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diff --git a/11238-h/11238-h.htm b/11238-h/11238-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7338528 --- /dev/null +++ b/11238-h/11238-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2800 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<meta content="pg2html (binary version 0.12a)" + name="generator"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + The Fight for Conservation, + by Gifford Pinchot. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times; + } + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11238 ***</div> + + +<h1> + THE FIGHT FOR CONSERVATION +</h1> +<center><b> + By +</b></center> +<center><b> + GIFFORD PINCHOT +</b></center> + +<center> + 1910 +</center> + + + +<a name="2H_TOC"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_TOC"> +CONTENTS +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HINT1"> +INTRODUCTION +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH3"> +CHAPTER I. Prosperity +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH4"> +CHAPTER II. Home-building for the Nation +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH5"> +CHAPTER III. Better Times on the Farm +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH6"> +CHAPTER IV. Principles of Conservation +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH7"> +CHAPTER V. Waterways +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH8"> +CHAPTER VI. Business +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH9"> +CHAPTER VII. The Moral Issue +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH10"> +CHAPTER VIII. Public Spirit +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH11"> +CHAPTER IX. The Children +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH12"> +CHAPTER X. An Equal Chance +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH13"> +CHAPTER XI. The New Patriotism +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2HCH14"> +CHAPTER XII. The Present Battle +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_15"> +INDEX +</a></p> +<hr> + + + +<a name="2HINT1"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2> + INTRODUCTION +</h2> +<p> + The following discussion of the conservation problem is not a systematic + treatise upon the subject. Some of the matter has been published + previously in magazines, and some is condensed and rearranged from + addresses made before conservation conventions and other organizations + within the past two years. +</p> +<p> + While not arranged chronologically, yet the articles here grouped may + serve to show the rapid, virile evolution of the campaign for + conservation of the nation's resources. +</p> +<p> + I am indebted to the courtesy of the editors of <i>The World's Work, The + Outlook</i>, and of <i>American Industries</i> for the use of matter first + contributed to these magazines. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_2"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2> + THE FIGHT FOR CONSERVATION +</h2> +<a name="2HCH3"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p3"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER I +</h2> +<center> + PROSPERITY +</center> +<p> + The most prosperous nation of to-day is the United States. Our + unexampled wealth and well-being are directly due to the superb natural + resources of our country, and to the use which has been made of them by + our citizens, both in the present and in the past. We are prosperous + because our forefathers bequeathed to us a land of marvellous resources + still unexhausted. Shall we conserve those resources, and in our turn + transmit them, still unexhausted, to our descendants? Unless we do,<a name="p4"></a> + those who come after us will have to pay the price of misery, + degradation, and failure for the progress and prosperity of our day. + When the natural resources of any nation become exhausted, disaster and + decay in every department of national life follow as a matter of course. + Therefore the conservation of natural resources is the basis, and the + only permanent basis, of national success. There are other conditions, + but this one lies at the foundation. +</p> +<p> + Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the American people is their + superb practical optimism; that marvellous hopefulness which keeps the + individual efficiently at work. This hopefulness of the American is, + however, as short-sighted as it is intense. As a rule, it does not look + ahead beyond the next decade or score of years, and fails wholly to + reckon with the real future of the Nation. I do not think I have often + heard a forecast of the growth of our population that extended beyond a + total of two hundred millions, and that only as a distant and shadowy<a name="p5"></a> + goal. The point of view which this fact illustrates is neither true nor + far-sighted. We shall reach a population of two hundred millions in the + very near future, as time is counted in the lives of nations, and there + is nothing more certain than that this country of ours will some day + support double or triple or five times that number of prosperous people + if only we can bring ourselves so to handle our natural resources in the + present as not to lay an embargo on the prosperous growth of the future. +</p> +<p> + We, the American people, have come into the possession of nearly four + million square miles of the richest portion of the earth. It is ours to + use and conserve for ourselves and our descendants, or to destroy. The + fundamental question which confronts us is, What shall we do with it? +</p> +<p> + That question cannot be answered without first considering the condition + of our natural resources and what is being done with them to-day. As a<a name="p6"></a> + people, we have been in the habit of declaring certain of our resources + to be inexhaustible. To no other resource more frequently than coal has + this stupidly false adjective been applied. Yet our coal supplies are so + far from being inexhaustible that if the increasing rate of consumption + shown by the figures of the last seventy-five years continues to + prevail, our supplies of anthracite coal will last but fifty years and + of bituminous coal less than two hundred years. From the point of view + of national life, this means the exhaustion of one of the most important + factors in our civilization within the immediate future. Not a few coal + fields have already been exhausted, as in portions of Iowa and Missouri. + Yet, in the face of these known facts, we continue to treat our coal as + though there could never be an end of it. The established coal-mining + practice at the present date does not take out more than one-half the + coal, leaving the less easily mined or lower grade material to be made<a name="p7"></a> + permanently inaccessible by the caving in of the abandoned workings. + The loss to the Nation from this form of waste is prodigious and + inexcusable. +</p> +<p> + The waste in use is not less appalling. But five per cent, of the + potential power residing in the coal actually mined is saved and used. + For example, only about five per cent, of the power of the one hundred + and fifty million tons annually burned on the railways of the United + States is actually used in traction; ninety-five per cent, is expended + unproductively or is lost. In the best incandescent electric lighting + plants but one-fifth of one per cent, of the potential value of the coal + is converted into light. +</p> +<p> + Many oil and gas fields, as in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the + Mississippi Valley, have already failed, yet vast amounts of gas + continue to be poured into the air and great quantities of oil into the + streams. Cases are known in which great volumes of oil were<a name="p8"></a> + systematically burned in order to get rid of it. +</p> +<p> + The prodigal squandering of our mineral fuels proceeds unchecked in the + face of the fact that such resources as these, once used or wasted, can + never be replaced. If waste like this were not chiefly thoughtless, it + might well be characterized as the deliberate destruction of the + Nation's future. +</p> +<p> + Many fields of iron ore have already been exhausted, and in still more, + as in the coal mines, only the higher grades have been taken from the + mines, leaving the least valuable beds to be exploited at increased cost + or not at all. Similar waste in the case of other minerals is less + serious only because they are less indispensable to our civilization + than coal and iron. Mention should be made of the annual loss of + millions of dollars worth of by-products from coke, blast, and other + furnaces now thrown into the air, often not merely without benefit but<a name="p9"></a> + to the serious injury of the community. In other countries these + by-products are saved and used. +</p> +<p> + We are in the habit of speaking of the solid earth and the eternal hills + as though they, at least, were free from the vicissitudes of time and + certain to furnish perpetual support for prosperous human life. This + conclusion is as false as the term "inexhaustible" applied to other + natural resources. The waste of soil is among the most dangerous of all + wastes now in progress in the United States. In 1896, Professor Shaler, + than whom no one has spoken with greater authority on this subject, + estimated that in the upland regions of the states south of Pennsylvania + three thousand square miles of soil had been destroyed as the result of + forest denudation, and that destruction was then proceeding at the rate + of one hundred square miles of fertile soil per year. No seeing man can + travel through the United States without being struck with the enormous<a name="p10"></a> + and unnecessary loss of fertility by easily preventable soil wash. The + soil so lost, as in the case of many other wastes, becomes itself a + source of damage and expense, and must be removed from the channels of + our navigable streams at an enormous annual cost. The Mississippi River + alone is estimated to transport yearly four hundred million tons of + sediment, or about twice the amount of material to be excavated from the + Panama Canal. This material is the most fertile portion of our richest + fields, transformed from a blessing to a curse by unrestricted erosion. +</p> +<p> + The destruction of forage plants by overgrazing has resulted, in the + opinion of men most capable of judging, in reducing the grazing value of + the public lands by one-half. This enormous loss of forage, serious + though it be in itself, is not the only result of wrong methods of + pasturage. The destruction of forage plants is accompanied by loss of + surface soil through erosion; by forest destruction; by corresponding<a name="p11"></a> + deterioration in the water supply; and by a serious decrease in the + quality and weight of animals grown on overgrazed lands. These sources + of loss from failure to conserve the range are felt to-day. They are + accompanied by the certainty of a future loss not less important, for + range lands once badly overgrazed can be restored to their former value + but slowly or not at all. The obvious and certain remedy is for the + Government to hold and control the public range until it can pass into + the hands of settlers who will make their homes upon it. As methods of + agriculture improve and new dry-land crops are introduced, vast areas + once considered unavailable for cultivation are being made into + prosperous homes; and this-movement has only begun. +</p> +<p> + The single object of the public land system of the United States, as + President Roosevelt repeatedly declared, is the making and maintenance<a name="p12"></a> + of prosperous homes. That object cannot be achieved unless such of the + public lands as are suitable for settlement are conserved for the actual + home-maker. Such lands should pass from the possession of the Government + directly and only into the hands of the settler who lives on the land. + Of all forms of conservation there is none more important than that of + holding the public lands for the actual home-maker. +</p> +<p> + It is a notorious fact that the public land laws have been deflected + from their beneficent original purpose of home-making by lax + administration, short-sighted departmental decisions, and the growth of + an unhealthy public sentiment in portions of the West. Great areas of + the public domain have passed into the hands, not of the home-maker, but + of large individual or corporate owners whose object is always the + making of profit and seldom the making of homes. It is sometimes urged + that enlightened self-interest will lead the men who have acquired large<a name="p13"></a> + holdings of public lands to put them to their most productive use, and + it is said with truth that this best use is the tillage of small areas + by small owners. Unfortunately, the facts and this theory disagree. Even + the most cursory examination of large holdings throughout the West will + refute the contention that the intelligent self-interest of large owners + results promptly and directly in the making of homes. Few passions of + the human mind are stronger than land hunger, and the large holder + clings to his land until circumstances make it actually impossible for + him to hold it any longer. Large holdings result in sheep or cattle + ranges, in huge ranches, in great areas held for speculative rise in + price, and not in homes. Unless the American homestead system of small + free-holders is to be so replaced by a foreign system of tenantry, there + are few things of more importance to the West than to see to it that the + public lands pass directly into the hands of the actual settler instead<a name="p14"></a> + of into the hands of the man who, if he can, will force the settler to + pay him the unearned profit of the land speculator, or will hold him in + economic and political dependence as a tenant. If we are to have homes + on the public lands, they must be conserved for the men who make homes. +</p> +<p> + The lowest estimate reached by the Forest Service of the timber now + standing in the United States is 1,400 billion feet, board measure; the + highest, 2,500 billion. The present annual consumption is approximately + 100 billion feet, while the annual growth is but a third of the + consumption, or from 30 to 40 billion feet. If we accept the larger + estimate of the standing timber, 2,500 billion feet, and the larger + estimate of the annual growth, 40 billion feet, and apply the present + rate of consumption, the result shows a probable duration of our + supplies of timber of little more than a single generation. +</p> +<p> + Estimates of this kind are almost inevitably misleading. For example,<a name="p15"></a> + it is certain that the rate of consumption of timber will increase + enormously in the future, as it has in the past, so long as supplies + remain to draw upon. Exact knowledge of many other factors is needed + before closely accurate results can be obtained. The figures cited are, + however, sufficiently reliable to make it certain that the United States + has already crossed the verge of a timber famine so severe that its + blighting effects will be felt in every household in the land. The rise + in the price of lumber which marked the opening of the present century + is the beginning of a vastly greater and more rapid rise which is to + come. We must necessarily begin to suffer from the scarcity of timber + long before our supplies are completely exhausted. +</p> +<p> + It is well to remember that there is no foreign source from which we can + draw cheap and abundant supplies of timber to meet a demand per capita + so large as to be without parallel in the world, and that the suffering + which will result from the progressive failure of our timber has been + but faintly foreshadowed by temporary scarcities of coal. +</p> +<p> + What will happen when the forests fail? In the first place, the business + of lumbering will disappear. It is now the fourth greatest industry in + the United States. All forms of building industries will suffer with it, + and the occupants of houses, offices, and stores must pay the added + cost. Mining will become vastly more expensive; and with the rise in the + cost of mining there must follow a corresponding rise in the price of + coal, iron, and other minerals. The railways, which have as yet failed + entirely to develop a satisfactory substitute for the wooden tie (and + must, in the opinion of their best engineers, continue to fail), will be + profoundly affected, and the cost of transportation will suffer a + corresponding increase. Water power for lighting, manufacturing, and + transportation, and the movement of freight and passengers by inland + waterways, will be affected still more directly than the steam railways. + The cultivation of the soil, with or without irrigation, will be + hampered by the increased cost of agricultural tools, fencing, and the + wood needed for other purposes about the farm. Irrigated agriculture + will suffer most of all, for the destruction of the forests means the + loss of the waters as surely as night follows day. With the rise in the + cost of producing food, the cost of food itself will rise. Commerce in + general will necessarily be affected by the difficulties of the primary + industries upon which it depends. In a word, when the forests fail, the + daily life of the average citizen will inevitably feel the pinch on + every side. And the forests have already begun to fail, as the direct + result of the suicidal policy of forest destruction which the people of + the United States have allowed themselves to pursue. +</p> +<p><a name="p18"></a> + It is true that about twenty per cent, of the less valuable timber land + in the United States remains in the possession of the people in the + National Forests, and that it is being cared for and conserved to supply + the needs of the present and to mitigate the suffering of the near + future. But it needs no argument to prove that this comparatively small + area will be insufficient to meet the demand which is now exhausting an + area four times as great, or to prevent the suffering I have described. + Measures of greater vigor are imperatively required. +</p> +<p> + The conception that water is, on the whole, the most important natural + resource has gained firm hold in the irrigated West, and is making rapid + progress in the humid East. Water, not land, is the primary value in the + Western country, and its conservation and use to irrigate land is the + first condition of prosperity. The use of our streams for irrigation and + for domestic and manufacturing uses is comparatively well developed. + Their use for power is less developed, while their use for + transportation has only begun. The conservation of the inland waterways + of the United States for these great purposes constitutes, perhaps, the + largest single task which now confronts the Nation. The maintenance and + increase of agriculture, the supply of clear water for domestic and + manufacturing uses, the development of electrical power, transportation, + and lighting, and the creation of a system of inland transportation by + water whereby to regulate freight-rates by rail and to move the bulkier + commodities cheaply from place to place, is a task upon the successful + accomplishment of which the future of the Nation depends in a peculiar + degree. We are accustomed, and rightly accustomed, to take pride in the<a name="p20"></a> + vigorous and healthful growth of the United States, and in its vast + promise for the future. Yet we are making no preparation to realize what + we so easily foresee and glibly predict. The vast possibilities of our + great future will become realities only if we make ourselves, in a + sense, responsible for that future. The planned and orderly development + and conservation of our natural resources is the first duty of the + United States. It is the only form of insurance that will certainly + protect us against the disasters that lack of foresight has in the past + repeatedly brought down on nations since passed away. +</p> +<a name="2HCH4"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p21"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER II +</h2> +<center> + HOME-BUILDING FOR THE NATION +</center> +<p> + The most valuable citizen of this or any other country is the man who + owns the land from which he makes his living. No other man has such a + stake in the country. No other man lends such steadiness and stability + to our national life. Therefore no other question concerns us more + intimately than the question of homes. Permanent homes for ourselves, + our children, and our Nation—this is a central problem. The policy of + national irrigation is of value to the United States in very many ways, + but the greatest of all is this, that national irrigation multiplies the + men who own the land from which they make their living. The old saying,<a name="p22"></a> + "Who ever heard of a man shouldering his gun to fight for his boarding + house?" reflects this great truth, that no man is so ready to defend his + country, not only with arms, but with his vote and his contribution to + public opinion, as the man with a permanent stake in it, as the man who + owns the land from which he makes his living. +</p> +<p> + Our country began as a nation of farmers. During the periods that gave + it its character, when our independence was won and when our Union was + preserved, we were preeminently a nation of farmers. We can not, and we + ought not, to continue exclusively, or even chiefly, an agricultural + country, because one man can raise food enough for many. But the farmer + who owns his land is still the backbone of this Nation; and one of the + things we want most is more of him. The man on the farm is valuable to + the Nation, like any other citizen, just in proportion to his + intelligence, character, ability, and patriotism; but, unlike other + citizens, also in proportion to his attachment to the soil. That is the + principal spring of his steadiness, his sanity, his simplicity and + directness, and many of his other desirable qualities. He is the first + of home-makers. +</p> +<p> + The nation that will lead the world will be a Nation of Homes. The + object of the great Conservation movement is just this, to make our + country a permanent and prosperous home for ourselves and for our + children, and for our children's children, and it is a task that is + worth the best thought and effort of any and all of us. +</p> +<p> + To achieve this or any other great result, straight thinking and strong + action are necessary, and the straight thinking comes first. To make + this country what we need to have it, we must think clearly and directly + about our problems, and above all we must understand what the real + problems are. The great things are few and simple, but they are too<a name="p24"></a> + often hidden by false issues, and conventional, unreal thinking. The + easiest way to hide a real issue always has been, and always will be, to + replace it with a false one. +</p> +<p> + The first thing we need in this country, as President Roosevelt so well + set forth in a great message which told what he had been trying to do + for the American people, is equality of opportunity for every citizen. + No man should have less, and no man ought to ask for any more. Equality + of opportunity is the real object of our laws and institutions. Our + institutions and our laws are not valuable in themselves. They are + valuable only because they secure equality of opportunity for happiness + and welfare to our citizens. An institution or a law is a means, not an + end, a means to be used for the public good, to be modified for the + public good, and to be interpreted for the public good. One of the great + reasons why President Roosevelt's administration was of such enormous<a name="p25"></a> + value to the plain American was that he understood what St. Paul meant + when he said: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." To + follow blindly the letter of the law, or the form of an institution, + without intelligent regard both for its spirit and for the public + welfare, is very nearly as dangerous as to disregard the law altogether. + What we need is the use of the law for the public good, and the + construction of it for the public welfare. +</p> +<p> + It goes without saying that the law is supreme and must be obeyed. + Civilization rests on obedience to law. But the law is not absolute. It + requires to be construed. Rigid construction of the law works, and must + work, in the vast majority of cases, for the benefit of the men who can + hire the best lawyers and who have the sources of influence in lawmaking + at their command. Strict construction necessarily favors the great + interests as against the people, and in the long run can not do<a name="p26"></a> + otherwise. Wise execution of the law must consider what the law ought + to accomplish for the general good. The great oppressive trusts exist + because of subservient lawmakers and adroit legal constructions. Here is + the central stronghold of the money power in the everlasting conflict of + the few to grab, and the many to keep or win the rights they were born + with. Legal technicalities seldom help the people. The people, not the + law, should have the benefit of every doubt. +</p> +<p> + Equality of opportunity, a square deal for every man, the protection of + the citizen against the great concentrations of capital, the intelligent + use of laws and institutions for the public good, and the conservation + of our natural resources, not for the trusts, but for the people; these + are real issues and real problems. Upon such things as these the + perpetuity of this country as a nation of homes really depends. We are<a name="p27"></a> + coming to see that the simple things are the things to work for. More + than that, we are coming to see that the plain American citizen is the + man to work for. The imagination is staggered by the magnitude of the + prize for which we work. If we succeed, there will exist upon this + continent a sane, strong people, living through the centuries in a land + subdued and controlled for the service of the people, its rightful + masters, owned by the many and not by the few. If we fail, the great + interests, increasing their control of our natural resources, will + thereby control the country more and more, and the rights of the people + will fade into the privileges of concentrated wealth. +</p> +<p> + There could be no better illustration of the eager, rapid, unwearied + absorption by capital of the rights which belong to all the people than + the water-power trust, perhaps not yet formed but in process of + formation. This statement is true, but not unchallenged. We are met at + every turn by the indignant denial of the water-power interests. They + tell us that there is no community of interest among them, and yet they + appear by their paid attorneys, year after year, at irrigation and other + congresses, asking for help to remove the few remaining obstacles to + their perpetual and complete absorption of the remaining water-powers. + They tell us it has no significance that there is hardly a bank in some + sections of the country that is not an agency for water-power capital, + or that the General Electric Company interests are acquiring great + groups of water-powers in various parts of the United States, and + dominating the power market in the region of each group. And whoever + dominates power, dominates all industry. +</p> +<p> + Have you ever seen a few drops of oil scattered on the water spreading + until they formed a continuous film, which put an end at once to all + agitation of the surface? The time for us to agitate this question is<a name="p29"></a> + now, before the separate circles of centralized control spread into the + uniform, unbroken, Nation-wide covering of a single gigantic trust. + There will be little chance for mere agitation after that. No man at all + familiar with the situation can doubt that the time for effective + protest is very short. If we do not use it to protect ourselves now, we + may be very sure that the trust will give hereafter small consideration + to the welfare of the average citizen when in conflict with its own. +</p> +<p> + The man who really counts is the plain American citizen. This is the man + for whom the Roosevelt policies were created, and his welfare is the end + to which the Roosevelt policies lead. +</p> +<p> + I stand for the Roosevelt policies because they set the common good of + all of us above the private gain of some of us; because they recognize + the livelihood of the small man as more important to the Nation than the + profit of the big man; because they oppose all useless waste at present + at the cost of robbing the future; because they demand the complete, + sane, and orderly development of all our natural resources; because they + insist upon equality of opportunity and denounce monopoly and special + privilege; because, discarding false issues, they deal directly with the + vital questions that really make a difference with the welfare of us + all; and, most of all, because in them the plain American always and + everywhere holds the first place. And I propose to stand for them while + I have the strength to stand for anything. +</p> +<a name="2HCH5"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p31"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER III +</h2> +<center> + BETTER TIMES ON THE FARM +</center> +<p> + Ever since I came to have first-hand knowledge of irrigation, I have + been impressed with the peculiar advantages which surround the + irrigation rancher. The high productiveness of irrigated land, resulting + in smaller farm units and denser settlement, as well as the efficiency + and alertness of the irrigator, have combined to give the irrigated + regions very high rank among the most progressive farming communities of + the world. Such rural communities as those of the irrigated West are + useful examples for the consideration of regions in which life is more + isolated, has less of the benefits of coöperation, and generally has + lacked the stimulus found in irrigation farming. +</p> +<p><a name="p32"></a> + The object of education in general is to produce in the boy or girl, + and so in the man or woman, three results: first, a sound, useful, and + usable body; second, a flexible, well-equipped, and well-organized mind; + alert to gain interest and assistance from contact with nature and + coöperation with other minds; and third, a wise and true and valiant + spirit, able to gather to itself the higher things that best make life + worth while. The use and growth of these three things, body, mind, and + spirit, must all be found in any effective system of education. +</p> +<p> + The same three-fold activity is equally necessary in a group of + individuals. Take for example the merchants of a town, who have + established a Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade. They have three + objects: first, sound and profitable business; second, organized + coöperation with each other to their mutual advantage, as in settling + disputes, securing satisfactory rates from railroads, and inducing new<a name="p33"></a> + industries to settle amongst them; and third, to make their town more + beautiful, more healthful, and generally a better place to live in. Take + a labor union as another example, and you will find the same three-fold + purpose. A good union admits only good workmen to membership in its + sound body; the members get from the Union the advantages of organized + coöperation in selling their labor to the best advantage; and in + addition they enjoy certain special advantages often of overwhelming + importance. +</p> +<p> + The practical value of organization and coöperation is obvious, and they + are being utilized very widely in nearly every branch of our national + life. But what is the case with the farmer? The farmers are the only + great body of our people who remain in large part substantially + unorganized. The merchants are organized, the wage-workers are + organized, the railroads are organized. The men with whom the farmer<a name="p34"></a> + competes are organized to get the best results for themselves in their + dealings with him. The farmer is engaged, usually without the assistance + of organization, in competing with these organizations of other groups + of citizens. Thus the farmer, the man on whose product we all live, too + often contends almost single-handed against his highly organized + competitors. +</p> +<p> + How have the agricultural schools and colleges and the Departments of + Agriculture of State and Nation met this situation? Largely by the + assertion, in word or in act, that there is only one thing to be done + for the farmer. So far as his personal education is concerned, they have + tried to give him a sound body, a trained mind, and a wise and valiant + spirit. But so far as his calling is concerned, they have stopped with + the body. They have said in effect: We will help the farmer to grow + better crops, but we will take no thought of how he can get the best + returns for the crops he grows, or of how he can utilize those returns<a name="p35"></a> + so as to make them yield him the best and happiest life. +</p> +<p> + It is not wise to stop the education of a boy or a girl with the body, + and to neglect the mind and the spirit. But we have done the equivalent + of that in dealing with farm life. Along the line of better crops we + have done more for the farmer, and have done it more effectively, than + any other Nation. But we have done little, and far less than many other + Nations, for better business and better living on the farm. Hereafter we + shall need in State and Nation not only the work of Departments of + Agriculture such as we have now, but we shall need to have added to + their functions such duties as will make them departments of rural + business and rural life as well. Our Departments of Agriculture should + cover the whole field of the farmer's life. It is not enough to touch + only one of the three great country problems, even though that is the + first in time and perhaps in importance. +</p> +<p><a name="p36"></a> + Of course we all realize that the growing of crops is the great + foundation on which the well-being not only of the farmer but of the + whole Nation must depend. First of all we must have food. But after that + has been achieved, is there nothing more to be done? It seems to me + clear that farmers have as much to gain from good organization as + merchants, plumbers, carpenters, or any of the other trades and + businesses of the United States. After we have secured better crops, the + next logical and inevitable step is to secure better business + organization on the farm, so that each farmer shall get from what he + grows the best possible return. +</p> +<p> + Consider what has been accomplished in Ireland through agricultural + coöperation. The Irish have discovered that it is not good for the + farmer to work alone. Since 1894 they have been organizing agricultural + societies to give the farmer a chance to sell at the right time and at + the right price. The result is impressive. In Ireland the coöperative + creameries produce about half the butter exported. There are 40,000 + farmers in the societies for coöperative selling, which, as we know in + this country, means better prices. There are about 300 agricultural + credit societies with a membership of 15,000 and a capital of more than + $200,000. In a word, in Ireland, which we have been apt to consider as + far behind us in all that relates to agriculture, there are nearly 1,000 + agricultural societies with a total membership of 100,000 persons. Since + 1894 their total business has been more than $300,000,000. +</p> +<p> + But, after the farmer has begun to make use of his right to combine for + his advantage in selling his products and buying his supplies, is there + nothing else he can do? As well might we say that, after the body and + the mind of a boy have been trained, he should be deprived of all those + associations with his fellows which make life worth living, and to which<a name="p38"></a> + every child has an inborn right. Life is something more than a matter + of business. No man can make his life what it ought to be by living it + merely on a business basis. There are things higher than business. What + is the reason for the enormous movement from the farms into the cities? + Not simply that the business advantages in the city are better, but that + the city has more conveniences, more excitement, and more facility for + contact with friends and neighbors: in a word, more life. There ought + then to be attractiveness in country life such as will make the country + boy or girl want to live and work in the country, such that the farmer + will understand that there is no more dignified calling than his own, + none that makes life better worth living. The social or community life + of the country should be put by the farmer—for no one but himself can + do it for him—on the same basis as social life in the city, through the + country churches and societies, through better roads, country<a name="p39"></a> + telephones, rural free delivery, parcels post, and whatever else will + help. The problem is not merely to get better crops, not merely to + dispose of crops better, but in the last analysis to have happier and + richer lives of men and women on the farm. +</p> +<a name="2HCH6"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p40"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IV +</h2> +<center> + PRINCIPLES OF CONSERVATION +</center> +<p> + The principles which the word Conservation has come to embody are not + many, and they are exceedingly simple. I have had occasion to say a good + many times that no other great movement, has ever achieved such progress + in so short a time, or made itself felt in so many directions with such + vigor and effectiveness, as the movement for the conservation of natural + resources. +</p> +<p> + Forestry made good its position in the United States before the + conservation movement was born. As a forester I am glad to believe that + conservation began with forestry, and that the principles which govern + the Forest Service in particular and forestry in general are also the<a name="p41"></a> + ideas that control conservation. +</p> +<p> + The first idea of real foresight in connection with natural resources + arose in connection with the forest. From it sprang the movement which + gathered impetus until it culminated in the great Convention of + Governors at Washington in May, 1908. Then came the second official + meeting of the National Conservation movement, December, 1908, in + Washington. Afterward came the various gatherings of citizens in + convention, come together to express their judgment on what ought to be + done, and to contribute, as only such meetings can, to the formation of + effective public opinion. +</p> +<p> + The movement so begun and so prosecuted has gathered immense swing and + impetus. In 1907 few knew what Conservation meant. Now it has become a + household word. While at first Conservation was supposed to apply only + to forests, we see now that its sweep extends even beyond the natural<a name="p42"></a> + resources. +</p> +<p> + The principles which govern the conservation movement, like all great + and effective things, are simple and easily understood. Yet it is often + hard to make the simple, easy, and direct facts about a movement of this + kind known to the people generally. +</p> +<p> + The first great fact about conservation is that it stands for + development. There has been a fundamental misconception that + conservation means nothing but the husbanding of resources for future + generations. There could be no more serious mistake. Conservation does + mean provision for the future, but it means also and first of all the + recognition of the right of the present generation to the fullest + necessary use of all the resources with which this country is so + abundantly blessed. Conservation demands the welfare of this generation + first, and afterward the welfare of the generations to follow. +</p> +<p><a name="p43"></a> + The first principle of conservation is development, the use of the + natural resources now existing on this continent for the benefit of the + people who live here now. There may be just as much waste in neglecting + the development and use of certain natural resources as there is in + their destruction. We have a limited supply of coal, and only a limited + supply. Whether it is to last for a hundred or a hundred and fifty or a + thousand years, the coal is limited in amount, unless through geological + changes which we shall not live to see, there will never be any more of + it than there is now. But coal is in a sense the vital essence of our + civilization. If it can be preserved, if the life of the mines can be + extended, if by preventing waste there can be more coal left in this + country after we of this generation have made every needed use of this + source of power, then we shall have deserved well of our descendants. +</p> +<p> + Conservation stands emphatically for the development and use of + water-power now, without delay. It stands for the immediate construction + of navigable waterways under a broad and comprehensive plan as + assistants to the railroads. More coal and more iron are required to + move a ton of freight by rail than by water, three to one. In every case + and in every direction the conservation movement has development for its + first principle, and at the very beginning of its work. The development + of our natural resources and the fullest use of them for the present + generation is the first duty of this generation. So much for + development. +</p> +<p> + In the second place conservation stands for the prevention of waste. + There has come gradually in this country an understanding that waste is + not a good thing and that the attack on waste is an industrial + necessity. I recall very well indeed how, in the early days of forest + fires, they were considered simply and solely as acts of God, against<a name="p45"></a> + which any opposition was hopeless and any attempt to control them not + merely hopeless but childish. It was assumed that they came in the + natural order of things, as inevitably as the seasons or the rising and + setting of the sun. To-day we understand that forest fires are wholly + within the control of men. So we are coming in like manner to understand + that the prevention of waste in all other directions is a simple matter + of good business. The first duty of the human race is to control the + earth it lives upon. +</p> +<p> + We are in a position more and more completely to say how far the waste + and destruction of natural resources are to be allowed to go on and + where they are to stop. It is curious that the effort to stop waste, + like the effort to stop forest fires, has often been considered as a + matter controlled wholly by economic law. I think there could be no + greater mistake. Forest fires were allowed to burn long after the people + had means to stop them. The idea that men were helpless in the face of + them held long after the time had passed when the means of control were + fully within our reach. It was the old story that "as a man thinketh, so + is he"; we came to see that we could stop forest fires, and we found + that the means had long been at hand. When at length we came to see that + the control of logging in certain directions was profitable, we found it + had long been possible. In all these matters of waste of natural + resources, the education of the people to understand that they can stop + the leakage comes before the actual stopping and after the means of + stopping it have long been ready at our hands. +</p> +<p> + In addition to the principles of development and preservation of our + resources there is a third principle. It is this: The natural resources + must be developed and preserved for the benefit of the many, and not + merely for the profit of a few. We are coming to understand in this + country that public action for public benefit has a very much wider + field to cover and a much larger part to play than was the case when + there were resources enough for every one, and before certain + constitutional provisions had given so tremendously strong a position to + vested rights and property in general. +</p> +<p> + A few years ago President Hadley, of Yale, wrote an article which has + not attracted the attention it should. The point of it was that by + reason of the XIVth amendment to the Constitution, property rights in + the United States occupy a stronger position than in any other country + in the civilized world. It becomes then a matter of multiplied + importance, since property rights once granted are so strongly + entrenched, to see that they shall be so granted that the people shall + get their fair share of the benefit which comes from the development of + the resources which belong to us all. The time to do that is now. By so + doing we shall avoid the difficulties and conflicts which will surely + arise if we allow vested rights to accrue outside the possibility of<a name="p48"></a> + governmental and popular control. +</p> +<p> + The conservation idea covers a wider range than the field of natural + resources alone. Conservation means the greatest good to the greatest + number for the longest time. One of its great contributions is just + this, that it has added to the worn and well-known phrase, "the greatest + good to the greatest number," the additional words "for the longest + time," thus recognizing that this nation of ours must be made to endure + as the best possible home for all its people. +</p> +<p> + Conservation advocates the use of foresight, prudence, thrift, and + intelligence in dealing with public matters, for the same reasons and in + the same way that we each use foresight, prudence, thrift, and + intelligence in dealing with our own private affairs. It proclaims the + right and duty of the people to act for the benefit of the people. + Conservation demands the application of common-sense to the common<a name="p49"></a> + problems for the common good. +</p> +<p> + The principles of conservation thus described—development, + preservation, the common good—have a general application which is + growing rapidly wider. The development of resources and the prevention + of waste and loss, the protection of the public interests, by foresight, + prudence, and the ordinary business and home-making virtues, all these + apply to other things as well as to the natural resources. There is, in + fact, no interest of the people to which the principles of conservation + do not apply. +</p> +<p> + The conservation point of view is valuable in the education of our + people as well as in forestry; it applies to the body politic as well as + to the earth and its minerals. A municipal franchise is as properly + within its sphere as a franchise for water-power. The same point of view + governs in both. It applies as much to the subject of good roads as to + waterways, and the training of our people in citizenship is as germane + to it as the productiveness of the earth. The application of + common-sense to any problem for the Nation's good will lead directly to + national efficiency wherever applied. In other words, and that is the + burden of the message, we are coming to see the logical and inevitable + outcome that these principles, which arose in forestry and have their + bloom in the conservation of natural resources, will have their fruit in + the increase and promotion of national efficiency along other lines of + national life. +</p> +<p> + The outgrowth of conservation, the inevitable result, is national + efficiency. In the great commercial struggle between nations which is + eventually to determine the welfare of all, national efficiency will be + the deciding factor. So from every point of view conservation is a good + thing for the American people. +</p> +<p> + The National Forest Service, one of the chief agencies of the + conservation movement, is trying to be useful to the people of this<a name="p51"></a> + nation. The Service recognizes, and recognizes it more and more strongly + all the time, that whatever it has done or is doing has just one object, + and that object is the welfare of the plain American citizen. Unless the + Forest Service has served the people, and is able to contribute to their + welfare it has failed in its work and should be abolished. But just so + far as by coöperation, by intelligence, by attention to the work laid + upon it, it contributes to the welfare of our citizens, it is a good + thing and should be allowed to go on with its work. +</p> +<p> + The Natural Forests are in the West. Headquarters of the Service have + been established throughout the Western country, because its work cannot + be done effectively and properly without the closest contact and the + most hearty coöperation with the Western people. It is the duty of the + Forest Service to see to it that the timber, water-powers, mines, and + every other resource of the forests is used for the benefit of the + people who live in the neighborhood or who may have a share in the + welfare of each locality. It is equally its duty to coöperate with all + our people in every section of our land to conserve a fundamental + resource, without which this Nation cannot prosper. +</p> +<a name="2HCH7"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p53"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER V +</h2> +<center> + WATERWAYS +</center> +<p> + The connection between forests and rivers is like that between father + and son. No forests, no rivers. So a forester may not be wholly beyond + his depth when he talks about streams. The conquest of our rivers is one + of the largest commercial questions now before us. +</p> +<p> + The commercial consequences of river development are incalculable. Its + results cannot be measured by the yard-stick of present commercial + needs. River improvement means better conditions of transportation than + we have now, but it means development too. We cannot see this problem + clearly and see it whole in the light of the past alone. +</p> +<p> + The actual problems of river development are not less worthy of our<a name="p54"></a> + best attention than their commercial results. Every river is a unit from + its source to its mouth. If it is to be given its highest usefulness to + all the people, and serve them for all the uses they can make of it, it + must be developed with that idea clearly in mind. To develop a river for + navigation alone, or power alone, or irrigation alone, is often like + using a sheep for mutton, or a steer for beef, and throwing away the + leather and the wool. A river is a unit, but its uses are many, and with + our present knowledge there can be no excuse for sacrificing one use to + another if both can be subserved. +</p> +<p> + A progressive plan for the development of our waterways is essential. + Pending the completion of that plan, which should neither be weakened by + excessive haste nor drowned in excessive deliberation, work should + proceed at once on some of the greater projects which we know already + will be essential under any plan that may be devised. First and<a name="p55"></a> + foremost of these by unanimous consent is the improvement of the + Mississippi River. A comprehensive and progressive plan of the kind we + need can be made in one way only, and that is by a commission of the + best men in the United States appointed directly by the President of the + United States. +</p> +<p> + Such a plan must consider every use to which our rivers can be put, and + every means available for their control. It must deal with such great + questions as the relation of the States and the Nation in the + construction and control of the work, and with terminals and the + coordination of rail and river transportation. The engineering + difficulties may be larger than any we have yet solved. The adjustment + of opposite demands between conflicting interests and localities, and + other questions of large reach and often of great legal complexity will + tax the powers of the best men we have. No part of the work will require<a name="p56"></a> + greater temperance, wisdom, and foresight than certain questions of + policy and law. +</p> +<p> + I have observed in the course of some experience that difficulties + originating with the law are peculiarly apt to foster misconceptions. It + happens that the Forest Service has recently supplied a typical example. +</p> +<p> + Certain men and certain papers have said that the Forest Service has + gone beyond the law in carrying out its work. This assertion has been + repeated so persistently that there is danger that it may be believed. + The friends of conservation must not be led to think that before the + Forest Service can proceed legally with its present work all the hazards + and compromises of new legislation must be faced. +</p> +<p> + Fortunately, the charge of illegal action is absolutely false. The + Forest Service has had ample legal authority for everything it has done. + Not once since it was created has any charge of illegality, despite the + most searching investigation and the bitterest attack, ever led to + reversal or reproof by either House of Congress or by any Congressional + Committee. Since the creation of the Forest Service the expenditure of + nearly $15,000,000 has passed successfully the scrutiny of the Treasury + of the United States. Most significant of all, not once has the Forest + Service been defeated as to any vital legal principle underlying its + work in any Court or administrative tribunal of last resort. Thus those + who make the law and those who interpret it seem to agree that the work + has been legal. +</p> +<p> + But it is not enough to say that the Forest Service has kept within the + law. Other qualifications go to make efficiency in a Government bureau. + A bureau may keep within the law and yet fail to get results. +</p> +<p> + When action is needed for the public good there are two opposite points + of view regarding the duty of an administrative officer in enforcing the + law. One point of view asks, "Is there any express and specific law + authorizing or directing such action?" and, having thus sought and + found none, nothing is done. The other asks, "Is there any justification + in law for doing this desirable thing?" and, having thus sought and + found a legal justification, what the public good demands is done. I + hold it to be the first duty of a public officer to obey the law. But I + hold it to be his second duty, and a close second, to do everything the + law will let him do for the public good, and not merely what the law + compels or directs him to do. +</p> +<p> + It is the right as well as the duty of a public officer to be zealous in + the public service. That is why the public service is worth while. To + every public officer the law should be, not a goad to drive him to his + duty, but a tool to help him in his work. And I maintain that it is + likewise his right and duty to seek by every proper means from the legal + authorities set over him such interpretations of the law as will best + help him to serve his country. +</p> +<p><a name="p59"></a> + Let the public officer take every lawful chance to use the law for the + public good. The better use he makes of it the better public servant he + becomes. One man with a jack-knife will build a ladder. Another with a + full tool-chest cannot make a footstool. The man with the jack-knife + will often reach the higher level. I am for the man with the jack-knife. + I believe in the man who does all he can and the best he can, with the + means at his command. That is precisely what the Forest Service has been + trying to do with the money and law Congress has placed in its hands. +</p> +<p> + Every public officer responsible for any part of the conservation of + natural resources is a trustee of the public property. If conservation + is vital to the welfare of this Nation now and hereafter, as President + Roosevelt so wisely declared, then few positions of public trust are so + important, and few opportunities for constructive work so large. Such + officers are concerned with the greatest issues which have come before + this Nation since the