384 Presidential Addresses 



tian conqueror penetrated to the valley of the Eu 

 phrates, which it has taken so many thousands of 

 years to build up, and which can be put to better use. 

 That, you may say, is not looking at the matter from 

 the practical standpoint. There is nothing more 

 practical in the end than the preservation of beauty, 

 than the preservation of anything that appeals to the 

 higher emotions in mankind. But, furthermore, I 

 appeal to you from the standpoint of use. A few big 

 trees, of unusual size and beauty, should be pre 

 served for their own sake; but the forests as a whole 

 should be used for business purposes, only they 

 should be used in a way that will preserve them as 

 permanent sources of national wealth. In many 

 parts of California the whole future welfare of the 

 State depends upon the way in which you are able to 

 use your water supply; and the preservation of the 

 forests and the preservation of the use of the water 

 are inseparably connected. I believe we are past the 

 stage of national existence when we could look on 

 complacently at the individual who skinned the land 

 and was content for the sake of three years' profit 

 for himself to leave a desert for the children of those 

 who were to inherit the soil. I think we have passed 

 that stage. We should handle, and I think we now 

 do handle, all problems such as those of forestry 

 and of the preservation and use of our waters from 

 the standpoint of the permanent interests of the 

 home-maker in any region the man who comes in 

 not to take what he can out of the soil and leave, 

 having exploited the country, but who comes to 



