wealth renewed even more rapidly than it can be 

 exhausted? Shall we permit the continued increase 

 of public expenditure and public debt until capital 

 and credit have suffered in the same conflict that 

 overthrew prosperous and happy nations in the 

 past, or insist upon a return to honest and prac- 

 ticable economy? This is the battle of the ages, 

 the old, familiar issue. Is there in the country that 

 intelHgence, that self-denial, that moral courage 

 and that patriotic devotion which alone can bring 

 us safely through? 



1 ask these questions not because there is any 

 doubt of the answer in the minds of the American 

 people, but that it may be made plain what a com- 

 plex fabric the fates are weaving from the appar- 

 ently commonplace happenings of our peaceful 

 years, and how each generation and each epoch 

 must render an account for the work of its own 

 days. The unprecedented dignity of this assem- 

 blage, its national representative character, the 

 presence here of those upon whom great occasions 

 wait, the interest felt by millions who look to it for 

 information and guidance, prove how deep beneath 

 the surface He the sources of its existence and its 

 influence. Out of the conservation movement in 

 its practical application to our common Hfe may 

 come wealth greater than could be won by the over- 

 throw of kingdoms and the annexation of prov- 

 inces; national prestige and individual well-being; 

 the gift of broader mental horizons ; and, best and 

 most necessary of all, the quahty of a national citi- 

 zenship which has learned to rule its own spirit 

 and to rise by the control of its own desires. 



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