Civil War. They may hope to serve the Nation as + few men ever can. Their care for our forests, waters, lands, and + minerals is often the only thing that stands between the public good and + the something-for-nothing men, who, like the daughters of the + horse-leech, are forever crying, "Give, Give." The intelligence, + initiative, and steadfastness that can withstand the unrelenting + pressure of the special interests are worth having, and the Forest + Service has given proof of all three. But the counter-pressure from the + people in their own interest is needed far more often than it is + supplied. +</p> +<p> + The public welfare cannot be subserved merely by walking blindly in the + old ruts. Times change, and the public needs change with them. The man + who would serve the public to the level of its needs must look ahead, + and one of his most difficult problems will be to make old tools answer<a name="p61"></a> + new uses—uses some of which, at least, were never imagined when the + tools were made. That is one reason why constructive foresight is one of + the great constant needs of every growing nation. +</p> +<p> + The Forest Service proposes to use the tools—obey the law—made by the + representatives of the people. But the law cannot give specific + directions in advance to meet every need and detail of administration. + The law cannot make brains nor supply conscience. Therefore, the Forest + Service proposes also to serve the people by the intelligent and + purposeful use of the law and every lawful means at its command for the + public good. And for that intention it makes no apology. +</p> +<p> + Fortunately for the Forest Service, the point of view which it worked + out for itself under the pressure of its responsibilities was found to + be that of the Supreme Court. In the case of the U.S. vs. Macdaniel (7 + Pet., 13-14), involving the administrative powers of the head of a<a name="p62"></a> + Department, the Supreme Court of the United States said: +</p> +<pre> + + "He is limited in the exercise of his + powers by the law; but it does not + follow that he must show statutory + provision for everything he does. No + government could be administered on + such principles. To attempt to regulate, + by law, the minute movements + of every part of the complicated machinery + of government, would evince a + most unpardonable ignorance on the + subject. Whilst the great outlines of + its movements may be marked out, + and limitations imposed on the exercise + of its powers, there are numberless + things which must be done, that can + neither be anticipated nor defined, and + which are essential to the proper action + of the government." + +</pre> +<p> + Congress has given to the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the + Forest Service, the specific task of administering the National + Forests, with full power to perform it, and has provided that he "may + make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will + ensure the objects of said reservations, namely, to regulate their + occupancy and use and to preserve the forests thereon from destruction." + Every exercise of the powers granted to the Secretary of Agriculture by + statute has been in accordance with the principles laid down by Chief + Justice Marshall ninety years ago in the case of McCulloch vs. Maryland + (4 Wheat., 421), when he said as to powers delegated by the Federal + Constitution to Congress: +</p> +<pre> + + "Let the end be legitimate, let it be + within the scope of the Constitution, + and all means which are appropriate, + which are plainly adapted to that end, + which are not prohibited, but consist + with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, + are constitutional." + +</pre> +<p><a name="p64"></a> + After the transfer of the National Forests from the Interior Department + to the Forest Service in 1905, some things were done that had never been + done before, such as initiating Government control over water-power + monopoly in the National Forests, giving preference to the public over + commercial corporations in the use of the Forests, and trying to help + the small man make a living rather than the big man make a profit (but + always with the effort to be just to both). Always and everywhere we + have set the public welfare above the advantage of the special + interests. +</p> +<p> + Because it did these things the Forest Service has made enemies, of some + of whom it is justly proud. It has been easy for these enemies to raise + the cry of illegality, novelty, and excess of zeal. But in every + instance the Service has been fortified either by express statutes, or + by decisions of the Supreme Court and other courts, of the Secretary of + the Interior, of the Comptroller, or the Attorney-General, or by + general principles of law which are beyond dispute. If there is novelty, + it consists simply in the way these statutes, decisions, and principles + have been used to protect the public. The law officers of the Forest + Service have had the Nation for their client, and they are proud to work + as zealously for the public as they would in private practice for a fee. +</p> +<p> + So I think the ghost of illegality in the Forest Service may fairly be + laid at rest. But it is not the only one which is clouding the issues of + conservation in the public mind. Another misconception is that the + friends of conservation are trying to prevent the development of water + power by private capital. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The + friends of conservation were the first to call public attention to the + enormous saving to the Nation which follows the substitution of the + power of falling water, which is constantly renewed, for our coal, which<a name="p66"></a> + can never be renewed. They favor development by private capital and not + by the Government, but they also favor attaching such reasonable + conditions to the right to develop as will protect the public and + control water-power monopoly in the public interest, while at the same + time giving to enterprising capital its just and full reward. They + believe that to grant rights to water power in perpetuity is a wrongful + mortgage of the welfare of our descendants, and to grant them without + insisting on some return for value received is to rob ourselves. +</p> +<p> + I believe in dividends for the people as well as taxes. Fifty years is + long enough for the certainty of profitable investment in water power, + and to fix on the amount of return that will be fair to the public and + the corporation is not impossible. What city does not regret some + ill-considered franchise? And why should not the Nation profit by the + experience of its citizens? +</p> +<p> + There is no reason why the water-power interests should be given the + people's property freely and forever except that they would like to have + it that way. I suspect that the mere wishes of the special interests, + although they have been the mainspring of much public action for many + years, have begun to lose their compelling power. A good way to begin to + regulate corporations would be to stop them from regulating us. +</p> +<p> + The sober fact is that here is the imminent battle-ground in the endless + contest for the rights of the people. Nothing that can be said or done + will suffice to postpone longer the active phases of this fight; and + that is why I attach so great importance to the attitude of + administrative officers in protecting the public welfare in the + enforcement of the law. +</p> +<p> + From time to time a few strong leaders have tried to unite the people in + the fight of the many for the equal opportunities to which they are + entitled. But the people have only just begun to take this fight, in + earnest. They have not realized until recently the vital importance and + far-reaching consequences of their own passive position. +</p> +<p> + Now that the fight is passing into an acute stage it is easily seen that + the special interests have used the period of public indifference to + manoeuvre themselves into a position of exceeding strength. In the first + place, the Constitutional position of property in the United States is + stronger than in any other nation. In the second place, it is well + understood that the influence of the corporations in our law-making + bodies is usually excessive, not seldom to the point of defeating the + will of the people steadily and with ease. In the third place, cases are + not unknown in which the special interests, not satisfied with making + the laws, have assumed also to interpret them, through that worst of + evils in the body politic, an unjust judge. +</p> +<p><a name="p69"></a> + When an interest or an enemy is entrenched in a position rendered + impregnable against an expected mode of attack, there is but one remedy, + to shift the ground and follow lines against which no preparation has + been made. Fortunately for us, the special interests, with a blindness + which naturally follows from their wholly commercialized point of view, + have failed to see the essential fact in this great conflict. They do + not understand that this is far more than an economic question, that in + its essence and in every essential characteristic it is a moral + question. +</p> +<p> + The present economic order, with its face turned away from equality of + opportunity, involves a bitter moral wrong, which must be corrected for + moral reasons and along moral lines. It must be corrected with justness + and firmness, but not bitterly, for that would be to lower the Nation to + the moral level of the evil which we have set ourselves to fight. +</p> +<p> + This is the doctrine of the Square Deal. It contains the germ of + industrial liberty. Its partisans are the many, its opponents are the + few. I am firm in the faith that the great majority of our people are + Square Dealers. +</p> +<a name="2HCH8"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p71"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VI +</h2> +<center> + BUSINESS +</center> +<p> + The business of the people of the United States, performed by the + Government of the United States, is a vast and a most important one; it + is the house-keeping of the American Nation. As a business proposition + it does not attract anything like the attention that it ought. + Unfortunately we have come into the habit of considering the Government + of the United States as a political organization rather than as a + business organization. +</p> +<p> + Now this question, which the Governors of the States and the + representatives of great interests were called to Washington to consider + in 1908, is fundamentally a business question, and it is along business<a name="p72"></a> + lines that it must be considered and solved, if the problem is to be + solved at all. Manufacturers are dealing with the necessity for + producing a definite output as a result of definite expenditure and + definite effort. The Government of the United States is doing exactly + the same thing. The manufacturer's product can be measured in dollars + and cents. The product of the Government of the United States can be + measured partly in dollars and cents, but far more importantly in the + welfare and contentment and happiness of the people over which it is + called upon to preside. +</p> +<p> + The keynote of that Conservation Conference in Washington was + forethought and foresight. The keynote of success in any line of life, + or one of the great keynotes, must be forethought and foresight. If we, + as a Nation, are to continue the wonderful growth we have had, it is + forethought and foresight which must give us the capacity to go on as we<a name="p73"></a> + have been going. I dwell on this because it seems to me to be one of + the most curious of all things in the history of the United States + to-day that we should have grasped this principle so tremendously and so + vigorously in our daily lives, in the conduct of our own business, and + yet have failed so completely to make the obvious application in the + things which concern the Nation. +</p> +<p> + It is curiously true that great aggregations of individuals and + organized bodies are apt to be less far-sighted, less moral, less + intelligent along certain lines than the individual citizen; or at least + that their standards are lower; a principle which is illustrated by the + fact that we have got over settling disputes between individuals by the + strong hand, but not yet between nations. +</p> +<p> + So we have allowed ourselves as a Nation, in the flush of the tremendous + progress that we have made, to fail to look at the end from the + beginning and to put ourselves in a position where the normal operation<a name="p74"></a> + of natural laws threatens to bring us to a halt in a way which will + make every man, woman, and child in the Nation feel the pinch when it + comes. +</p> +<p> + No man may rightly fail to take a great pride in what has been + accomplished by means of the destruction of our natural resources so far + as it has gone. It is a paradoxical statement, perhaps, but nevertheless + true, because out of this attack on what nature has given we have won a + kind of prosperity and a kind of civilization and a kind of man that are + new in the world. For example, nothing like the rapidity of the + destruction of American forests has ever been known in forest history, + and nothing like the efficiency and vigor and inventiveness of the + American lumberman has ever been developed by any attack on any forests + elsewhere. Probably the most effective tool that the human mind and hand + have ever made is the American axe. So the American business man has + grasped his opportunities and used them and developed them and invented + about them, thought them into lines of success, and thus has developed + into a new business man, with a vigor and effectiveness and a + cutting-edge that has never been equalled anywhere else. We have gained + out of the vast destruction of our natural resources a degree of vigor + and power and efficiency of which every man of us ought to be proud. +</p> +<p> + Now that is done. We have accomplished these big things. What is the + next step? Shall we go on in the same lines to the certain destruction + of the prosperity which we have created, or shall we take the obvious + lesson of all human history, turn our backs on the uncivilized point of + view, and adopt toward our natural resources the average prudence and + average foresight and average care that we long ago adopted as a rule of + our daily life? +</p> +<p> + The conservation movement is calling the attention of the American + people to the fact that they are trustees. The fact seems to me so + plain as to require only a statement of it, to carry conviction. Can we + reasonably fail to recognize the obligation which rests upon us in this + matter? And, if we do fail to recognize it, can we reasonably expect + even a fairly good reputation at the hands of our descendants? +</p> +<p> + Business prudence and business common-sense indicate as strongly as + anything can the absolute necessity of a change in point of view on the + part of the people of the United States regarding their natural + resources. The way we have been handling them is not good business. + Purely on the side of dollars and cents, it is not good business to kill + the goose that lays the golden egg, to burn up half our forests, to + waste our coal, and to remove from under the feet of those who are + coming after us the opportunity for equal happiness with ourselves. The + thing we ought to leave to them is not merely an opportunity for equal<a name="p77"></a> + happiness and equal prosperity, but for a vastly increased fund of + both. +</p> +<p> + Conservation is not merely a question of business, but a question of a + vastly higher duty. In dealing with our natural resources we have come + to a place at last where every consideration of patriotism, every + consideration of love of country, of gratitude for things that the land + and the institutions of this Nation have given us, call upon us for a + return. If we owe anything to the United States, if this country has + been good to us, if it has given us our prosperity, our education, and + our chance of happiness, then there is a duty resting upon us. That duty + is to see, so far as in us lies, that those who are coming after us + shall have the same opportunity for happiness we have had ourselves. + Apart from any business consideration, apart from the question of the + immediate dollar, this problem of the future wealth and happiness and + prosperity of the people of the United States has a right to our + attention. It rises far above all matters of temporary individual + business advantage, and becomes a great question of national + preservation. We all have the unquestionable right to a reasonable use + of natural resources during our lifetime, we all may use, and should + use, the good things that were put here for our use, for in the last + analysis this question of conservation is the question of national + preservation and national efficiency. +</p> +<a name="2HCH9"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p79"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VII +</h2> +<center> + THE MORAL ISSUE +</center> +<p> + The central thing for which Conservation stands is to make this country + the best possible place to live in, both for us and for our descendants. + It stands against the waste of the natural resources which cannot be + renewed, such as coal and iron; it stands for the perpetuation of the + resources which can be renewed, such as the food-producing soils and the + forests; and most of all it stands for an equal opportunity for every + American citizen to get his fair share of benefit from these resources, + both now and hereafter. +</p> +<p> + Conservation stands for the same kind of practical common-sense + management of this country by the people that every business man stands + for in the handling of his own business. It believes in prudence and<a name="p80"></a> + foresight instead of reckless blindness; it holds that resources now + public property should not become the basis for oppressive private + monopoly; and it demands the complete and orderly development of all our + resources for the benefit of all the people, instead of the partial + exploitation of them for the benefit of a few. It recognizes fully the + right of the present generation to use what it needs and all it needs of + the natural resources now available, but it recognizes equally our + obligation so to use what we need that our descendants shall not be + deprived of what they need. +</p> +<p> + Conservation has much to do with the welfare of the average man of + to-day. It proposes to secure a continuous and abundant supply of the + necessaries of life, which means a reasonable