502 



CONSERVATION 



Building a Nation 



In our news columns appears the pro- 

 posal of Mr. Arthur Hooker, secretary 

 of the board of control of the National 

 Irrigation Congress, to memorialize 

 Congress to borrow $5,000,000,000 for 

 drainage, irrigation, deep waterways, 

 good roads and forests. 



The press swarms with comments on 

 this proposal, few apparently hostile. 



It must be admitted that the proposal 

 looks big; yet we must become accus- 

 tomed to big things. 



Some years ago we had our first 

 "billion-dollar Congress." An econom- 

 ical member exclaimed against the un- 

 heard of extravagance. Another mem- 

 ber, however, in replying, reminded the 

 first that ours is "a billion dollar coun- 

 try." 



Oceans cannot be crossed with row- 

 boats nor stellar places penetrated with 

 spectacles. Great ends demand appro- 

 priate means. 



The American people face the task 

 of Nation building — the greatest task 

 which ever confronted a people. Al- 

 ready we are looking forward to the 

 time, not far hence, when our population 

 will number 150 and 200 millions, and 

 it has been demonstrated that our re- 

 sources are going at a rate which, un- 

 less checked, would in a few generations 

 embarrass even such a population as we 

 have now. 



We cannot awake too soon to the sit- 

 uation. 



The work suggested by Mr. Hooker 

 must be done if our people would avoid 

 hardship, even calamity. Now, who is 

 to do it ? 



Obviously, individuals cannot, and 

 corporations and trusts will not. At the 

 best, all these agencies can but help. 



Tasks of such magnitude, if per- 

 formed at all, must be performed by 

 government — municipal, state and espe- 

 cially national. 



Further, they cannot be performed 

 without money. 



And whence shall come the money? 



A moment's reflection must convince 

 any thoughtful mind that no Congress 

 will vote an adequate sum out of current 



revenue ; neither are the American peo- 

 ple prepared for the establishment of any 

 system of taxation which would raise 

 the funds in time. 



There is but one other way in which 

 the money can be obtained ; namely, by 

 borrowing. 



Many of our people have developed 

 a constitutional dread of debt; they 

 look upon bonds as marks of bondage. 



The burnt child cannot be blamed for 

 fearing the fire. 



Still, the American bonded debt 

 has largely ceased to be a burden. 

 The interest on our national debt, $1.09 

 per capita in 1882, had shrunken in 1908 

 to 24 cents per capita. 



Nevertheless, if it were proposed to 

 borrow any considerable sum on the 

 same basis as our war loans, we might 

 still rightly hesitate. But Mr. Hooker's 

 proposal is quite different. "Congress,"' 

 he says, "will not be asked to appropri- 

 ate a penny. The returns from the im- 

 provements would pay off the bonds."" 

 The Government would simply act as a 

 banker, as it does now for the various 

 irrigation projects. The proceeds from 

 sale of reclaimed lands alone, he esti- 

 mates, would justify the expenditure of 

 $2,500,000,000. 



From facts at hand proving conclu- 

 sively the profitableness of drainage, 

 reclamation, deep waterways, good 

 roads and forestry, it should be evident 

 that the payment even of $5,000,000,000 

 for a utility so vast and on a hundred 

 years' time, would be a trivial invest- d 

 ment for the American people to make. 

 There is one question, however, that 

 should be carefully considered. How 

 are the American people, as a people, to ^ 

 obtain the chief benefit from a series of 

 enterprises so gigantic? 



Selling the lands after they have been 

 reclaimed will undoubtedly repay the 

 entire cost, including interest. Even so, 

 the people as a people may receive but 

 a small percentage of the actual value 

 created through their initiative and 

 based upon their credit. If they would 

 receive a larger percentage, they may 

 reflect upon the lesson taught by the 

 sixteenth section of land in the hea rt o j 

 Chicago, which belongs, not to private 



