Vol. XIV 



AUGUST, 1908 



Xo.s 



A PLEA FOR NATIONALIZATION OF OUR 

 NATURAL RESOURCES 



By HENRY RIESENBERG, Indianapolis, Ind. 



THERE is growing apace in the 

 world to-day a spirit of coopera- 

 tion. Men are growing out of 

 the old theory of individualism, which 

 finds expression in such sentiments as 

 "Every man for himself and the devil 

 take the hindmost:" or "What's mine 

 is my own to do with as I please.'' 



At the recent Conference of Govern- 

 ors, held at the White House, it wa- 

 UTaphically pointed out that the policy 

 of individualism in regard to our nat- 

 ural resources has brought us almost 

 to the brink of actual exhaustion : every 

 student of the -ubject is at one in de- 

 claring that unless radical action be 

 taken in regard t<> our forests, mineral-, 

 and waterways, the day will -<*>n dawn 

 which will see tin- country treele--. 

 mineral-less, and waterless. Woe be 

 unto us when that day arrive- 



Admitting the hypothesis then and 

 who will gainsay it? that our natural 

 resource- urgently require conserva- 

 tion the question naturally arise-, what 

 steps oiiudit we the present po--e-->r- 

 of the-e re-ources- -to take in order 



br-t to conserve them, not only for our- 

 selves, but for our children and our 

 children s' children ? 



ijuite recently the writer, in a dis- 

 cussion of this topic. tok occasion to 

 point out that the several -tales of the 

 Union and the Unite 1 States it -elf. are 

 the owners of natural resources of 

 vast value. These eon-i-t of farm lands, 

 arid lands, swamp lands, timber lands, 

 mineral lands, waters, and \\aterway-. 

 As their complete utilization i- funda- 

 mentally beneficial to the country as a 

 whole, the writer urged the mer^T of 

 these resources by the -tate- with tho-e 

 of the United Stales, in order that a 

 comprehensive, adequate, and uniform 

 policy could be adopted for the refor- 

 estation of cut-over and burnt-over tim- 

 ber lands; for forestation to protect the 

 headwaters ,,f , , n r stream-; \->r the irri- 

 gation of arid land-: reclamation of 

 -wamp land-: improvement for pur- 

 poses of irrigation of all worthy water- 

 courses; for the creation and sale of 

 electrical eiier^\ . and for the establish- 

 ment of model coal. iron, and other 



419 



