The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-18

Year Secretary Lanes
 Report Covers National
 Progress.
 Washington. Dec. Secretary of the Interior Lane to-day made public his annual report. in which he says
 In Dresenting an outline of the year s work Innake bold to express the hope that no other policies of this Govern rnent may be allowed to stay the 111- ternal development of this country. Theresis a fear-how general do not know +that this Government will halt in scarrying out it's Hull and needeu prograAn of legislation affectlng nome affairs because of the immediate need for strenzfheninxZ our national defen- ses. kThis appr ehension arises. l am conadentse out of no lack of sympathy win sff,6 splan to increase the Army and inc Navy, but out of a feeling that the kGoverpment in both execu1 tive and legislative branches will be so ,. Immersed in matters military and rs9-' val as to overlook these matters of less dramatic and perhaps less imnie- diatescencern-
 Nkfz1ala1 Pride in Development
 Any such course would, am sure. offend the most deep-seated instinct Of ot1r people for in the development of this continent. the discovery of it's resources and their highest utilization there is a. fascination to the egAnerican which is super1atfve- v It is Indeed our : life and has called out the most ster- ing oualities in our character. Those foreigners who write of our country often ngage in facetious if not scorn- frI9 comment upon our bombastic man ner Of teIling the story of our growth and of the things achieved or possess ed H1ey fadl zazz rtunate1y to see far enough into the secret of FOur pride TO have taken the prize for the lar geSt pumpkin at the county fair, or to have rnilled more ore in a day than any other mine. or to have built the. highest dam in the wor1d-such things are to us adventures. which make the game of 6efll ~ c0dptry worth while
 No one would smile when told that a foreign army had made an unprece- dented nu1nber sof miles in a day's march OF had brought into action a gun of unrfvaIed calIber, or built a ship of uneq4ra1ed displacement or power These are the very things on which nations pride themselves as re- veaIing their capacity, ingenuity. and resourcefulness- They make for na- -tional selfrespect and self-confdence. And so it is with the American. His place in the scheme of things is to re- veal to the world what can be done in the development of .. new country, and every crop raised. every schoolhouse built, every rail laid. every nail driven is evidence that the work he Is sent to do is being done. Instead of being the petty boasing of a parochiaI- minded provincia- Elis spirit is of ths very essence of the highest creative quality. k
 It is not a figure of speech to say that every American has it in his heart thai he Is in q small sense a dis- 2coverers that he is sDining in the reve- 1ation to khe world efzs6me etlling that 9f was not, before Aware sof and Of which it may some day make use- Men work for what they think worth while. and if they hnd their joy in proving or that a FefEActory soEe may be re- duced at a Dractfca,ble cost and tell about it proudly. they may be serving themselves but they are also serving the world. The clerk in the store or the mechanic in a mill may not con sc1ously engage in any enterprise which makes this appeal but when w11ichthe Is a part has within they opened a town. on the shores of the North Pacific which now has nearly g. OoO inhabitants and has driven a railroad nearly 40 miles inland to- ward the Arctic Circle on it's way to the coal fields of the Matanuska and the gold fields of the Panama, he has a feeling that he. too, is partici pating in the making of this new world. One might say that this was nothing more than sentimental pride. There is a tr8eF and a more dignified woKd for this quality; it is the expression of the American instinct for improvement. We have a passion for going into the unknown, for answering the puzzles that are put to us. Our imagination is challenged by difficulty. And the. result has been century of growth which in it's magic and in it's largeness casts spell upon the mind.
 rho Foanda44on of Power.
 Some Mon1hz since I sought to learn what could of the assets of this coun- try as they might be revealed by this departfnenf where we were in point of dete1oprneut, and what we had with which to meet the world which was teaching us that war was no longer a set context Between more or less mo bile armed forces but an enduring contest be4ween all the life forces Of the eoutestfng parties, their financial strength their industrial organization and adaptabfIity their crop yields, and their mineral resources, and that 1t ultimately comes to a test of the. very genius Of the peoples involved. And out of the reports then made