The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1910-08-25
Colonel Roosevelt Discusses
Two of the Important
National Problems.


Roosevelt yesterday afternoon deliv-
cred the :irsi address Of his western
tour it Summit Park, this city. He
lspoke as follows:
Il There are no two public questions
Of more vital Importance TO the future
iof this country than the problem of
j conservation and the problem of the
betterment OF rural life. Moreover,
these two problems are really inter-
dependent, for neither of them can be
i successfully solved save on condition
j that there Is at least a measurable
success in the effort to solve the other.
lin any great country the prime phys
ttical asset-the physical asset more vail
iuoble than any others the fertility
of the soil All our Industrial and
commercial welfare, all our material
development of every kin, depends
in the last resort upon our preserv-
ling and increasing the fertility of the
soil. This, of course, means the con-
servation of the soil as the great nat
ural resource; and, equally, OF course,
liz Furthermore implies the develop
fment of country life. fer there cannot
be permanent Improvement of the
lsoil II the life of those who live on It.
land make their living out Of It, Is
suffered to s;arve and lansuish, to be-
come stunted, and weakened and in
iferior to the type of life lived else
where. We are now trying to preserve
mot for exploitation by individuals,
but for the permanent benefit Of the
whole people. the waters and forests,
and we are doing this primarily as a
means OF adding to the fertility of the
.Isoil; although in each case there is
4 great secondary use both OF the
water and Of the forests for CONNER
! ciai and Industrial purposes. In the
same way It Is essentia! for the far.
mers themselves to try to broaden the
life of the man who lives in the open
country; TO make 1t more attractive.
TO give it every adjunct and aid to de-
velopment which has been given to
the life of the man of the cities. There
fore, friends, the conservation and
rural life policies are really two sides
of the same policy; and down at bot
tom this policy rests upon the funda-
mental law that neither man nor ma
\ tlon can prosper unless, in dealing
I with the present, he steadily take
thought for the future.
City Drains Country.
In one sense this problem with
which we have TO deal IS Very very
old. Wherever civilizations have
hitherto sprung up they ,have always
tended to go through certain stages
and then to fall. No nation can devei-
OPP real civilization without cities
Up to a certain point the city move
ment is thoroughly healthy; yet It Is
a strange and iamentable fact that
always hitherto after this point has
been reached the city has tended to
develop at the expense Of the coun-
try by draining the country Of wha'
is best in IT. ana making an insignia
'cant return for this hest. In conse-
duence, in the past, every civilization
in its later stages has tended really to
witness these conditions under wnich
the cities prosper and the men de-
cay. There are ugly signs that these
tendencies are at work in this nation
OF ours. But very fortunately we see
: what never before was seen In any
y Civilizations aroused and aler'
, public interest in the problem. rec
! ognition Of its gravity and a desire tc
attempt It's solution.
: The problem does not consis
merely in the growth of the city, sucf
growth IN itself is a good thing anl
not a bad thing for the country. Tn
problem consists in the growth Of tn
!. city at the expense Of the country