THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



'->95 



view of the individualist. The problems 

 here involved can never be solved with- 

 out the element of intelligence and pa- 

 triotism. This is a question of a sim- 

 ple political application of scientific 

 knowledge to the matter in hand, in 

 one great national scheme and purpose, 

 in one continental view, for one uni- 

 versal aim and end, and that is "The 

 greatest good to the greatest number 

 for the longest time." 



Government experts have estimated 

 that a working capital is needed for 

 the national conservation scheme of 

 f 100,000,000; that the income from 

 water-power alone would pay the whole 

 thing, or that the cost of half a crown 

 a head a year would save 50 shillings 

 a year in certain few avoidable losses. 

 They claim that not only would the 

 destruction of floods and freshets be 

 ])ractically eliminated, and hence this 

 enormous loss be saved, but that such 

 an undertaking, which it would take 

 ten years to finish, besides preventing 

 £30,000,000 per year of flood damage, 

 £73,000,000 annually of loss by forest 

 fires, or £200,000 a day, which could be 

 prevented by intelligent management, 

 would save also £50,000,000 annually 

 alone in -transportation if one-fifth the 

 freight could be handled by water ; and 

 quite another £100,000,000 in the pre- 

 vention of soil erosion and through 

 other benefits to farm lands. In these 

 items alone the expenditure of two and 

 sixpence a year per capita would save 

 £2 10 shillings a year a head. This 

 is making no account of the water 

 uses in irrigation, the drainage of 

 swamp anfl overflow land, and a puri- 

 fied and cheaper water-supply, and the 

 consequent prevention of an enormous 

 loss of human life from preventable dis- 

 ease, the economic gain from the miti- 

 gation of preventable disease being es- 

 timated at £300,000,000 a year. It is 

 pointed out by these experts that there 

 are many indirect benefits which would 

 arise from these projects, c. ij;.. the de- 

 velopment of water transportation in- 

 stead of that bv rail would reduce the 



increasing consumption of ties and mine 

 timbers, or iron and coal. Every farmer 

 in the country would benefit directly 

 from cheaper transportation. It has 

 been estimated that the income derived 

 from power developed by works for the 

 improvement of navigation would pay 

 the entire cost of maintenance and con- 

 tinue further development, and pay in- 

 terest on the expenditure of £100,- 

 000,000 as working capital. The full 

 development of all the feasible water 

 possibility of the country would furnish 

 a power probably greatly exceeding five 

 times the present total horsepower of 

 all kinds in the Nation, or 150,000,000 

 horsepower. In addition to the recla- 

 mation of 25,000,000 acres of arid land, 

 there are about 77,000,000 acres of 

 swamp land now useless, but of inex- 

 haustible fertility, which. If drained and 

 thrown open to agricultural uses, would, 

 allowing forty acres to each family, fur- 

 nish homes for 10,000,000 people. 



A working capital of £100.000,000 

 would save, directly and indirectly, 

 £1,000.000,000 a year, and yield vastly 

 more of economic good to the people 

 and their posterity than can be reck- 

 oned in pounds and pence ; and yet the 

 land is infested with interests whose 

 tools are in Congress, blocking this in- 

 vestment with the cry of "economy" 

 and "deficit," with which they are block- 

 ing also the national defenses, and then 

 boasting that wc have laid up more 

 wealth in a generation than Great 

 Britain in half a millennium, and own 

 over a quarter of the world's wealth. 

 What posterity will think of these en- 

 lightened and disinterested patriots 

 niay be imagined from the opinion of 

 some of their contemporaries — this Con- 

 gress which has refused Mr. Roose- 

 velt's request that £10.000 be voted for 

 the maintenance of the National Con- 

 servation Commission. I believe the 

 members of the Inland Waterways Com- 

 mission worked for nothing and boarded 

 themselves; otherwise we would never 

 have had one. 



(To be concluded) 



