The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-09-06

| ing the last year for which have the | figures the national forests were used | by 22,0OO cattlemen with their herds. 5000 sheepmen with their fiocks, 5000 tfmbermen with their crews and 45- GOO miners. More than 5000 persons used them for other special industries Nearly 34O0O settlers had the free use of wood.
 The total resident population of the national forests is about a quarter of a million, which is larger than the pop u1ation of certain states.
 More than 100000 acres of agricuI- tural land have been patented or list ed for patent within the forests, and the reports of the forest officers show that more than 100000 people a year use the forests for recreation, camping, hunting, fishing and similar purposes. All this is done, of course, without in jury to the timber, which has a value of at least $1 ,OOO, 100000.
 Moreover, the national forests pro- tect the water supply of a thousand cities and towns, about 800 irrigation projects and more than 300 power projects, not counting the use of water for these and other purposes by indi- vidual settlers.
 1 LuInk IldI QeTeAICor we may Safo- ly disregard any statements that the national forests are withdrawn from settlement and use.
 A Country Life Institute
 The investigations of the country life commission have led the farmers of this country to realize that they have not been getting their fair share of progress and all that it brings. Some of our farming communities in the Mississippi valley and in the mid dle west have made marvellous prog ress, yet even the best of them, like communities of every other kind. are not beyond improvement, while much needs to be done in some other sec tions to improve country life.
 AS yet we know comparatively lit tie of the basic facts of rural civiliza- ton. The means for better farming we have studied with care, but to better living on the farm and to better business on the farm the farmers themselves have given scant attention.
 Last spring while visiting the cap- 1ta1 of Hungary, Budapest, I was i'm. mensely impressed by the Museum of Country Life, containing an extra ordi. nary series of studies in agriculture, in stock raising, in forestry, in mining. The exhibits were of the utmost prac- tical importance and were also intense ly interesting and instructive.
 I greatly wish we had such a mu. | seum in Washington, and some of your farmer congressman ought to get a full | and detailed report of this Budapest | museum to be printed for distribution in public document.
 Human Efficiency.
 As a people we have not yet learned | to economize. One of the virtues we 1 Americans most need is thrift It is a | mere truism to say that luxury and l extravagance are not good for a na- tion. So far as they affect character, | the loss they cause may be beyond computation. But in the material 1 sense there is a loss greater than is caused by both extravaganza and lux ury put together.
 I mean the needless, useless and ex- cesstve loss to our people from prema- ture death and avoidable diseases. | Wholly apart from the grief, the suf- fering and the wretchedness which | they cause, the material loss each year has been calculated at nearly twice what it costs to run the federal gov ernment.
 In addition to the state and city health officers and organizations, there is urgently needed federal bureau of health, to act so far as the national government properly may. to relieve our people from this dreadful burden. The National Conservation Comn1is-
 sion.
 One of the most important meetings S,. Ia ~ of I, governors in the White House in May, 1908, to consider the conservation question By the advice of the gov ernors the meeting was followed by | the appointment of a national conser- vation commission. The meeting of the governors directed the attention of the country to conservation as nothing else could have done, while the work of the commission gave the movement definiteness and supplied it with a practical program. But at the moment when the commission was ready to be- gin the campaign for putting it's pro- gram into effect an amendment to the sundry civil service bill was introduced by a congressman from Minnesota l with the purpose of putting stop to the work so admirably begun. Con gress passed the amendment.
 It deserves the confidence and sup port of every citizen interested in the wise development and preservation of our natural resources and in prevent ing them from passing into the hands of uncontrolled monopolies. It joins with the national conservation con gress in holding this meeting. I am here by the joint invitation of both.
 State and Federal Control.
 But while we of the United States are anxious as I believe we are able to be Of assistance to others, rnere are problems of our own which we must not overlook. One of the most inn portaut conservation questions of the moment relates to the control of wa