APPENDIX A XLIII 



vation in Canada, which Commission has been actively at work since 

 that time under the able chairmanship of Mr. Clifford Sifton. 



If the conservation of their natural resources is a question of 

 such pressing importance in the United States, it is of equal, if not 

 of greater, importance here in the Dominion of Canada; it is of the 

 greatest moment for the future of Canada that the leaders of our 

 national thought and through them all the citizens of our Dominion 

 should be seized with the importance of the principles underlying 

 this great movement. I therefore desire this evening to bring to 

 your attention certain salient facts concerning our national resources, 

 their proper development and their conservation. 



It is a common idea that the conservation of our natural resources 

 means hoarding them for the use of future generations. This is 

 an entire misconception. Most of our natural resources are best 

 conserved by working and developing them. Our forests, our lands 

 and our fisheries will, if properly worked, not only yield this generation 

 a larger profit, but they will be handed on to our successors in a more 

 highly productive condition than that in which we received them. 

 We are prosperous now, but we must not forget that it is just as impor- 

 tant that our descendants should be prosperous in their turn. Each 

 generation is entitled to the interest on the natural capital, but the 

 principal should be handed" on unimpaired. 



The subordination of the consideration of the welfare of the 

 nation to the pursuit of personal wealth, which is so widespread in 

 the Dominion at the present time, is, it is to be hoped, merely a 

 product of our present phase of development, but it is destructive to 

 all true national life and to the development of a strong and happy 

 people; it is as true now as in past ages that "where there is no vision, 

 the people perish." Over the whole principle of conservation a great 

 moral issue reigns supreme. Its acceptance is a test of national 

 efficiency. 



General Statement Concerning the Physical Features and 

 the Natural Resources of Canada. 



The area of the Dominion of Canada is about 3,730,000 square 

 miles, which is somewhat greater than that of the United States in- 

 cluding Alaska, and rather less than that of Europe. 



In Canada, as in every other country of the world, the physical 

 features have played, are playing and will continue to play a most 

 important part in the development of the history of the country and 

 the character of its people. 



