The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1912-04-02

without waste and where possible pre-.
serving their perenniel usefulness un-
impaired Where public rights exist.
conservation is 20 insure to the public
the full enjoyment and benefit of these
rights and at the same time to pro-
tect and encourage private enterprise
engaged in development work
THE same principle applies TO all
natural resourc IS. The fertility of the
lands must be protected while the an
nual toll of crops is taken on NO
citizen has a right to despoil the land
and leave ii so impoverished as to
imperil the future prosperity and sta
bility of the nation. This nation must
not allow its future to be endangered
bv the reckless exhaustion of the nat
ural resources which are essential
means to it's existence and greatness
and also the sources out of which la
Dor can obtain legitimate satisfaction.
The way to defend private property is
to obey what is now the settled ma
tional resolve as to the proper use
and conservation of public property.
We progressives declare that this gen
Grafton shall not pass away without
having wiped out of its record the
charge of unconcern for the country's
future. the failure to follow the in
stinct which Is implanted even In the
lower animals-that OF the preserva-
ton of the race. 1t behooves us to
preserve the means essential to the
perpetual welfare of the nation. To
accomplish the task effectively two
things are of prime Importance. In
the first place there must be a sound.
moral standard on public matters: our
public men must represent and re-
spond to the aroused conscience of the
people In the next place all the
great natural resources which are
vital TO the welfare of the whole peo-
pie should either be kept in the hands
of or under the full control of the
whole people. This applies to coal,
oil, timber water power, natural gas.
Either natural resources of the land
should be kept in the hands of the
people and their development and use
allowed under leasing arrangements
Tor otherwisel; or where this is not
possible there should be strict gov
ernmental control over their use, All
the remaining water power in our
country-and probably there are in
streams that the government owns or
controls 400 millions of man power
should be retained in full by the peo-
pie, and should be developed and used
SO as to pay good fair profit to the
developers, but with the prime aim of
keeping the ultimate ownership in the
people and making its beneficial use
by the people the first consideration.
The People and the Soil.
II pass now to the equally impor-
tant, but far less understood policy OF
country life In a sense you may re-
gard this policy as one part of con-
servation Of all possible outstanding
of physical national resources none is
comparable In its value to the nation
with the conservation of the natural
fertility of the soil; and even more
important is it to keep the right type
of men and women on the soil. More
over the public opinion to which we
must look to make conservation an eff
| fective national policy will not come
| from the cities where big business is
| In power 1t will come from the far
mers who alive to their duty in regard
to the resources at their command will
t haf hnfT Chov s1f
those other resources which belong to
the people at large and to no privi-
/ legged class
Thought upon the betterment of
country life idea, as we know it today,
had not reached a point where action
could be taken until very near the
end of my term of Office Obviously
the first thing to do was to ascertain
! the facts, and especially to find out
whether a real demand for action and
effective support for action were like
ly to come from the rural communi-
ties directly concerned. |, therefore.
appointed an unpaid commission of ex.
perts who held public inquiries all
over the United States and also cir
culated through the mail large mum.
Der of printed questions. | believe in
drawing upon volunteers for great pub
lie service as much in civil as in mill
tary matters and did it in other con.
nections. The only expense that the
public was put to in this case was
the free return through the mail OF
these forms which brought invaluable
information and opinions from tens OF
thousands of representative people in
rural communities. All the other ex
penditure, even the travelling expenses
Of the commissioners, and the publ
cation of their report, was provided
for out of private funds. The com
missioners say in their report. from
Which | would like to quote great
deal more. We have found by the
testimony, not only of the farmers
themselves, but of all persons in
touch with farm life, more or less Sc
/ rta,,c ~, ovnrv mart of fh6