The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-26
HADLEY WELCOMES DELEGATES
 TO CONSERVATION CONGRESS
 Third National Congress Assemblies $500 Strong
 at Kansas City SPEAKERS DECLARE WASTE IS SHAMEFUL
  President Wallace Says the Solution of High Cost of Living Problem Lies in Better Farming
 Methods 


 Lies in Better Farming
 Methods s
 the opening session of the third annual
 National Conservation congress here to- day decy ~ed that the continuation oi
 present ling methods would result
 calamn x s for the country l Not S . change in the treatment of
 the " ut of the country people as well
 waS 2 d Only by bettering social con | dtcSo on the farm, it was declared, could " 9 persons be kept there.
 lns 2 /. Herbert Hadley of Missouri in well
 ing the delegates to the state asserted k iy 40 per cent of the land in this coun-
 " is farmed so that its productive qual- retiess are decreased. | President Henry E. Wallace of the con-
 gress, in reply to the welcome, assaied
 the farmer. as a soil robber. He de-
 clared land iifsthe United States produced
 crops only .one-half the size of those grown on poorer land in Europe. The so- tO7e | lies in better farming methods, he said 1 Gov Herbert s. Hadley of Missouri, in | an address of welcome to the delegates to | the National Conservation congress. said experts had shown that more than 40 per cent of the farm lands of this country | are cultivated in manner tending to l decrease rather than to increase their productivity. Such policy must inevi- tably result in impoyershment of the na- | tion. r
 1 The continuation of this condition of af- | fairs, he said, would be reflection among the American people for their capacity to use in a proper manner the great nat | ural resources with which nature has | endowed them, but that the effective | manner in which the people have taken | up the important question of conserva- | ton under the inspiring leadership of l that great American, Theodore Roosevelt, | has demonstrated most effectively their
 capacity for. self government"
 Hadley's Speech a. | The govrrnor spoke in part as follows | Up to the present time in this country we have been peculiarly fortunate in that our production has exceeded consumption | and the supply has always been greater | than the demand. The result has been | that the American people alone of the people of the world have eaten the same | kind of food. And no stronger influence could exist as against the creation of | classes and castes in our populations than for all the people to eat the same kind of l food.
 "But with the consumption increas- | ing more rapidly than production, and | the consequent increase in the cost of the necessities of life, there will come
 a time when, many will not be able | to secure the same kind of food that Is enjoyed by others. Then will there come l disturbing and dangerous influence that
 will threaten our society and our insti- tutions.
 Statistics tell us of a constantly de-
 creasing surplus of production. If this
 tendency continues in a few years we
 vii; consume all the products of our
 grain and of our live stock. And when | this condition is followed by a time when 1 it will be necessary to import the necessi-
 ties of life. then will exist conditions | that will be the cause of concern. There is no state in the union which | Illustrates more completely both the | necessity and value of practical ap- pliostion of the policy of conservation | than Missouri. Of the 44,000,000 acres WHICH COnStlIule lne Sldle, llttie moro l than one-half has ever been touched by
 a blow, and of her 20OoO,000 acres of uncultivated soil there are F, 100000 acres l of woodland, awaiting the stroke of the | woodmans axe. Through the proper ap- | p,ication of principles of conservation | the timber can be- cleared so as to re- store the growth of blue grass and blue stem, thus making the region the most | favorable for dairying and for raising that the affords and | preserving enough timber to give the | natural commercial advantages to be de- | rived therefrom "h | "rhere are three and one-half millions of acres of swamp and overtowed lands | to be found in the valleys of our great rivers. If this land were reclaimed 1t | would produce enough agricultural wealth | each year to feed all the people of Mis- sour and leave the balance of our land l for the production of surplus products Many Delegates
 Determined to give added impetus 10 | the cause of conserving the nations nat lural resources $500 delegates to the third | national conservation congress assembled | here today.
 | Statesmen. scientists, educators, farm- | CTS and representatives of every branch | were in attendance. Every state in the | union was represented, Thomas R. Shipp, executive secretary of the congress, said | this years meeting was the most repre- | sentative congress ever held.
 i President Taft will deliver an address | tonight It is said this speech probably will be the most important he will deliver during this tour. Kansas City Is near the stoury center of republican nsurgen y.
 On Tuesday night pr. Harvey Wiley.
 chief of the bureau of chemistry in the
 department of Agriculture. will deliver an address on the Health of the Peo- pe.' William J. Bryan will be the prin-
 cipal speaker at the last session on Wednesday.
 Among other distinguished men sched-
 ued to take part are Walter T. Fisher. Secretary of the Interior, and Henry $. Graves, United States forester.
 While the programme this year em- braces every phase of the subject of
 conservation. officials of the congress | tions. conservation of the soil and the | betterment of country life conditions. To | this end the best known soil experts in the country are among those scheduled to | speak and women will lead discussion | wrich it is hoped will start a nation l wide movement for the establishment | of community clubs in every farming district in the country, schools and coun- | try churches. It is planned to begin an educational crusade to make the farm home more attractive to the boys ana
 girls so they will not be tempted by city life.