third. what was done by the
present congress in this matter; and
fourth. the statutory changes proposed
| in the interest of conservation
Agricultural Lands.
Our land laws for the entry of agr1-
/ cultural lands are now as follows:
The original homestead law, with the
! requirements of residence and cultlVa-
tion for five years, much more strictly
| enforced than ever before
The enlarged homestead act, applying
to nonirrigable lands only, requiring
five years residence and continuous
cultivation of one-fourth of the area
The desert land act. which requires
IL a1nrr1-