Proceedings of the Second National Conservation Congress at Saint Paul Part 35

I want to endorse what Mr Pinchot said this morning in behalf of the work which the women have done for Conservation. I don't know how it is in the North; but with us the women are the moulders of sentiment, and they have been fighting in this movement for a number of years (applause). We are going to hold a Southern Conservation Congress in Atlanta on October 7 and 8 (applause). That movement is backed by 25,000 women in the State of Georgia, by the various women's clubs, by the press, and by all the leading citizens. If there are any factions, they have not made their appearance as yet. We are going to make that Congress a success. We plead for your cooperation, because we need all the help we can get. (Applause)

A number of telegrams were read.

The CHAIRMAN--If there is nothing further before us--

Mr BENJAMIN MARTIN, JR.--Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: The hour is growing late, and it is my pleasure to rise for the purpose of offering a motion to adjourn; but before making that motion, as a Delegate from Oklahoma, and speaking for the other Delegates, I wish to thank the good people of Minnesota, and more especially the people of the Twin Cities, for the delightful manner in which they have entertained us. As we return to our homes, we do so with the most pleasant memories of our visit to this great metropolis. One great inspiration to me, and to most of the Delegates, has been the attendance of ladies at the various sessions. Now, without further comment, I move that this Congress adjourn _sine die_.

Chairman WHITE--Without objection, the Congress will stand adjourned: it is adjourned.

SUPPLEMENTARY PROCEEDINGS

LAWS THAT SHOULD BE Pa.s.sED

FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS

_Senior Senator From Nevada_

Regretting my inability to address the Conservation Congress personally on the subject a.s.signed to me, I submit my views briefly by telegraph.

Conservation legislation necessarily involves harmonious action by forty-seven sovereigns, the Nation and the States, each acting within its jurisdiction. As the legislative bodies cannot confer together, it is necessary that there should be some intermediate organization which will bring about team work. There should be a National Commission and State commissions which can act together, as well as separately, in recommending needed legislation. A reactionary Congress disregarded Roosevelt's recommendations on this subject, but the progressive sentiment of the country will not brook further resistance; and the bill for the appointment by the President of a National Conservation Commission composed of publicists and experts in civil, hydraulic, and electric engineering, in arid and swamp land reclamation, in transportation, and in mining and lumbering, reported by the Senate Conservation Committee at the last session, should surely pa.s.s. With Roosevelt as chairman, and Garfield, Pinchot, Newell, and the Chief of Engineers of the Army as members of this Commission, we would have the men who in practical administration have become more thoroughly informed regarding the natural resources of this country than any others.

As to the land laws: It is evident that for years large portions of the public domain have been gradually drifting into private and monopolistic ownership under antiquated and misfit land laws utterly unadapted to existing economic conditions, and therefore stimulating fraud in their evasion and perversion. Legislators outside of the public land States have taken little interest in the subject, relying mainly upon the States involved to suggest legislation. Had the Senators and Representatives from the public land States counseled together continuously, patiently, and tolerantly regarding the land laws, as they did regarding the Reclamation Act, the confusion and scandal and the prosecutions of the past six years would have been lessened, and a wise solution of needed legislation would have been evolved and accepted by the country. At the next session of Congress such a council of western Senators and Representatives should be held, and the present deadlock of conflicting views ended. In shaping laws regarding the public lands the central idea should be a rational development, without monopoly or waste; the establishment of individual homes upon the agricultural lands; the utilization of the forests and the coal, iron, and oil deposits under conditions that will enlist the aid of needed capital without monopolistic exaction or excessive prices; and the improvement of our waterways, regardless of State lines, so as to promote every use to which civilization can put them, and in that connection secure team work on the part of the various services, National and State, engaged upon them, as well as the cooperation of the Nation and the States, each within its appropriate jurisdiction in the work to be done and the expenditures to be made.

Until comprehensive plans are developed, the Nation should not part permanently with the t.i.tle to any lands suited for the development of water-power, the promotion of navigation, or the establishment of transfer facilities and sites, but should hold the National properties in such shape that they may be utilized in the working out of comprehensive plans involving the union of National and State powers. In forming these plans it should be borne in mind that the Nation holds the public domain, not for National profit, but in trust for the population, present and future, of the public land States which welcome immigration from other States whose surplus population there finds a resting place.

