The Calumet news., 1910-08-24
In First Address of His Western
Tour, Roosevelt Touches on
New Phase of Con-
servation
FUTURE DEPENDS UPON FARM
Former President Sees Need Of Max
ing Country Life as Attractive as
Life in the Larger Cities
Must .Iork Together.

Utica, n. Y, Aug. 24.-Theodore
Roosevelt yesterday afternoon gave
the first address Of his western tour
at Submit Park, this city. He spoke as
follows:
There are no two public questions
of more vital Importance to the future
Of This country than the problem of
conservation and the problem of the
betterment of rural life. Moreover
these two problems are really inter-
dependent for neither of them can be
successfully solved save on condition
that there is at least a measurable
success in the effort TO solve the other.
I'm any great country the prime physi-
cal asset-the physical asset more val
liable than any other-is the fertility
of the soil. All our industrial and
commercial welfare, all our material
development of every kind, depends
in the last resort upon our preserving
and increasing the fertility of the soil.
This, of course, means the conserva-
ton of the soil as the great natural
resource and. equally. of course. it
furthermore implies the development
of country life, for there cannot be a
permanent Improvement of the soil IL
the life OF those who live on II, and
make their living out of IL are suf-
fered to starve and langufsh, to be-
come stunted, and weakened and in
ferior TO the type of life elsewhere. 1t
is essential for the farmers themselves
to try TO broaden the life of the man
who lives I'm the open country; to make
it more attractive, TO give ii every ad-
junct and aid TO development which
has been given to the life of the man
of the cities.
Problem Is an Old One.
'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 stag
es and then to fall. No nation can
develop a real civilization without
cities. Up to a certain. point the city
movement is thoroughly healthy; yet
il is a strange and lamentable fact
that always hitherto, after this point
has been reached, the city has tend
ed to develop at the expense of the
country by draining the country Of
what is best in it, and making an
insignificant return for this best.
In consequence, In the past. every
civilization in its later stages has
tended really to witness those condi-
tions under which the cities prosper
and the men decay There are ugly
signs that these tendencies are at
work i'm this nation of ours But
very fortunately we see now what
never before was seen in any civili-
zation-an aroused and alert public
interest in the problem. recogni-
tion of its integrity and a desire to
attempt its solution.
"The problem does not consist
merely i'm the growth of the city.
Such a growth in itself is a good
thing and not bad thing for the
country. The problem consists in the
growth of the city at the expense of
the country; and even where this
is not the case, in so great an equal
ity of growth i'm power and interest
as to make the city more attractive
than the country, and therefore apt
to drain the country of the people who
ought TO live therein.
Education is Valuable.
During tile last half-century we
have begun to develop a system of
agricultural education at once prac-
teal and scientific. and we must go
on developing 1t. But, after devel-
oping IL. II must be used. The rich
man who spends fortune upon
fancy farm. with entire indifference
to cost; does not do much good TO
farming: but. on the other hand. just
as little is done by the working
farmer who stolidly refuses TO pro-
III by the knowledge OF the day; who
treats any effort at Improvement as
absurd on its face, refuses to coun-
tenance what he regards as new fan
glcd ideas and contrivances. and jcers
at all book farming
From the beginning of time II has
been the man raised i'm the coun-
try-and usually the man born In the
country--who has been most apt TO
render the services which every ma
tion most needs. Turning TO the
list Of American statesmen. IL Is ex-
traordinary to see how large pro-
portion started as farm boys. But Is
rather sad 20 sec that in recent years
most OF these same boys have ended
their livos as men living in cities.
1T often happens that the good
conditions OF the past can be re-