The Springfield herald. (Springfield, Baca County, Colo.) 1887-1919, 1910-09-09
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON
OUR NATIONAL EFFICIENCY
In Address Before the Conservation Congress
at ST. Paul He Says New Methods of De-
veloping ard Using Natural Resources
of Country Are Needed.

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 bust
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 I'M
| dertake to get for themselves better
knowledge along these lines. and then to
| apply II. 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 n 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. 1
| am strongly in sympathy with this Idea.
and hope to see II 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. In forestry. in mining: the eS-
hibts were of the utmost practical I'M
portnnce and also intensely inter-
| estIns and instructive.
As people We have not yet learned to
| economizc. One of the virtues We Ameri-
| cans most need Is thrift. It is mere
truism to say that luxury ard ex'rava-
| gancc are not good for a Nation. So far
| rs they affect character, the loss they
| cause may be beyond computation. But
| in the material sense there is loss
| greater than is caused by both extrava-
ranca md luxury put together. mean
| the needless. useless. and excessive loss
| to our people from premature death and
avnida bio diseases. Wholly apart from
| the grief. tho suffering, and the wretched-
| ness which they cause. the material loss
| each year has been calculated at nearly
| twice what II costs 10 run the Federal
| government. In addition to the state and
| city health officers and organizations.
there Is urgently needed Federal bu-
| reau OF health. to act. so far as the Ma
tioral government properly NAV. to re-
l'eve our people from this dreadful bur-
den.
National Conservation Commission.
One of tho most important meetings in
our recent history that of the gov
ernors in the white house In Nav. 1anS,
to consider the conservation question. BY
the advice Of the governors the meeting
was followed by the appointment of a
National conservation commission. The
meeting of the governors directed the
attention of the country to conservation
ms nothing else could have done. while
the wor's of the commission rave the
movement defn'teness and supplied II
WIN precuCHl proErarn But Ut thc
moment when the commission was ready
to begin the campaign for putting Its pro-
gram into effect an amendment to the
Sundry civil service hill was introduced
hv CONGRESSMAN from Minnesota with
the PURPOSE of putting stop 70 the worl;
SO admirably b.eun Congress PASSED the
amendment. Its object was to put an
end to THO work Of a number II commits
s'ons which had been nppo'rted by the
president, md WHOSE combination 10 tho
puhllc welfare hrd been s'mplr tncnlru-
liable. Among these we're the commission
for rcurgnnlzirg tho business methods Of
tho government the ruhlic lands COM
MISSION. the country life commission.
and the National conservation commits
sion itself When siyred the Sundrv
civil service b'li containing this amend
ment I transmitted with It rs nv last
o@cIal act n memorandum declaring that
the amendment WIS void. because ~ was
an unconstitutional Interference with the
rights of the executive. and that n I We're
To rer,ai, president I would pay to 1t no
attention whatever.
Tho National conservation commission
tteroupon became dorm an. ''he susnen-
sion Of It's work came Mt most unfnr-
tun,tc tir,e. and ther. serious dan
rcr tina. the progress already Md. would
| be lost A. this critical moment 'lic NJ
tio,rl corscrv, ton association was or
ran'Zed, II took w N. work which 9th
erwTse would not have bec- don.. cnd II
yeri.irC had 1r"'E1Iiinn. ir securing the
inIrotu,iion Of better co1s~-vatIon mons
ures at 'he past session o. oon"rcsr ard
In promoting the message - wise laws. It
drec-ves tho confidence "-l sur o5rt ~
3 evcrv .,it'znn intr~,,s'ed IN the ,.Isr de-
+ ve,op71ent and preservation of our nat
ural resources and in preventing them
fron, rees!ng into ~. hands Of uncon-
t-nl'ei mouono,Ine II to'nq with he Ma
,l,,.ai conservation CONGRESS tr holding
l 4lt-, IL,
v!tntion of both.
Pan-American Construction.
when tho rovH--r'ont NJ the United
States awolse to the idea OF conservation
and saw that II was good, II lost no t'me
In communicating the advantages OF the
rev point OF view to It's immediate neigh
hcrs among the nations. North Aneri-
can conservation conference was held In
Washington. and the cooperation of
Carada and Mexico in the great problem
OF Developing the resources OF the CONT
non. for the benefit Of Its peopic was
asked and promised The nations uoon
our orthern and southern boundaries
wisely realized that their opportun'tv to
conserve the natural resources was bettnr
ihrn ours. because with them destruction
and rno7crol':at'on had not gone so far
| as t''ev had with us. So II is with the
renuhII"s Of Central and South America
Obviously thew are the verge Of n
period of great material progress. The
dcvelormeut CT their natural resou-ces-
their forests. Their mines. their water.
and their solls-wIl create enormous
wealth. It is 70 the mutual interest Of
the United States md our sister Ameri-
can republics that this development
should he wisely done. Our manufacture
ing industries offer market for more
and more OF their natural wealth and
raw material. while they will Increasingly
desire to meet that demand in CONNER
cial exchange. The more we buy from
them. the more shall sell to them
! Their prosperity Is inseparablv involved
with our own. Thank heaven. we of this
continent are now beginning to realize
what in the end the whole world will
rerlze. that normally It Is a good thing
for nation to have Its neighbor nations
prcsper. We OF the United States are
genuinely and heartily pleased to see
growth ard prosperity In Canada, In
Mexico. in South America.
Unless the governments OF all the
American republics. including our own.
enact in time such laws ms will both pro-
tcct their natural wealth and promote
their legitimate and reasonable develop
ment future generations will owe their
misfortunes to us of today. A great pa
Worse Yet
Maudie: That horrid old cat told
Claudio that I was 40 years old,