The money realized either from sale or rentals should therefore be applied to the schools, roads, reclamation projects, and other public development of the States in which the lands are located.

The ultimate purpose of the laws should be to gradually subst.i.tute State sovereignty for National sovereignty in the direction and control of this great public trust; but great care should be taken not to prematurely turn over the trust to States too weak to resist powerful combinations and monopolies, or until the organization of adequate public regulation and control is effected.

CONSERVATION OF THE NATION'S RESOURCES

J. B. WHITE

_Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Conservation Congress_

In the division of the program set apart for discussion there are many ideas and inquiries crowded upon our minds for expression; and while much will be made clearer to us, there will be many questions that will remain to us unanswered.

Perhaps we may first ask ourselves: Why are we here? What came we here to do? What is Conservation? To whom does it apply? Who are Conservationists? And who are enemies of Conservation? Are there any, and why? What special principles must we subscribe to in order to be known as sufficiently orthodox in creed that we will be received as worthy disciples in this cause? And who but ourselves (and each for one another) shall pa.s.s upon our credentials as to our honesty of purpose in this great work? To whom are we answerable but to ourselves, the people?

And why should a great congress of thousands of American people meet here, as we are doing this week, on this occasion, when we have a legal Congress in Washington representing every district in this broad land, whose members we have elected to make such laws as are necessary for our present and future welfare?

The answer seems to be that this a.s.semblage represents a popular upheaval of public sentiment, animated and encouraged by those who have thought along advanced lines and are pioneers in this cause in the press and on the rostrum; some of whom have been right, and others of whom were almost wholly wrong. We are here to discuss these features, to winnow the chaff from the golden grain in this agitation of thought which we trust will be the beginning of wisdom, to be crystallized as far as practicable into proper National and State laws for the regulation of Conservation of public resources, and that the people may become awakened to that greater saving principle of personal and private Conservation. It is we, the people, instead of we, the politicians, who are and should be most in evidence at this Congress.

It has been said that knowledge is power. It is perhaps a better truism to say that action, with knowledge, is power. Knowledge without action would avail little; and action without knowledge would be groping in the dark. But with knowledge and action we can accomplish n.o.ble results.

All great reforms and improved conditions spring from the wants, needs, and consciences of a dissatisfied people. Sometimes the needed relief comes through an armed and sometimes through a peaceful revolution. Some man looms up above his fellows from the sea of unrest and his greatness is proven by his devotion to the cause, free from the selfish thought of personal aggrandizement; and by his wisdom and tact he creates confidence in his judgment, in his sagacity, in his fitness for leadership. So few there are who are willing to bear the cross from this high sense of duty and offer themselves a mark for calumny and vituperation, and often in many ways to become a sacrifice to a people's cause! And when one is found, it frequently happens that the public are slow in showing their grat.i.tude and appreciation for what his discernment and discretion saved to a nation; the reward of proper recognition is often withheld until long after he is dead, because he lived in advance of his time.

But there are fict.i.tious and exaggerated issues which are created and developed to huge proportions for the dear people by the sleek politician (and his name is Legion) who sets up his scarecrow of impending woe that he may rush valiantly in and save his const.i.tuents and the citizens of a nation from dire calamity, and generations unborn from distress and want. It is not my purpose to attempt to lull to sleep in fancied security those who have been influenced by those suspected of being unnecessarily active in fighting windmills. Always there is need of sound, conservative consideration before taking hasty action, and the people are becoming better informed and more critical in their discriminations, and are learning to know the loud-mouthed pretender from the thoughtful, loyal, public-spirited citizen. People now are doing their own thinking. Time was not long ago when the greatest newspapers of largest circulation manufactured public opinion so successfully that they were the great thinking machines for the country.

It was so much easier for the people than doing the actual thinking and logical reasoning for themselves. People read the editorials of their respective journals in order to get ideas to use in their arguments with each other. I think that as an educator the newspapers then, as now, served a most valuable purpose, but it is infinitely of more help to the thinking man, who criticizes and a.n.a.lyzes what he reads before he accepts and a.s.similates it as his own. The pen has been mightier than the sword, and the "power of the press" has matured and developed conditions that had to be arbitrated by the sword.