cost of living and + business stability. It advocates fairness in the distribution of the<a name="p81"></a> + benefits which flow from the natural resources. It will matter very + little to the average citizen, when scarcity comes and prices rise, + whether he can not get what he needs because there is none left or + because he can not afford to pay for it. In both cases the essential + fact is that he can not get what he needs. Conservation holds that it is + about as important to see that the people in general get the benefit of + our natural resources as to see that there shall be natural resources + left. +</p> +<p> + Conservation is the most democratic movement this country has known for + a generation. It holds that the people have not only the right, but the + duty to control the use of the natural resources, which are the great + sources of prosperity. And it regards the absorption of these resources + by the special interests, unless their operations are under effective + public control, as a moral wrong. Conservation is the application of<a name="p82"></a> + common-sense to the common problems for the common good, and I believe + it stands nearer to the desires, aspirations, and purposes of the + average man than any other policy now before the American people. +</p> +<p> + The danger to the Conservation policies is that the privileges of the + few may continue to obstruct the rights of the many, especially in the + matter of water power and coal. Congress must decide immediately whether + the great coal fields still in public ownership shall remain so, in + order that their use may be controlled with due regard to the interest + of the consumer, or whether they shall pass into private ownership and + be controlled in the monopolistic interest of a few. +</p> +<p> + Congress must decide also whether immensely valuable rights to the use + of water power shall be given away to special interests in perpetuity + and without compensation instead of being held and controlled by the + public. In most cases actual development of water power can best be done + by private interests acting under public control, but it is neither + good sense nor good morals to let these valuable privileges pass from + the public ownership for nothing and forever. Other conservation matters + doubtless require action, but these two, the conservation of water power + and of coal, the chief sources of power of the present and the future, + are clearly the most pressing. +</p> +<p> + It is of the first importance to prevent our water powers from passing + into private ownership as they have been doing, because the greatest + source of power we know is falling water. Furthermore, it is the only + great unfailing source of power. Our coal, the experts say, is likely to + be exhausted during the next century, our natural gas and oil in this. + Our rivers, if the forests on the watersheds are properly handled, will + never cease to deliver power. Under our form of civilization, if a few<a name="p84"></a> + men ever succeed in controlling the sources of power, they will + eventually control all industry as well. If they succeed in controlling + all industry, they will necessarily control the country. This country + has achieved political freedom; what our people are fighting for now is + industrial freedom. And unless we win our industrial liberty, we can not + keep our political liberty. I see no reason why we should deliberately + keep on helping to fasten the handcuffs of corporate control upon + ourselves for all time merely because the few men who would profit by it + most have heretofore had the power to compel it. +</p> +<p> + The essential things that must be done to protect the water powers for + the people are few and simple. First, the granting of water powers + forever, either on non-navigable or navigable streams, must absolutely + stop. It is perfectly clear that one hundred, fifty, or even twenty-five + years ago our present industrial conditions and industrial needs were<a name="p85"></a> + completely beyond the imagination of the wisest of our predecessors. It + is just as true that we can not imagine or foresee the industrial + conditions and needs of the future. But we do know that our descendants + should be left free to meet their own necessities as they arise. It can + not be right, therefore, for us to grant perpetual rights to the one + great permanent source of power. It is just as wrong as it is foolish, + and just as needless as it is wrong, to mortgage the welfare of our + children in such a way as this. Water powers must and should be + developed mainly by private capital and they must be developed under + conditions which make investment in them profitable and safe. But + neither profit nor safety requires perpetual rights, as many of the best + water-power men now freely acknowledge. +</p> +<p> + Second, the men to whom the people grant the right to use water-power + should pay for what they get. The water-power sites now in the public<a name="p86"></a> + hands are enormously valuable. There is no reason whatever why special + interests should be allowed to use them for profit without making some + direct payment to the people for the valuable rights derived from the + people. This is important not only for the revenue the Nation will get. + It is at least equally important as a recognition that the public + controls its own property and has a right to share in the benefits + arising from its development. There are other ways in which public + control of water power must be exercised, but these two are the most + important. +</p> +<p> + Water power on non-navigable streams usually results from dropping a + little water a long way. In the mountains water is dropped many hundreds + of feet upon the turbines which move the dynamos that produce the + electric current. Water power on navigable streams is usually produced + by dropping immense volumes of water a short distance, as twenty feet,<a name="p87"></a> + fifteen feet, or even less. Every stream is a unit from its source to + its mouth, and the people have the same stake in the control of water + power in one part of it as in another. Under the Constitution, the + United States exercises direct control over navigable streams. It + exercises control over non-navigable and source streams only through its + ownership of the lands through which they pass, as the public domain and + National Forests. It is just as essential for the public welfare that + the people should retain and exercise control of water-power monopoly on + navigable as on non-navigable streams. If the difficulties are greater, + then the danger that the water powers may pass out of the people's hands + on the lower navigable parts of the streams is greater than on the upper + non-navigable parts, and it may be harder, but in no way less necessary, + to prevent it. +</p> +<p> + It must be clear to any man who has followed the development of the + Conservation idea that no other policy now before the American people is<a name="p88"></a> + so thoroughly democratic in its essence and in its tendencies as the + Conservation policy. It asserts that the people have the right and the + duty, and that it is their duty no less than their right, to protect + themselves against the uncontrolled monopoly of the natural resources + which yield the necessaries of life. We are beginning to realize that + the Conservation question is a question of right and wrong, as any + question must be which may involve the differences between prosperity + and poverty, health and sickness, ignorance and education, well-being + and misery, to hundreds of thousands of families. Seen from the point of + view of human welfare and human progress, questions which begin as + purely economic often end as moral issues. Conservation is a moral issue + because it involves the rights and the duties of our people—their + rights to prosperity and happiness, and their duties to themselves, to + their descendants, and to the whole future progress and welfare of this + Nation. +</p> +<a name="2HCH10"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p89"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII +</h2> +<center> + PUBLIC SPIRIT +</center> +<p> + Violent crises in the lives of men and nations usually produce their own + remedies. They grasp the attention and stir the consciences of men, and + usually they evolve leaders and measures to meet their imperious needs. + But the great evident crises are by no means the only ones of + importance. The quiet turning point, reached and passed often with + slight attention and wholly without struggle, is frequently not less + decisive. Great decisions are made or great impulses given or withheld + in the life of a man or a nation often so quietly that their critical + character is seen only in retrospect. It is only the historian who can + say just when some unnoticed, yet decisive and irrevocable, step was<a name="p90"></a> + actually accomplished. +</p> +<p> + The United States has been in the midst of such a period of decision + since the Spanish War called into blossom the quiet growth of years, and + we are still face to face with questions of the most vital bearing upon + our future. The changes now in progress are accompanied by no + convulsions, yet the whole character of our civilization is being + rapidly crystallized anew as our country takes its inevitable place in + the world. +</p> +<p> + So quietly are the great forces at work that some of our most vital + problems have remained almost unrecognized by the public until the last + two years. Yet the fact that these decisions are being made is almost + appalling in its magnitude, and their indescribable consequence not only + to the United States, but to all the nations of the earth, needs to be + vividly realized by every one of us, for it is one of the great<a name="p91"></a> + compelling reasons why the public spirit of young men is needed so + urgently and at once. And more specific reasons press upon us from every + side. +</p> +<p> + Recently the attention of our people, thanks largely to President + Roosevelt, was focussed upon the presence or absence of the common + virtues and the common decencies in public life. The revelation of + corruption in politics, in business, and here and there in the public + service, is a testimony not of unwonted wickedness in high places, but + of unwonted sensitiveness in public opinion, and so far as it goes it is + a most hopeful sign; but it does not yet go far enough. +</p> +<p> + The opportunity to set a new standard in political morality is here now. + Public sensitiveness on every subject ebbs and flows and must be taken + at the flood if the use of it is to be really effective. Decision made + now as to the character of our public life will be valid for many years, + for it is but seldom that the question comes so clearly before us. The<a name="p92"></a> + war for righteousness is endless, but this is one of the great battles, + and its results will endure. +</p> +<p> + We are now in the throes of decision on the whole question of business + in politics, of politics for business purposes, and we must take our + share in determining whether the object of our political system is to be + unclean money or free men. The present strong movement to prevent the + political control of public men, law-courts, and legislatures by great + commercial enterprises will either flash in the pan or it will succeed; + it will leave either the man or the dollar in control. The decision will + be made by the young men, and it is not far ahead. +</p> +<p> + The question of efficiency in public office has been brought to the + front as never before in the history of the Nation. As a whole, our + public service is honest, but we should be able to take honesty for + granted. What we lack is the tradition of high efficiency that makes<a name="p93"></a> + great enterprises succeed. The national house-keeping, the Government's + vast machinery, should be the cleanest, the most effective, and the best + in methods and in men, for its touch upon the life of the Nation at + every point is constant and vital. +</p> +<p> + There is no hunger like land hunger, and no object for which men are + more ready to use unfair and desperate means than the acquisition of + land. Under the influence of this compelling desire, assisted by + obsolete land laws warped from their original purpose, we are facing in + the public-land States west of the Mississippi the great question + whether the Western people are to be predominately a people of tenants + under the degrading tyranny of pecuniary and political vassalage, or + free-holders and free men; and there is no exaggerating the importance + of the decision. +</p> +<p> + We have been deciding, and the decision is not yet fully made, whether<a name="p94"></a> + the future shall suffer the long train of ills which everywhere has + followed, and must always follow, the abuse of the forest, or whether by + protecting the timberlands we shall assure the prosperity of all of the + users of the wood, the water, and the forage which our forests supply. + Nothing less than the whole agricultural and commercial welfare of the + country is in the balance. No other conservation question compares with + this in the vital intimacy of its touch on every portion of our national + life. +</p> +<p> + Other great questions only less vital I cannot even refer to, but one of + the central ones remains—our whole future is at stake in the education + of our young men in politics and public spirit. The greatest work that + Theodore Roosevelt did for the United States, the great fact which will + give his influence vitality and power long after we shall all have gone + to our reward, greater than his great services in bringing peace, in<a name="p95"></a> + settling strikes, in preaching the crusade of honesty and decency in + business and in daily life, is the fact that he changed the attitude of + the American people toward conserving the natural resources, and toward + public questions and public life. The time was, not long ago, when it + was not respectable to be interested in politics. The time is coming, + and I do not believe it is far ahead, when it will not be respectable + not to be interested in public affairs. Few changes can mean so much. +</p> +<p> + Among the first duties of every man is to help in bringing the Kingdom + of God on earth. The greatest human power for good, the most efficient + earthly tool for the future uplifting of the nations, is without + question the United States; and the presence or absence of a vital + public spirit in the young men of the United States will determine the + quality of that great tool and the work that it can do. This is the + final object of the best citizenship. Public spirit is the means by<a name="p96"></a> + which every man can help toward this great end. Public spirit is + patriotism in action; it is the application of Christianity to the + commonwealth; it is effective loyalty to our country, to the brotherhood + of man, and to the future. It is the use of a man by himself for the + general good. +</p> +<p> + Public spirit is the one great antidote for all the ills of the Nation, + and greatly the Nation needs it now. In a day when the vast increase in + wealth tends to reduce all things, moral, intellectual and material, to + the measure of the dollar; in a day when we have with us always the man + who is working for his own pocket all the time; when the monopolist of + land, of opportunity, of power or privilege in any form, is ever in the + public eye—it is good to remember that the real leaders are the men who + value the right to give themselves more highly than any gain whatsoever. +</p> +<p> + It is given to few men to serve their country as greatly as President + Roosevelt has done, yet vastly smaller services are still tremendously + worth while. I question whether there has ever been a time and place + (except in violent crises) when the demand for public spirit was greater + than now and the results of it more assured. Public spirit is never + needed more than in times of prosperity, and it is never more effective. + It is the boat which is floating easily and rapidly with the stream that + is most in danger of striking the rocks. +</p> +<p> + The reasons why public opinion may be so effective in the United States + are not far to seek. The extreme sensitiveness of our form of government + to political control is one of the commonplaces that has real meaning. + We seldom realize that ours is actually what it pretends to be—a + representative government—and our legislatures are extraordinarily + sensitive to what the people, the politically effective people, really + want. The Senators and Representatives in Congress do actually and<a name="p98"></a> + accurately represent the men who send them there, and they respond like + lightning to a clear order from the controlling element at home. It is + in the power of public spirit to say whether men or money shall control. +</p> +<p> + If public spirit is in the saddle, the fundamental purpose of all the + people, which is good, will govern. If not, the bosses and the great + private interests will have their way. Without the backing of the public + spirit of good men, even the President himself loses by far the greater + portion of his power. For the power to do what we hope to see + accomplished, we must look most of all to the public spirit of the young + men. +</p> +<p> + But some one will say that great service is beyond his individual power. + I do not believe that great service is beyond the power of any young + man. This is not a matter in which obstacles decide. The man for whom + all the barriers to success have been broken down is not, as a rule, the<a name="p99"></a> + man who succeeds. On the contrary, conflict is the condition of + success. The quality of the man himself decides. The more I study men, + which is the daily occupation of every man in affairs, the more firmly I + am assured that the great fundamental difference between men, the reason + why some fail and some succeed, is not a difference in ability or + opportunity, but a difference in vision and in relentless loyalty to + ideals—vision to see the great object, and relentless, unwavering, + uninterrupted loyalty in its service. What young men determine to do at + whatever cost of effort, self-denial, and endurance, provided that their + objects are good and within the possibility of attainment, they will + surely accomplish in so large a proportion of cases that the failures + are negligible. If all that a man has or is, if his death and his daily + life, are wholly and relentlessly at the service of his ideal, without + hesitancy or reservation, then he will achieve his object. Either by + himself or his successors he will achieve it, for he disposes of the + greatest power to