the record of the nation. The total cash receipts 

 of the federal government from the disposal of pub- 

 lic and Indian lands from 1785 to 1909 were $423,- 

 451,673. The money is gone. It has been ex- 

 pended, wisely or mnvisely, with other treasury re- 

 ceipts. It would be interesting to know how much 

 the above sum exceeded the cost of administration. 

 But certain limited areas of lands were conveyed to 

 the states for educational purposes. The perman- 

 ent common school funds, state and local, con- 

 served by the states, amount to $246,943,349. The 

 estimated value of productive school lands today is 

 $138,851,634, and of unproductive $86,347,482. Add 

 to these the land grant funds of colleges of agricul- 

 ture and the mechanic arts, and the total is nearly 

 half a billion dollars. To what magnitude these 

 great funds, now jealously guarded, for educational 

 purposes by the states, may grow in time we cannot 

 even guess. Some may eventually provide amply 

 for all educational needs of their states forever. 

 This is one telling proof of the superior fidelity of 

 the commonwealth as custodian of any trust for 

 future generations. 



There remains an opportunity and a need of con- 

 servation transcending in value all others com- 

 bined. The soil is the ultimate employer of all in- 

 dustry and the greatest source of all wealth. It 

 is the universal banker. Upon the maintenance 

 unimpaired in quantity and quality of the tillable 

 area of the country its whole future is conditioned. 

 Four years ago, and on many occasions since, I pre- 

 sented the facts and statistics that make land con- 

 servation incomparably the paramount issue with 

 all who have at heart the prosperity of our people 

 and the permanence of our institutions. It is un- 

 necessary to repeat in detail what has now become 