_The People Deceived_

Much harm has been done by wrong thinking in regard to Conservation, and the people have been deceived and prejudiced; and like a strong man awakening from a sleep they have reached out in alarm to search for and punish, in advance of ascertaining what, if anything, was really the matter. Innocent people and innocent industries were maligned and injured. The public are now finding that they have been deceived by the scheming politicians, and by highly colored newspaper comments, and that "Conservation" has been used as a trick word and is not what they thought it was. They had been led to believe that it was something that someone else ought to do, or should be forced to do, and that they were being robbed because Conservation was not practiced; and that if Conservation laws should be pa.s.sed as recommended by these ignorant agitators they would be greatly benefited; that everything would be cheaper than they had to pay, and that they could get more for what they had to sell. They never stopped to reason that Conservation without use means holding back from development the natural resources of the country and producing stagnation in business, and that if each succeeding generation should follow the same policy there never would be any improvement.

Those whose education never has extended beyond the three Rs can understand the principles of Conservation in reforestation, reclamation, and restoration--reforestation where it will pay to reforest; reclamation where it will pay to reclaim; and restoration where it will pay to restore to the soil the elements needed, and where forestry will not pay better.

The great American leader of Conservation always has maintained, and especially in his speech at the first Conservation Congress a year ago, that the first principles of Conservation is development of resources for the benefit of the people who live here now; he stated that there might be just as much waste in neglecting the development and use of natural resources as there is in their destruction by wasteful methods.

In the second place, Conservation stands for the prevention of waste; and in the third place, Conservation stands for the preservation and perpetuation of our resources through wise economy and thrift. And its principles apply alike to individuals and to nations. If a policy in any department of Conservation requires great outlay of money in order to develop and conserve for this and future generations, then the Government, the whole people, and succeeding generations may be rightfully asked to bear part of the expense, which could be done by the selling of bonds, and by exemption from taxation some products of growth, like the forests, which are now taxed every year, making the owners pay taxes for a hundred years to get for the market only one crop. No other crop is taxed like this. The owners of any one resource should not bear all the burdens for growing it for future generations; and, if it does not pay, the soil will be used for other crops which will pay better.

_True Leaders Misunderstood_

As a matter of fact, the true leaders in intelligent Conservation have been misunderstood by press and people. The principle has been attacked as if it meant the non-use of our natural resources by the present generation. Even in Alaska the best known teachers of Conservation urge the development of all the resources for the benefit of all the people.

They wish to encourage pioneering on both a small and on a large scale.

It is not the purpose of Conservation to preserve from exploration and discovery unknown resources if there can be found for new fields men brave and fearless enough to take the risks of life and of capital. For instance, when in the prospecting of a country's possibilities, and in the risks of life and capital incident thereto, there is called into action every bit of physical or mental energy to meet conditions that seem insurmountable, it is not our purpose to hamper or r.e.t.a.r.d, and say that this risk and cost shall be left entirely to future generations. We are willing to encourage the cutting out of the way, and doing all we can in this generation, believing that the next generation will find new duties suited to its advanced condition and change of needful requirements.

Wise Conservation with use means the maximum of efficiency and profit with the minimum of waste and cost. We do not wish the few to have unfair advantage. We desire each and all to have opportunity according to their talents and their physical or financial abilities, that the known and unknown resources of a country shall not be gobbled up by a few without an equal opportunity to others who can furnish the same needed measure of requirements to insure success. We realize that corporations are necessary to develop a country; that aggregations of capital, made up from large and small stockholders of the people, can accomplish more with less waste than can individuals. They can put in expensive and saving devices and can operate at a far smaller percentage of profit.

For example, in gold mining the individual works his placer claim with simple equipment; he will leave 50 percent as waste. Then the dredging companies will follow, and get half as much more. Then come the big hydraulic companies, reaching benches and levels that men with small capital could not attain. These companies require millions of capital, and they save the waste and are satisfied with a net profit of a few cents per ton. Just so with Alaska's coal; Alaska needs the coal, and all we ask is that some fair method shall be adopted which will best subserve the requirements and will encourage development.

