770 



CONSERVATION 



waterways as a national proposition, 

 pure and simple. 



In certain southern states, convict 

 labor is utilized in draining swamps. 

 That any one should prefer permitting 

 a great body of men to rot in idleness in 

 the penitentiary when they might be 

 usefully employed in developing the re- 

 sources of the state, is hard to under- 

 stand. 



In this connection, however, it may 

 be pointed out that not all our unem- 

 ployed are in penitentiaries. A body 

 of them, ranging, from time to time, 

 in size from regiments and brigades to 

 an army, herd in our great cities or 

 tramp the railway tracks seeking em- 

 ployment. 



An American railway official has re- 

 cently estimated that our railways de- 

 stroy a human life every hour and in- 

 jure a human being every ten minutes. 

 A large percentage, it is believed, of 

 the killed and wounded in our annual 

 railway holocaust consists of unem- 

 ployed men wandering about the coun- 

 try seeking employment. 



When we speak of utilizing natural 

 resources, it should be remembered that 

 human resources rank first in impor- 

 tance. 



In the unemployed people, some of 

 them graduates of our leading universi- 

 ties, others clerks, skilled workmen, and 

 professional men, we have a resource of 

 far-reaching importance. 



Have we reflected upon the extent 

 to which this human resource might be 

 utilized in conserving the sub-human, 

 or material resources? 



There is a great good-roads move- 

 ment on in this country. Have we 

 thought of the possibility of utilizing 

 unemployed men in creating good roads, 

 paying the expenses in large measure, 

 or wholly, from the taxation of better- 

 ments ? 



Have we figured upon the number 

 of acres of desert which might be irri- 

 gated, or of swamps which might be 

 drained each year by the employment of 

 these unemployed men, the bill being 

 paid by those who use the reclaimed 

 lands? 



Horatio was informed by Hamlet that 

 "there was more in heaven and earth 



than was dreamed of in his philoso- 

 phy." The same might be said with 

 equal truth of the political philosophy 

 of the old-fashioned statesman. 



Here, right before us, is an oppor- 

 tunity to do a great good to a great 

 body of hopeless, despairing people ; to 

 render a great service to the Nation in 

 constructing highways and redeeming 

 lands, and all by methods which need 

 not cost the Nation a penny, but which 

 should, on the other hand, result in a 

 vast increase of the Nation's wealth. 

 Why should not such proposals be se- 

 riously considered? 



)^ 5t' &' 



Trouble in Illinois for the Deep-'waterways 

 Movement 



THE deep-waterways movement in 

 Illinois has struck a snag. 



This obstruction is located, in part, in 

 the Des Plaines River, in the form of a 

 big dam built by a corporation ; and, in 

 the second place, in the supreme court 

 of the state, which supports the com- 

 pany in building this dam. 



Governor Deneen is deeply interested 

 in the Great Lakes-to-the Gulf project. 

 A part of this highway is the Des 

 Plaines River. 



This little stream rises in Wisconsin 

 and flows into the Illinois. For reasons 

 not explained, the Illinois and Michigan 

 state canal commissioners, appointed 

 by the governor, leased to this corpora- 

 tion — the Economy Light and Power 

 Company — at a low figure, the state 

 property on this river. 



The company then proceeded to build 

 a great dam and power plant at Dresden 

 Heights, on the river, where practically 

 the "full water-power of the stream is 

 available. 



Of course such a structure would in- 

 terfere materially with the deep water- 

 ways project. 



Governor Deneen, in behalf of the 

 state, started proceedings to enjoin the 

 completion of the plant. A temporary 

 injunction was granted by a Cook 

 County court, but, on hearing, was dis- 

 solved. 



