The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-01-23
NATION SUFFERING
FROM TOO MUCH WASTE
Declared Clifford Pinchot in His Address
Before Progressive Republicans in
New York Last Night.

! New York, Jan. 23.--At the progress
sive Republican meeting in Carnegie ball
last evening, Clifford Pinchot was one OF
the speakers, introducing Senator La
Toilette. Mr.. Pinchot spoke on Con
servation,' as well as the prog essive"
movement, and he said in part:
1.-TWO great parallel movements are
to-day in possession of the public mind,
the conservation movement and the pro
gressive movement Each is so simple,
so sound, and SO certain to prevail that
! ii is but natural to find them both TAX
ing their rise from the same great prin-
ciple, the principle of making the best
use of what we have for the general
welfare now and hereafter.
.The idea which underlIes the extraor-
binary rise of the conservation move
ment is to make the best use Of our
forests, our waters, our lands, and our
minerals, for the general welfare, both in
the present and in the future. The idea
OF using what we have so as to make it
yield the best results for the longest
time for all our people is the idea upon
which national efficiency must of neces-
sity be based. The efficient use of every
resource, every institution, and every
agency for the general good is the great
object of civilization.
"The institutions and the policies of
social and civic life are useless except
as they foster the efficiency and the
welfare of our people. That is what
they are for. We must make and change
laws, elect our officials, protect sound
business, suppress or regulate monopoly,
revise the tariff, and conserve our re-
sources, always to help the people, aud
never for any other purpose whatsoever.
The great test by WHICH all measures and
all men should be tried is the welfare of
the plain people. In the truest sense,
welfare and efficiency are the same.
Efficiency is the opposite of waste.
To attain efficiency, we must eliminate
waste. Were It not for the loss and the
waste of misdirected lives, of spiritual
and physical energy misapplied, of re-
sources monopolized Of bad laws and
imperfect institutions, there would be
more than enough for all to live in com
fort. fair dealing and content,
"If we could do away with waste, we
should have few of the civic and social
problems which trouble US to-day. Waste |
il our greatest peril, and the elimination |
of waste, or the best use of all we have
for the best good of all, is our fun1a.
mental task.
.In the great lines of national life, I
we suffer too much from waste The /
needless destruction OF our forests, the |
washing away of our richest soils, the |
grabbing OF water powers and coal by /
monopolistic special interests, are mere
" examples of how our natural resources
are so wasted as to contribute TO the
general welfare far less than they /
should.
an the relations of labor and capital 4
there is fragrant waste. The needless
loss from strikes and lockouts, the UNI
fair distribution of the products of labor,
the bitterness of the struggle for mere
existence on too small a wage, the dis
ruption or degradation of families by
industrial accidents, the deadening op
preston OF too long hours OF work; all
these waste the powers both of capital
and Of labor for the common good.
"The concentration and control of
wealth in few hands, the unfair advan-
tages of the trusts in competition or in
the determinations practised
by great corporations against the peo-
pie, all reduce efficiency, and lead 10
waste.
''The waste in politics is worst Of all,
for it perpetuates all other wastes by
blocking the road to better things. The
existence Of the boss system, the sean
ialous alliance between the bosses and
he special interests for purposes of
profit, the reputation Of their own po-
iteal integrity by the rubber stamp
voters, who follow corrupt leaders with
itical integrity by the rubber stamp
above principle, all these make for the
waste and loss of political power and
popular rights, and inevitably bring with
hem the long train of evils in govern |
nent with which this country is but
90 familiar