Conservation and economy must enter into our very life, and every effort should be made to get the most out of little; to find a use for what now we are in various ways wasting. In European countries the hard struggles of the ma.s.ses have produced the saving habit--a virtue we have got to learn and practice individually and as a people before Conservation will become a National success. Unless we halt in our mad extravagances, perhaps there will come to us in some degree those sad experiences of suffering that have put the saving principle into the very fiber of the old world peoples; and we will learn our lesson as they long ago learned theirs. We must each share the burdens of Conservation, and we all likewise will share in its blessings.

Conservation is not any one man's opportunity, prerogative, or privilege. It is for the use and benefit of each and all, and can be practiced in any business or occupation as an important aid to success.

It is for peasant and prince, rich and poor, and for the Nation as well as for the individuals. We must discover some effectual means to prevent disastrous forest fires. We must restore the fertility of our soils.

_The Question of Ownership_

Whether Conservation is best promoted by individual ownership of certain natural resources is a disputed question, depending on the nature of the public utilities, the location, and other conditions. Government ownership does not mean that the Government is going into business compet.i.tion with private capital. It means reasonable royalty and fairness and protection to the lessee, to enable him to compete under prescribed conditions favorable and just alike to all parties.

In most cases ownership causes a man to see the need of conservation and economy. The idea of protecting natural resources against waste is not so strong with some, if they do not have possession; while with others it is true that possession gives them the desire and opportunity to see the actual dollars, and they make haste, manufacturing more than the market demands so that only the prime and best qualities find a market, which causes a grievous waste. Especially is this true in the lumber business, but it is not so true in the meat business. The packers of meat products have studied the science of saving and conservation, so that the entire carca.s.s is utilized in some useful manner absolutely without waste. And on the farm the man who is financially able to study and practice conservation of the soil prevents its exhaustion, while his poorer neighbor, lacking the funds for the initial expenses, sells the life of the soil with the crop that he markets, and his farm is soon impoverished. We, or some of us, believe that there should be some way of extending State aid at a low rate of interest to the poor farmer to enable him properly to fertilize his soil; and that the chemistry of soils and scientific agriculture should be taught in the common schools.

Thus would the entire country be benefited, and National efficiency strengthened.

_Practical Application_

The science of Conservation, as a philosophy, is wholly independent of who owns the property; but its successful practical application often depends very much on ownership. Combinations of capital have the advantage, and this needed capital gives greater possibilities for Conservation. Compare the country butcher and his 50-percent waste with the million-dollar packing house which has no waste. It is not the fault of Conservation that there are extremes in combinations, resulting in trusts or monopolies. They are practicing Conservation in the extreme, in saving of raw material by greater utilization, and by the discovery of new uses for by-products. The Standard Oil Company is another example of the very fineness of division and subdivision of by-products, which finds a place in therapeutics and in the arts, and appear in vaseline, paints, dyes, and a hundred other valuable chemical products. This is Conservation. But there are hundreds of ways where Conservation can be practiced to a profit in every occupation of life, to the physical, intellectual, and moral betterment of mankind. As corporations are made up of many individuals to do certain things that are necessary to be done, which it would be impracticable or impossible for any individual to do alone, is it not best to recognize them as artificial individuals, subject to the control as well as to the protection of wise laws, which permit no individual to prosper at the expense, discomfort or injury of another individual?

Conservation, as a living, vital principle stands out beyond and above selfish partisan politics; and no man or combination of men will ever be able to make a political issue of it any more than you can make the gospel of spiritual salvation a political issue. But, like the gospel of spiritual and physical health, it demands the homage and acceptance of all. There will be many men of many minds, crystallizing by their combinations into different sentiments, and advocating different methods. It is so with churches. But their central doctrine of salvation will continue to be the basis of creed. And ours is Conservation, that the country and its people may continue to prosper and progress, and that the principle and practice of love and charity, which make up the Golden Rule, shall not cease to influence the hearts of men. The great question to each one should be: Where and how does Conservation apply to me?

We are here to build the temple, and to bring men up to the standard which we now unfurl to the world.

The sower goeth forth to sow; some sow to discord and strife, and some to peace and harmony; some sow to love and some to hate; some sow to adversity, and some to prosperity; some sow to selfish greed, and some to philanthropy and public good; some sow to prudence and Conservation, and some sow to extravagance and waste.

"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that witholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty."

"Be ye not deceived. For whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap."