The new era., 1910-09-08

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 Is
that the farmers themselves should un-
dertake to get for themselves a better
knowledge along these lines. and then to
apply it. Sir Horace Plunkett. for many
years a 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 a Coun-
try Life institute as 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 It carried out with the
cooperation and assistance of our own
people. Last spring. while visiting the
capital of Hungary. Buda-Pesth. 1 was
immensely Impressed by the Museum OF
Country Life, containing an extraordinary
series of studies in agriculture. in stock
raising. III forestry. In mining; the ex-
hibits were Of the utmost practical i'm
portance and were also intensely inter-
esting and Instructive.
AS a people we have not yet learned to
economize. One Of the virtues we Ameri-
cans most need 10 thrift. 1t is 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 II caused by both extrava-
Eance and luxury put together. I mean
the needlees. useless. and excessive loss
to our people from premature death ana
avoida bio diseases. Wholly apart from
the grief the suffering. and the wretched-
ness which they cause the material loss
each yenr has been calculated at nearly
twice what 1t 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-
lieve our people from this dreadful bur-
den.
National Conservation Commission.
One of the most important meetings in
our recent history was that of the gov
ernors in the white house in Nav. 1903.
to consider the conservation question. BY
the advice Of 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
nothing else could have done. while
the work of the commission gave the
movement defniteness and supplied II
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 a congressman from Minnesota Win
the purpose of putting a stop TO the work
so admirably begun. Congress passed the
end to the work Of number Of conlnis-
sions which had been appointed by the
president, and whose contribution TO the
public welfare hnd bsen simply incalcu-
liable. Among these were the commission
tor reorganizing the business methods ct
tho government. the public lands COM
mission, the country life commission.
and the National conservation commits
sion itself When I signed the sundry
civil service bill containing this amend
ment. 1 transmitted with It as nv last
ofrfcial act a memorandum declaring that
the amendment was void. because " was
an unconstitutional Interference with the
rights of the executive. and that II 1 were
to remain president would pay to It no
attention whatever.
The National conservation commission
thereupor became dorn.an ~he suspen-.
sion of its work came at most unt"r-
tunatc time, and there was serious dam
ger that the progress already mad" would
be lost A. this critical moment The S"-
tional conservation association was or
xan,xed 1t took ur .he work which 9TH
erw.se would not have been done. end II
exercised most usnS;il influence ~ pre-
venting ha6 lep.7lstion. in securing the
Introduction of better conservation mems
ures1at the past session OF consrcss ara
in promoting the passage of wise laws. 1t
d>yc-ves the confidence and support or
every .,itizen Interested in the r'S, de-
velop.,ent and preservation of our nat
ural resources, and In preventing them
FROM r.essing into ia hands "f uncon-
t-nlIcd mnnopolies. IT Joins with tn" Ma
,ioYal conservation congress tr ho'h'nS
this meeting I am here by the Joint In
vitation of both.
Pan-AmerIean Construction.
when the eove-,r,ent ot tho United
States awoke to the idea of conservation
and saw that 1t was good. 1t lost no time
In communicating the advantH ges or the
new point of view to Its immediate neigh
bors among the nations. North Ameri-
can conservation conference was held ~
Washington. and the cooperation or
Canada and Mexico in the great problem
of Developing the resources of the conti-
nent for the benefit Of Its people was
asked and promised. The nations uoon
our = ,orthern and southern boundaries
wisely realized that their opportunity TO
conserve the natural resources was hetter
thnn ours because with them destruction
and monopc1iZation had not gone so Tar
a. thev had with us. So It Is with the
republics of Central and South America
Obviously thev are on the verge OF
period of great material progress The
DEVELOPMENT Of their natural resources
their forests. their mines. their water
and their soils-wil create enormous
wealth. 1t is to the mutual interest OF
the United States and orr sister Aneri-
can republics that this development
should be wisely DONE Our manufactur-
ing Industries offer a market for more
and more of their natural wealth ard
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 lnseparaoly 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 It is good thing
for nation to have Its neiRhbor nations
prosper We OF the United States are
genuinely and heartily pleased to see