EDITORIAL 



57 



Conservation Commission, the Gover- 

 nors, their advisers^ the members of 

 State Conservation Commissions, and 

 representatives of the great State and 

 National organizations, at the confer- 

 ence held in Washington on December 

 8, g, and lo. Speeches, addresses, pa- 

 pers, discussions and arguments there 

 were in plenty at that conference, and 

 out of the mass of manuscript, out of 

 the volume of discussion and talk, has 

 come the germ of action. Ideas that 

 have all the elements of practicality 

 were advanced, and recommendations 

 were made which, followed to a con- 

 clusion, means the actual beginning of 

 work, and that at no far-distant day. 

 The period of propaganda is past; the 

 preliminary education of the thinking, 

 doing portion of a great nation is com- 

 plete, and now the time has come when 

 we, as a people, shall demonstrate to 

 the world our fitness and our right to 

 the adjective "great." 



^ ^ ^ 



The Way Out 



'T~^HE chief objection urged by those 

 -*- opposed to putting into effect a 

 policy of conservation, with its con- 

 comitants of internal improvement, 

 closer relations between the States and 

 the Nation and an apparent broaden- 

 ing of Federal power and authority, 

 has been the cost. But this objection 

 can no longer be urged successfully, 

 as has been the case in the past. Presi- 

 dent Roosevelt went to the heart of the 

 matter in his speech at the Belasco 

 Theater, when he said : 



"Pay for these" (internal) improve- 

 ments out of current revenues, if pos- 

 sible, but if this is not possible, issue 

 bonds." 



The President referred to inland 

 waterway improvement more particu- 

 larly, but the permanent improvement 

 of our inland river system, so as to 

 fit it for navigation and traffic, involves 

 every other branch of conservation 

 work. Rivers may not and cannot be 

 permanently improved without the 

 maintenance of forests at their head- 

 waters to protect the river sources and 

 to keep from the streams the silt and 



sand accumulations that cut channels, 

 build bars and make dredging a con- 

 stant necessity. Other things are nec- 

 esary, it is true, if this work is to be 

 permanent in character ; but forest pro- 

 tection and reforestation are of vital 

 importance, as, without them, no work 

 of this kind can be made permanent 

 and enduring. The forests are the key- 

 stone of the arch of conservation ; upon 

 them rest largely the other stones that 

 go to make the complete structure. 

 Save the existing forests and create 

 new ones, and then the rivers can be 

 made permanently navigable. At the 

 same time soil erosion will be largely 

 prevented ; and, by navigating the rivers 

 and building canals, the principal drain 

 upon the coal and iron resources of the 

 country can be reduced. And the ans- 

 wer to the question, "How may we do 

 these things ?" is contained in the ad- 

 vice of the President — "Pay for what 

 we can and then issue bonds !" This is 

 the way out ; this is the way to begin 

 and to complete the work. 

 ^ ^ ^ 

 Magnitude of the Undertaking 



HE most thankless task a statesman 

 is called upon to perform is to advo- 

 cate a bond issue in time of peace ; and 

 no other single thing, perhaps, is a more 

 infallible indication of true statesman- 

 ship than the ability to recognize the 

 necessity for issuing bonds under such 

 circumstances, and boldly pronounce 

 for their issue in the face of public 

 disapproval. Thus, at the very out- 

 set, the task before the Nation be- 

 comes a stupendous one, because of 

 the fact that a tremendous inertia. 

 in the form of deep-grounded pre- 

 judice, must be overcome before the 

 initial impetus can be given to the 

 work. The opposition to a bond issue 

 commensurate with the magnitude of 

 the work will be both loud and long- 

 continued, but the utterances of those 

 who possess the ability to see beyond 

 the narrow confines of to-day will cer- 

 tainly be as loud, and their approval as 

 hearty, so that the fact that opposition 

 is certain need not give pause to the 

 work. If half a billion of dollars is 