which humanity can attain. Under such conditions there + is no man among us who cannot render high service to our beloved + country. +</p> +<a name="2HCH11"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p101"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IX +</h2> +<center> + THE CHILDREN +</center> +<p> + The success of the conservation movement in the United States depends in + the end on the understanding the women have of it. No forward step in + this whole campaign has been more deeply appreciated or more welcomed + than that which the National Society of the Daughters of the American + Revolution and other organizations of women have taken in appointing + conservation committees. +</p> +<p> + Patriotism is the key to the success of any nation, and patriotism first + strikes its roots in the mind of the child. Patriotism which does not + begin in early years may, though it does not always, fail under the<a name="p102"></a> + severest trials. I say "not always," for many men and women have proved + their patriotic devotion to this country although they were born + elsewhere. Yet, as a rule, it must begin with the children. And almost + without exception it is the mother who plants patriotism in the mind of + the child. It is her duty. The growth of patriotism is first of all in + the hands of the women of any nation. In the last analysis it is the + mothers of a nation who direct that nation's destiny. +</p> +<p> + The fundamental task of patriotism is to see to it that the Nation + exists and endures in honor, security, and well-being. Fortunately there + is no question as to our existing in honor, and little if any as to our + continuing to exist in security. +</p> +<p> + The great fundamental problem which confronts us all now is this: Shall + we continue, as a Nation, to exist in well-being? That is the + conservation problem. +</p> +<p> + If we are to have prosperity in this country, it will be because we have + an abundance of natural resources available for the citizen. In other<a name="p103"></a> + words, as the minds of the children are guided toward the idea of + foresight, just to that extent, and probably but little more, will the + generations that are coming hereafter be able to carry through the great + task of making this Nation what its manifest destiny demands that it + shall be. +</p> +<p> + Women should recognize, if this task is to be carried out, one great + truth above all others. That this Nation exists for its people, we all + admit; but that the natural resources of the Nation exist not for any + small group, not for any individual, but for all the people—in other + words, that the natural resources of the Nation belong to all the + people—that is a truth the whole meaning of which is just beginning to + dawn on us. There is no form of monopoly which exists or ever has + existed on any large scale which was not based more or less directly + upon the control of natural resources. There is no form of monopoly that<a name="p104"></a> + has ever existed or can exist which can do harm if the people + understand that the natural resources belong to the people of the + Nation, and exercise that understanding, as they have the power to do. +</p> +<p> + It seems to me that of all the movements which have been inaugurated to + give power to the conservation idea, the foresight idea, there is none + more helpful than that the women of the United States are taking hold of + the problem. We must make all the people see that now and in the future + the resources are to be developed and employed, yet at the same time + guarded and protected against waste—not for small groups of men who + will control them for their own purposes, but for all the people through + all time. +</p> +<p> + The question of the conservation of our natural resources is not a + simple question, but it requires, and will increasingly require, + thinking out along lines directed to the fundamental economic basis upon<a name="p105"></a> + which this Nation exists. I think it can not be disputed that the + natural resources exist for and belong to the people; and I believe that + the part of the work which falls to the women (and it is no small part) + is to see to it that the children, who will be the men and women of the + future, have their share of these resources uncontrolled by monopoly and + unspoiled by waste. +</p> +<p> + What specific things can the women of the Nation do for conservation? + The Daughters of the American Revolution have begun admirably in the + appointment of a Conservation Committee, and other organizations of + women are following their example. Few people realize what women have + already done for conservation, and what they may do. Some of the + earliest effective forest work that was done in the United States, work + which laid the lines that have been followed since, was that of the + Pennsylvania Forestry Association, begun and carried through first of<a name="p106"></a> + all by ladies in Philadelphia. One of the bravest, most intelligent and + most effective fights for forestry that I have known of was that of the + women of Minnesota for the Minnesota National Forest. It was a superb + success, and we have that forest to-day. I have known of no case of + persistent agitation under discouragement finer in a good many ways than + the fight that the women of California have made to save the great grove + of Calaveras big trees. As a result the Government has taken possession + of that forest and will preserve it for all future generations. +</p> +<p> + Time and again, then, the women have made it perfectly clear what they + can do in this work. Obviously the first point of attack is the stopping + of waste. Women alone can bring to the school children the idea of the + wickedness of national waste and the value of public saving. The issue + is a moral one; and women are the first teachers of right and wrong. It + is a question of seeing what loyalty to the public welfare demands of<a name="p107"></a> + us, and then of caring enough for the public welfare not to set personal + advantage first. It is a question of inspiring our future citizens while + they are boys and girls with the spirit of true patriotism as against + the spirit of rank selfishness, the anti-social spirit of the man who + declines to take into account any other interest than his own; whose one + aim and ideal is personal success. Women both in public and at home, by + letting the men know what they think, and by putting it before the + children, can make familiar the idea of conservation, and support it + with a convincingness that nobody else can approach. +</p> +<p> + However important it may be for the lumberman, the miner, the + wagon-maker, the railroad man, the house-builder,—for every + industry,—that conservation should obtain, when all is said and done, + conservation goes back in its directest application to one body in this + country, and that is to the children. There is in this country no other + movement except possibly the education movement—and that after all is + in a sense only another aspect of the conservation question, the seeking + to make the most of what we have—so directly aimed to help the + children, so conditioned upon the needs of the children, so belonging to + the children, as the conservation movement; and it is for that reason + more than any other that it has the support of the women of the Nation. +</p> +<a name="2HCH12"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p109"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER X +</h2> +<center> + AN EQUAL CHANCE +</center> +<p> + The American people have evidently made up their minds that our natural + resources must be conserved. That is good, but it settles only half the + question. For whose benefit shall they be conserved—for the benefit of + the many, or for the use and profit of the few? The great conflict now + being fought will decide. There is no other question before us that + begins to be so important, or that will be so difficult to straddle, as + the great question between special interest and equal opportunity, + between the privileges of the few and the rights of the many, between + government by men for human welfare and government by money for profit,<a name="p110"></a> + between the men who stand for the Roosevelt policies and the men who + stand against them. This is the heart of the conservation problem + to-day. +</p> +<p> + The conservation issue is a moral issue. When a few men get possession + of one of the necessaries of life, either through ownership of a natural + resource or through unfair business methods, and use that control to + extort undue profits, as in the recent cases of the Sugar Trust and the + beef-packers, they injure the average man without good reason, and they + are guilty of a moral wrong. It does not matter whether the undue profit + comes through stifling competition by rebates or other crooked devices, + through corruption of public officials, or through seizing and + monopolizing resources which belong to the people. The result is always + the same—a toll levied on the cost of living through special privilege. +</p> +<p> + The income of the average family in the United States is less than $600<a name="p111"></a> + a year. To increase the cost of living to such a family beyond the + reasonable profits of legitimate business is wrong. It is not merely a + question of a few cents more a day for the necessaries of life, or of a + few cents less a day for wages. Far more is at stake—the health or + sickness of little babies, the education or ignorance of children, + virtue or vice in young daughters, honesty or criminality in young sons, + the working power of bread-winners, the integrity of families, the + provision for old age—in a word, the welfare and happiness or the + misery and degradation of the plain people are involved in the cost of + living. +</p> +<p> + To the special interest an unjust rise in the cost of living means + simply higher profit, but to those who pay it, that profit is measured + in schooling, warm clothing, a reserve to meet emergencies, a fair + chance to make the fight for comfort, decency, and right living. +</p> +<p> + I believe in our form of government and I believe in the Golden Rule.<a name="p112"></a> + But we must face the truth that monopoly of the sources of production + makes it impossible for vast numbers of men and women to earn a fair + living. Right here the conservation question touches the daily life of + the great body of our people, who pay the cost of special privilege. And + the price is heavy. That price may be the chance to save the boys from + the saloons and the corner gang, and the girls from worse, and to make + good citizens of them instead of bad; for an appalling proportion of the + tragedies of life spring directly from the lack of a little money. + Thousands of daughters of the poor fall into the hands of the + white-slave traders because their poverty leaves them without + protection. Thousands of families, as the Pittsburg survey has shown us, + lead lives of brutalizing overwork in return for the barest living. Is + it fair that these thousands of families should have less than they need + in order that a few families should have swollen fortunes at their + expense? Let him who dares deny that there is wickedness in grinding<a name="p113"></a> + the faces of the poor, or assert that these are not moral questions + which strike the very homes of our people. If these are not moral + questions, there are no moral questions. +</p> +<p> + The people of this country have lost vastly more than they can ever + regain by gifts of public property, forever and without charge, to men + who gave nothing in return. It is true that, we have made superb + material progress under this system, but it is not well for us to + rejoice too freely in the slices the special interests have given us + from the great loaf of the property of all the people. +</p> +<p> + The people of the United States have been the complacent victims of a + system of grab, often perpetrated by men who would have been surprised + beyond measure to be accused of wrong-doing, and many of whom in their + private lives were model citizens. But they have suffered from a curious + moral perversion by which it becomes praiseworthy to do for a<a name="p114"></a> + corporation things which they would refuse with the loftiest scorn to + do for themselves. Fortunately for us all that delusion is passing + rapidly away. +</p> +<p> + President Hadley well said that "the fundamental division of powers in + the Constitution of the United States is between voters on the one hand + and property-owners on the other." When property gets possession of the + voting power also, little is left for the people. That is why the unholy + alliance between business and politics is the most dangerous fact in our + political life. I believe the American people are tired of that + alliance. They are weary of politics for revenue only. It is time to + take business out of politics, and keep it out—time for the political + activity of this Nation to be aimed squarely at the welfare of all of + us, and squarely away from the excessive profits of a few of us. +</p> +<p> + A man is not bad because he is rich, nor good because he is poor. There<a name="p115"></a> + is no monopoly of virtue. I hold no brief for the poor against the rich + nor for the wage-earner against the capitalist. Exceptional capacity in + business, as in any other line of life, should meet with exceptional + reward. Rich men have served this country greatly. Washington was a rich + man. But it is very clear that excessive profits from the control of + natural resources, monopolized by a few, are not worth to this Nation + the tremendous price they cost us. +</p> +<p> + We have allowed the great corporations to occupy with their own men the + strategic points in business, in social, and in political life. It is + our fault more than theirs. We have allowed it when we could have + stopped it. Too often we have seemed to forget that a man in public life + can no more serve both the special interests and the people than he can + serve God and Mammon. There is no reason why the American people should + not take into their hands again the full political power which is theirs<a name="p116"></a> + by right, and which they exercised before the special interests began + to nullify the will of the majority. There are many men who believe, and + who will always believe, in the divine right of money to rule. With such + men argument, compromise, or conciliation is useless or worse. The only + thing to do with them is to fight them and beat them. It has been done, + and it can be done again. +</p> +<p> + It is the honorable distinction of the Forest Service that it has been + more constantly, more violently and more bitterly attacked by the + representatives of the special interests in recent years than any other + Government Bureau. These attacks have increased in violence and + bitterness just in proportion as the Service has offered effective + opposition to predatory wealth. The more successful the Forest Service + has been in preventing land-grabbing and the absorption of water power + by the special interests, the more ingenious, the more devious, and the + more dangerous these attacks have become. A favorite one is to assert<a name="p117"></a> + that the Forest Service, in its zeal for the public welfare, has played + ducks and drakes with the Acts of Congress. The fact is, on the + contrary, that the Service has had warrant of law for everything it has + done. Not once since it was created has any charge of illegality, + despite the most searching investigation and the bitterest attack, ever + led to reversal or reproof by either House of Congress or by any + Congressional Committee. Not once has the Forest Service been defeated + or reversed as to any vital legal principle underlying its work in any + court or administrative tribunal of last resort. It is the first duty of + a public officer to obey the law. But it is his second duty, and a close + second, to do everything the law will let him do for the public good, + and not merely what the law directs or compels him to do. Unless the + public service is alive enough to serve the people with enthusiasm, + there is very little to be said for it. +</p> +<p> + Another, and unusually plausible, form of attack, is to demand that all + land not now bearing trees shall be thrown out of the National Forests. + For centuries forest fires have burned through the Western mountains, + and much land thus deforested is scattered throughout the National + Forests awaiting reforestation. This land is not valuable for + agriculture, and will contribute more to the general welfare under + forest than in any other way. To exclude it from the National Forests + would be no more reasonable than it would be in a city to remove from + taxation and municipal control every building lot not now covered by a + house. It would be no more reasonable than to condemn and take away from + our farmers every acre of land that did not bear a crop last year, or to + confiscate a man's winter overcoat because he was not wearing it in + July. A generation in the life of a nation is no longer than a season in + the life of a man. With a fair chance we can and will reclothe these + denuded mountains with forests, and we ask for that chance. +</p> +<p><a name="p119"></a> + Still another attack, nearly successful two years ago, was an attempt + to prevent the Forest Service from telling the people, through the + press, what it is accomplishing for them, and how much this Nation needs + the forests. If the Forest Service can not tell what it is doing the + time will come when there will be nothing to tell. It is just as + necessary for the people to know what is being done to help them as to + know what is being done to hurt them. Publicity is the essential and + indispensable condition of clean and effective public service. +</p> +<p> + Since the Forest Service called public attention to the rapid absorption + of the water-power sites and the threatening growth of a great + water-power monopoly, the attacks upon it have increased with marked + rapidity. I anticipate that they will continue to do so. Still greater + opposition is promised in the near future. There is but one + protection—an awakened and determined public opinion. That is why I + tell the facts. +</p> +<a name="2HCH13"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p120"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XI +</h2> +<center> + THE NEW PATRIOTISM +</center> +<p> + The people of the United States are on the verge of one of the great + quiet decisions which determine national destinies. Crises happen in + peace as well as in war, and a peaceful crisis may be as vital and + controlling as any that comes with national uprising and the clash of + arms. Such a crisis, at first uneventful and almost unperceived, is upon + us now, and we are engaged in making the decision that is thus forced + upon us. And, so far as it has gone, our decision is largely wrong. + Fortunately it is not yet final. +</p> +<p> + The question we are deciding with so little consciousness of what it<a name="p121"></a> + involves is this: What shall we do with our natural resources? Upon the + final answer that we shall make to it hangs the success or failure of + this Nation in accomplishing its manifest destiny. +</p> +<p> + Few Americans will deny that it is the manifest destiny of the United + States to demonstrate that a democratic republic is the best form of + government yet devised, and that the ideals and institutions of the + great republic taken together must and do work out in a prosperous, + contented, peaceful, and righteous people; and also to exercise, through + precept and example, an influence for good among the nations of the + world. That destiny seems to us brighter and more certain of realization + to-day than ever before. It is true that in population, in wealth, in + knowledge, in national efficiency generally, we have reached a place far + beyond the farthest hopes of the founders of the Republic. Are the + causes which have led to our marvellous development likely to be + repeated indefinitely in the future, or is there a reasonable<a name="p122"></a> + possibility, or even a probability, that conditions may arise which will + check our growth? +</p> +<p> + Danger to a nation comes either from without or from within. In the + first great crisis of our history, the Revolution, another people + attempted from without to halt the march of our destiny by refusing to + us liberty. With reasonable prudence and preparedness we need never fear + another such attempt. If there be danger, it is not from an external + source. In the second great crisis, the Civil War, a part of our own + people strove for an end which would have checked the progress of + development. Another such attempt has become forever impossible. If + there be danger, it is not from a division of our people. +</p> +<p> + In the third great crisis of our history, which has now come squarely + upon us, the special interests and the thoughtless citizens seem to have + united together to deprive the Nation of the great natural resources<a name="p123"></a> + without which it cannot endure. This is the pressing danger now, and it + is not the least to which our National life has been exposed. A nation + deprived of liberty may win it, a nation divided may reunite, but a + nation whose natural resources are destroyed must inevitably pay the + penalty of poverty, degradation, and decay. +</p> +<p> + At first blush this may seem like an unpardonable misconception and + over-statement, and if it is not true it certainly is unpardonable. Let + us consider the facts. Some of them are well known, and the salient ones + can be put very briefly. +</p> +<p> + The five indispensably essential materials in our civilization are wood, + water, coal, iron, and agricultural products. +</p> +<p> + We have timber for less than thirty years at the present rate of + cutting. The figures indicate that our demands upon the forest have + increased twice as fast as our population. +</p> +<p> + We have anthracite coal for but fifty years, and bituminous coal for<a name="p124"></a> + less than two hundred. +</p> +<p> + Our supplies of iron ore, mineral oil, and natural gas are being rapidly + depleted, and many of the great fields are already exhausted. Mineral + resources such as these when once gone are gone forever. +</p> +<p> + We have allowed erosion, that great enemy of agriculture, to impoverish + and, over thousands of square miles, to destroy our farms. The + Mississippi alone carries yearly to the sea more than 400,000,000 tons + of the richest soil within its drainage basin. If this soil is worth a + dollar a ton, it is probable that the total loss of fertility from + soil-wash to the farmers and forest-owners of the United States is not + far from a billion dollars a year. Our streams, in spite of the millions + of dollars spent upon them, are less navigable now than they were fifty + years ago, and the soil lost by erosion from the farms and the + deforested mountain sides, is the chief reason. The great cattle and<a name="p125"></a> + sheep ranges of the West, because of overgrazing, are capable, in an + average year, of carrying but half the stock they once could support and + should still. Their condition affects the price of meat in practically + every city of the United States. +</p> +<p> + These are but a few of the more striking examples. The diversion of + great areas of our public lands from the home-maker to the landlord and + the speculator; the national neglect of great water powers, which might + well relieve, being perennially renewed, the drain upon our + non-renewable coal; the fact that but half the coal has been taken from + the mines which have already been abandoned as worked out and by + caving-in have made the rest forever inaccessible; the disuse of the + cheaper transportation of our waterways, which involves comparatively + slight demand upon our non-renewable supplies of iron ore, and the use + of the rail instead—these are other items in the huge bill of + particulars of national waste. +</p> +<p><a name="p126"></a> + We have a well-marked national tendency to disregard the future, and it + has led us to look upon all our natural resources as inexhaustible. Even + now that the actual exhaustion of some of them is forcing itself upon us + in higher prices and the greater cost of living, we are still asserting, + if not always in words, yet in the far stronger language of action, that + nevertheless and in spite of it all, they still are inexhaustible. +</p> +<p> + It is this national attitude of exclusive attention to the present, this + absence of foresight from among the springs of national action, which is + directly responsible for the present condition of our natural resources. + It was precisely the same attitude which brought Palestine, once rich + and populous, to its present desert condition, and which destroyed the + fertility and habitability of vast areas in northern Africa and + elsewhere in so many of the older regions of the world. +</p> +<p> + The conservation of our natural resources is a question of primary,<a name="p127"></a> + importance on the economic side. It pays better to conserve our natural + resources than to destroy them, and this is especially true when the + national interest is considered. But the business reason, weighty and + worthy though it be, is not the fundamental reason. In such matters, + business is a poor master but a good servant. The law of + self-preservation is higher than the law of business, and the duty of + preserving the Nation is still higher than either. +</p> +<p> + The American Revolution had its origin in part in economic causes, and + it produced economic results of tremendous reach and weight. The Civil + War also arose in large part from economic conditions, and it has had + the largest economic consequences. But in each case there was a higher + and more compelling reason. So with the third great crisis of our + history. It has an economic aspect of the largest and most permanent + importance, and the motive for action along that line, once it is<a name="p128"></a> + recognized, should be more than sufficient. But that is not all. In + this case, too, there is a higher and more compelling reason. The + question of the conservation of natural resources, or national + resources, does not stop with being a question of profit. It is a vital + question of profit, but what is still more vital, it is a question of + national safety and patriotism also. +</p> +<p> + We have passed the inevitable stage of pioneer pillage of natural + resources. The natural wealth we found upon this continent has made us + rich. We have used it, as we had a right to do, but we have not stopped + there. We have abused, and wasted, and exhausted it also, so that there + is the gravest danger that our prosperity to-day will have been bought + at the price of the suffering and poverty of our descendants. We may now + fairly ask of ourselves a reasonable care for the future and a natural + interest in those who are to come after us. No patriotic citizen expects + this Nation to run its course and perish in a hundred or two hundred, + or five hundred years; but, on the contrary, we expect it to grow in + influence and power and, what is of vastly greater importance, in the + happiness and prosperity of our people. But we have as little reason to + expect that all this will happen of itself as there would have been for + the men who established this Nation to expect that a United States would + grow of itself without their efforts and sacrifices. It was their duty + to found this Nation, and they did it. It is our duty to provide for its + continuance in well-being and honor. That duty it seems as though we + might neglect—not in wilfulness, not in any lack of patriotic devotion, + when once our patriotism is aroused, but in mere thoughtlessness and + inability or unwillingness to drop the interests of the moment long + enough to realize that what we do now will decide the future of the + Nation. For, if we do not take action to conserve the Nation's natural + resources, and that soon, our descendants will suffer the penalty of + our neglect. +</p> +<p> + Let me use a homely illustration: We have all known fathers and mothers, + devoted to their children, whose attention was fixed and limited by the + household routine of daily life. Such parents were actively concerned + with the common needs and precautions and remedies entailed in bringing + up a family, but blind to every threat that was at all unusual. Fathers + and mothers such as these often remain serenely unaware while some + dangerous malady or injurious habit is fastening itself upon a favorite + child. Once the evil is discovered, there is no sacrifice too great to + repair the damage which their unwitting neglect may have allowed to + become irreparable. So it is, I think, with the people of the United + States. Capable of every devotion in a recognized crisis, we have yet + carelessly allowed the habit of improvidence and waste of resources to + find lodgment. It is our great good fortune that the harm is not yet + altogether beyond repair. +</p> +<p> + The profoundest duty that lies upon any father is to leave his son with + a reasonable equipment for the struggle of life and an untarnished name. + So the noblest task that confronts us all to-day is to leave this + country unspotted in honor, and unexhausted in resources, to our + descendants, who will be, not less than we, the children of the Founders + of the Republic. I conceive this task to partake of the highest spirit + of patriotism. +</p> +<a name="2HCH14"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p><a name="p132"></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER XII +</h2> +<center> + THE PRESENT BATTLE +</center> +<p> + Conservation has captured the Nation. Its progress during the last + twelve months is amazing. Official opposition to the conservation + movement, whatever damage it has done or still threatens to the public + interest, has vastly strengthened the grasp of conservation upon the + minds and consciences of our people. Efforts to obscure or belittle the + issue have only served to make it larger and clearer in the public + estimation. The conservation movement cannot be checked by the baseless + charge that it will prevent development, or that every man who tells the + plain truth is either a muck-raker or a demagogue. It has taken firm<a name="p133"></a> + hold on our national moral sense, and when an issue does that it has + won. +</p> +<p> + The conservation issue is a moral issue, and the heart of it is this: + For whose benefit shall our natural resources be conserved—for the + benefit of us all, or for the use and profit of the few? This truth is + so obvious and the question itself so simple that the attitude toward + conservation of any man in public or private life indicates his stand in + the fight for public rights. +</p> +<p> + All monopoly rests on the unregulated control of natural resources and + natural advantages, and such control by the special interests is + impossible without the help of politics. The alliance between business + and politics is the most dangerous thing in our political life. It is + the snake that we must kill. The special interests must get out of + politics, or the American people will put them out of business. There is + no third course. +</p> +<p><a name="p134"></a> + Because the special interests are in politics, we as a Nation have lost + confidence in Congress. This is a serious statement to make, but it is + true. It does not apply, of course, to the men who really represent + their constituents and who are making so fine a fight for the + conservation of self-government. As soon as these men have won their + battle and consolidated their victory, confidence in Congress will + return. +</p> +<p> + But in the meantime the people of the United States believe that, as a + whole, the Senate and the House no longer represent the voters by whom + they were elected, but the special interests by whom they are + controlled. They believe so because they have so often seen Congress + reject what the people desire, and do instead what the interests demand. + And of this there could be no better illustration than the tariff. +</p> +<p> + The tariff, under the policy of protection, was originally a means to + raise the rate of wages. It has been made a tool to increase the cost of + living. The wool schedule, professing to protect the wool-grower, is<a name="p135"></a> + found to result in sacrificing grower and consumer alike to one of the + most rapacious of trusts. +</p> +<p> + The cotton cloth schedule was increased in the face of the + uncontradicted public testimony of the manufacturers themselves that it + ought to remain unchanged. +</p> +<p> + The Steel interests by a trick secured an indefensible increase in the + tariff on structural steel. +</p> +<p> + The Sugar Trust stole from the Government like a petty thief, yet + Congress, by means of a dishonest schedule, continues to protect it in + bleeding the public. +</p> +<p> + At the very time the duties on manufactured rubber were being raised, + the leader of the Senate, in company with the Guggenheim Syndicate, was + organizing an international rubber trust, whose charter made it also a + holding company for the coal and copper deposits of the whole world. +</p> +<p><a name="p136"></a> + For a dozen years the demand of the Nation for the Pure Food and Drug + bill was outweighed in Congress by the interests which asserted their + right to poison the people for a profit. +</p> +<p> + Congress refused to authorize the preparation of a great plan of + waterway development in the general interest, and for ten years has + declined to pass the Appalachian and White Mountain National Forest + bill, although the people are practically unanimous for both. +</p> +<p> + The whole Nation is in favor of protecting the coal and other natural + resources in Alaska, yet they are still in grave danger of being + absorbed by the special interests. And as for the general conservation + movement, Congress not only refused to help it on, but tried to forbid + any progress without its help. Fortunately for us all, in this attempt + it has utterly failed. +</p> +<p> + This loss of confidence in Congress is a matter for deep concern to + every thinking American. It has not come quickly or without good + reason. Every man who knows Congress well knows the names of Senators + and members who betray the people they were elected to represent, and + knows also the names of the masters whom they obey. A representative of + the people who wears the collar of the special interests has touched + bottom. He can sink no farther. +</p> +<p> + Who is to blame because representatives of the people are so commonly + led to betray their trust? We all are—we who have not taken the trouble + to resent and put an end to the knavery we knew was going on. The brand + of politics served out to us by the professional politician has long + been composed largely of hot meals for the interests and hot air for the + people, and we have all known it. +</p> +<p> + Political platforms are not sincere statements of what the leaders of a + party really believe, but rather forms of words which those leaders + think they can get others to believe they believe. The realities of the + regular political game lie at present far beneath the surface; many of + the issues advanced are mere empty sound; while the issues really at + stake must be sought deep down in the politics of business—in politics + for revenue only. All this the people realize as they never did before, + and, what is more, they are ready to act on their knowledge. +</p> +<p> + Some of the men who are responsible for the union of business and + politics may be profoundly dishonest, but more of them are not. They + were trained in a wrong school, and they cannot forget their training. + Clay hardens by immobility—men's minds by standing pat. Both lose the + power to take new impressions. Many of the old-style leaders regard the + political truths which alone insure the progress of the Nation, and will + hereafter completely dominate it, as the mere meaningless babble of + political infants. They have grown old in the belief that money has the + right to rule, and they can never understand the point of view of the + men who recognize in the corrupt political activity of a railroad or a + trust a most dangerous kind of treason to government by the people. +</p> +<p> + When party leaders go wrong, it requires a high sense of public duty, + true courage, and a strong belief in the people for a man in politics to + take his future in his hands and stand against them. +</p> +<p> + The black shadow of party regularity as the supreme test in public + affairs has passed away from the public mind. It is a great deliverance. + The man in the street no longer asks about a measure or a policy merely + whether it is good Republican or good Democratic doctrine. Now he asks + whether it is honest, and means what it says, whether it will promote + the public interest, weaken special privilege, and help to give every + man a fair chance. If it will, it is good, no matter who proposed it. If + it will not, it is bad, no matter who defends it. +</p> +<p><a name="p140"></a> + It is a greater thing to be a good citizen than to be a good Republican + or a good Democrat. +</p> +<p> + The protest against politics for revenue only is as strong in one party + as in the other, for the servants of the interests are plentiful in + both. In that respect there is little to choose between them. +</p> +<p> + Differences of purpose and belief between political parties to-day are + vastly less than the differences within the parties. The great gulf of + division which strikes across our whole people pays little heed to + fading party lines, or to any distinction in name only. The vital + separation is between the partisans of government by money for profit + and the believers in government by men for human welfare. +</p> +<p> + When political parties come to be badly led, when their leaders lose + touch with the people, when their object ceases to be everybody's + welfare and becomes somebody's profit, it is time to change the leaders. + One of the most significant facts of the time is that the professional + politicians appear to be wholly unaware of the great moral change which + has come over political thinking in the last decade. They fail to see + that the political dogmas, the political slogans, and the political + methods of the past generation have lost their power, and that our + people have come at last to judge of politics by the eternal rules of + right and wrong. +</p> +<p> + A new life is stirring among the dry bones of formal platforms and + artificial issues. Morality has broken into politics. Political leaders, + Trust-bred and Trust-fed, find it harder and harder to conceal their + actual character. The brass-bound collar of privilege has become plain + upon their necks for all men to see. They are known for what they are, + and their time is short. But when they come to be retired it will be of + little use to replace an unfaithful public servant who wears the collar + by another public servant with the same collar around his neck. Above + all, what we need in every office is free men representing a free + people. +</p> +<p> + The motto in every primary—in every election—should be this: No + watch-dogs of the Interests need apply. +</p> +<p> + The old order, standing pat in dull failure to sense the great forward + sweep of a nation determined on honesty and publicity in public affairs, + is already wearing thin under the ceaseless hammering of the progressive + onset. The demand of the people for political progress will not be + denied. Does any man, not blinded by personal interest or by the dust of + political dry rot, suppose that the bulk of our people are anything else + but progressive? If such there be, let him ask the young men, in whose + minds the policies of to-morrow first see the light. +</p> +<p> + The people of the United States demand a new deal and a square deal. + They have grasped the fact that the special interests are now in control<a name="p143"></a> + of public affairs. They have decided once more to take control of their + own business. For the last ten years the determination to do so has been + swelling like a river. They insist that the special interests shall go + out of politics or out of business—one or the other. And the choice + will lie with the interests themselves. If they resist, both the + interests and the people will suffer. If wisely they accept the + inevitable, the adjustment will not be hard. It will do their business + no manner of harm to make it conform to the general welfare. But one way + or the other, conform it must. +</p> +<p> + The overshadowing question before the American people to-day is this: + Shall the Nation govern itself or shall the interests run this country? + The one great political demand, underlying all others, giving meaning to + all others, is this: The special interests must get out of politics. The + old-style leaders, seeking to switch public attention away from this one + absorbing and overwhelming issue are pitifully ridiculous and out of + date. To try to divert the march of an aroused public conscience from + this righteous inevitable conflict by means of obsolete political + catchwords is like trying to dam the Mississippi with dead leaves. +</p> +<p> + To drive the special interests out of politics is a vast undertaking, + for in politics lies their strength. If they resist, as doubtless they + will, it will call for nerve, endurance, and sacrifice on the part of + the people. It will be no child's play, for the power of privilege is + great. But the power of our people is greater still, and their + steadfastness is equal to the need. The task is a tremendous one, both + in the demands it will make and the rewards it will bring. It must be + undertaken soberly, carried out firmly and justly, and relentlessly + followed to the very end. Two things alone can bring success. The first + is honesty in public men, without which no popular government can long + succeed. The second is complete publicity of all the affairs in which + the public has an interest, such as the business of corporations and + political expenses during campaigns and between them. To these ends, + many unfaithful public servants must be retired, much wise legislation + must be framed and passed, and the struggle will be bitter and long. But + it will be well worth all it will cost, for self-government is at stake. +</p> +<p> + There can be no legislative cure-all for great political evils, but + legislation can make easier the effective expression and execution of + the popular will. One step in this direction, which I personally believe + should be taken without delay, is a law forbidding any Senator or Member + of Congress or other public servant to perform any services for any + corporation engaged in interstate commerce, or to accept any valuable + consideration, directly or indirectly, from any such corporation, while + he is a representative of the people, and for a reasonable time + thereafter. If such a law would be good for the Nation in its affairs, a + similar law should be good for the States and the cities in their + affairs. And I see no reason why Members and Senators and State + Legislators should not keep the people informed of their pecuniary + interest in interstate or public service corporations, if they have any. + It is certain such publicity would do the public no harm. +</p> +<p> + This Nation has decided to do away with government by money for profit + and return to the government our forefathers died for and gave to + us—government by men for human welfare and human progress. +</p> +<p> + Opposition to progress has produced its natural results. There is + profound dissatisfaction and unrest, and profound cause for both. Yet + the result is good, for at last the country is awake. For a generation + at least there has not been a situation so promising for the ultimate + public welfare as that of to-day. Our people are like a hive of bees, + full of agitation before taking flight to a better place. Also they are + ready to sting. Out of the whole situation shines the confident hope of + better things. If any man is discouraged, let him consider the rise of + cleaner standards in this country within the last ten years. +</p> +<p> + The task of translating these new standards into action lies before us. + From sea to sea the people are taking a fresh grip on their own affairs. + The conservation of political liberty will take its proper place + alongside the conservation of the means of living, and in both we shall + look to the permanent welfare by the plain people as the supreme end. + The way out lies in direct interest by the people in their own affairs + and direct action in the few great things that really count. +</p> +<p> + What is the conclusion of the whole matter? The special interests must + be put out of politics. I believe the young men will do it. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_15"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2> + INDEX +</h2> +<h3>A</h3> + + <a href="#p127">AMERICAN REVOLUTION, Economic Results of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p105">Daughters of,</a></span><br> +<h3>B</h3> + <a href="#p31">BETTER TIMES ON THE FARM,</a><br> + <a href="#p114">BUSINESS AND POLITICS, Unholy Alliance,</a><br> + <a href="#p71">BUSINESS PROBLEM, A,</a><br> +<h3>C</h3> + <a href="#p107">CHILDREN AND PATRIOTISM,</a><br> + <a href="#p95">CITIZENSHIP AND PUBLIC SPIRIT,</a><br> + <a href="#p123">CIVILIZATION, Essentials of,</a><br> + <a href="#p6">COAL, Resources,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p7">Waste in Mining,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p43">Necessity of Civilization,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p82">Control of,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p136">CONGRESS, Loss of Confidence in,</a><br> + <a href="#p3">CONSERVATION, Means Prosperity,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p11">of Public Lands,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p20">Nation's first duty,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p40">Principles of,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p42">Misconceptions about,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p43">and the Future,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p43">First Principle of,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p48">Covers Wide Field,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p49">and Common Sense,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p53">of Waterways,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p59">President Roosevelt's Views,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p71">a Business Problem,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p72">Key-note of,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p72">Foresight,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p80">Welfare of Average Man,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p81">a Democratic Movement,</a> (<a href="#p87">1</a>)</span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p82">Danger to,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p101">Woman's Work for,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p102">and Patriotism,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p126">Economic Side of,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p115">CORPORATIONS, Strategy of,</a><br> + <a href="#p110">COST OF LIVING, Increase of,</a><br> + <a href="#p38">COUNTRY LIFE, Problem of,</a><br> +<h3>D</h3> + <a href="#p105">DAUGHTERS OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION,</a><br> + <a href="#p35">DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Scope of,</a><br> + <a href="#p74">DESTRUCTION, Period of,</a><br> + <a href="#p66">DIVIDENDS FOR THE PEOPLE,</a><br> +<h3>E</h3> + <a href="#p32">EDUCATION, Object of,</a><br> + <a href="#p86">EFFICIENCY, National,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p92">Lack of Tradition of,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p24">EQUAL OPPORTUNITY,</a> (<a href="#p109">1</a>)<br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p26">The Real Issue,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p124">EROSION, Losses from,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p9">Soil,</a></span><br> +<h3>F</h3> + <a href="#p22">FARMER, Backbone of the Nation,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p33">Organization and Coöperation,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p38">FARMS, Abandonment of,</a><br> + <a href="#p72">FORESIGHT, A Conservation Principle,</a><br> + <a href="#p40">FORESTRY, Beginning of Conservation,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p40">Leads Conservation Fight,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p105">Pennsylvania Association,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p14">FORESTS, Duration of Supply,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p15">Perils of Exhaustion,</a> (<a href="#p74">1</a>)</span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p45">Fires, Control of,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p53">and Rivers,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p106">Minnesota National,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p51">FOREST SERVICE, Value to the West,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p56">and the Law,</a> (<a href="#p117">1</a>)</span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p61">Powers of,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p116">Attacks on,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p119">and Publicity,</a></span><br> + FRANCHISES, Limits on,<br> + <a href="#p126">FUTURE, Disregard of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p43">and Conservation,</a></span><br> +<h3>G</h3> + <a href="#p111">GOLDEN RULE AND POLITICS,</a><br> + <a href="#p41">GOVERNORS, Convention of,</a><br> + <a href="#p10">GRAZING, Evils of Overgrazing,</a><br> +<h3>H</h3> + <a href="#p21">HOME-BUILDING FOR THE NATION,</a><br> +<h3>I</h3> + <a href="#p36">IRELAND, Agricultural Coöperation in,</a><br> + <a href="#p8">IRON ORE,</a><br> + <a href="#p21">IRRIGATION, Value of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p31">Better Times on the Farm,</a></span><br> +<h3>L</h3> + <a href="#p38">LAND HUNGER,</a><br> + <a href="#p25">LAW, Not Absolute,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p56">Forest Service and the,</a> (<a href="#p117">1</a>)</span><br> +<h3>M</h3> + <a href="#p62">MARSHALL, Chief Justice, Opinion,</a><br> + <a href="#p7">MINERAL FUELS, Waste of,</a> (<a href="#p124">1</a>)<br> + <a href="#p8">MINING, Wastes in,</a><br> + <a href="#p106">MINNESOTA NATIONAL FORESTS,</a><br> + <a href="#p55">MISSISSIPPI, Plan for Development of,</a><br> + <a href="#p64">MONOPOLY, of Water Power,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p81">of Natural Resources,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p79">MORAL ISSUES INVOLVED,</a> (<a href="#p133">1</a>)<br> +<h3>N</h3> + <a href="#p77">NATION, Preservation of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p20">Conservation first duty of,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p21">Home-building for the,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p48">NATURAL RESOURCES, Development of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p18">Water,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p81">Monopolization of, Moral Wrong,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p104">Belong to the People,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p128">Pillage of,</a></span><br> +<h3>O</h3> + <a href="#p10">OVERGRAZING, Evils of,</a><br> +<h3>P</h3> + <a href="#p102">PATRIOTISM AND CONSERVATION,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p107">Children and,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p120">A New,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p105">PENNSYLVANIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION,</a><br> + <a href="#p112">PITTSBURG SURVEY,</a><br> + <a href="#p111">POLITICS, Golden Rule and,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p140">Protest Against for Revenue only,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p4">POPULATION, Forecast of,</a><br> + <a href="#p82">PRIVATE INTERESTS, Water Power and,</a><br> + <a href="#p114">PROPERTY AND VOTING POWER,</a><br> + <a href="#p3">PROSPERITY, The Basis of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p74">Destruction of,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p119">PUBLICITY, Forest Service and,</a><br> + <a href="#p11">PUBLIC LANDS, Conservation of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p12">Evils of Present System,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p13">Menace of Tenantry,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p91">PUBLIC MORALITY, New Standard,</a><br> + <a href="#p89">PUBLIC SPIRIT, Fostering of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p96">Roosevelt and,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p98">and the "Bosses,"</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p95">and Citizenship,</a></span><br> +<h3>R</h3> + <a href="#p5">RESOURCES, Not Inexhaustible,</a><br> + <a href="#p53">RIVERS AND FORESTS,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p54">Unit from Source to Mouth,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p11">ROOSEVELT, President, Home-making Policy,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p24">Message,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p29">The Common People,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p59">and Conservation,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p91">Thanks due to,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p94">and Young Men,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p110">Policies, The,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p115">and Public Spirit,</a></span><br> +<h3>S</h3> + <a href="#p9">SOIL EROSION,</a><br> + <a href="#p82">SPECIAL PRIVILEGES, Danger of,</a> (<a href="#p110">1</a>)<br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p113">Victims of Grab System,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p143">Must be Driven out of Politics,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p69">SQUARE DEAL, Doctrine of,</a><br> + <a href="#p99">SUCCESS, Conditions of,</a><br> +<h3>T</h3> + <a href="#p134">TARIFF, a Tool to Increase Cost of Living,</a> (<a href="#p135">1</a>)<br> + <a href="#p13">TENANTRY <i>vs.</i> FREEHOLD, Menace to Public Lands,</a><br> +<h3>U</h3> + <a href="#p121">UNITED STATES, Destiny of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p122">Crisis and History of,</a></span><br> +<h3>V</h3> + <a href="#p114">VOTING POWER, Property and,</a><br> +<h3>W</h3> + <a href="#p45">WASTE, Prevention of,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p7">in Mining Coal,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p74">Period of Destruction,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p27">WATER-POWER TRUST,</a><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p64">Monopoly,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p66">and Private Capital,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p66">Grants in Perpetuity,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p82">and Private Interests,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p84">Control of,</a></span><br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p85">Sites,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p18">WATER RESOURCES,</a><br> + <a href="#p54">WATERWAYS, Development of,</a> (<a href="#p136">1</a>)<br> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#p53">Conservation of,</a></span><br> + <a href="#p101">WOMAN'S WORK FOR CONSERVATION,</a><br> + + +<p> +End of Project Gutenberg's The Fight For Conservation, by Gifford Pinchot +</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11238 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + |