42O 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



mineral mines, so that an object lesson 

 to private enterprise nv'ght be furnished 

 with a view of abrogating the present 

 tearfully wasteful methods of produc- 

 tion. 



We know from experience that at- 

 tempts at development on the part of 

 the states as separate erotics must be 

 local, incomprehensive, and inadequate; 

 these efforts must absolutely cease at 

 the state boundary lines, although a full 

 realization of results may be attaine 1 

 only by obliterating political division-. 

 It is quite clear, then, that our natural 

 resources should be developed and con- 

 served in a national way. and national 

 development is possible only by a na- 

 tional agency whose policy it would be 

 to realize for all the people, irrespect- 

 ive of locality, section, or state, the 

 maximum of benefits at a minimum of 

 expense. 



Whilst most of us are believers in the 

 theory of States' rights, and but few 

 -nbscribe to the maxim that a strongly 

 centralized government would be more 

 beneficial for us yet all of us do be- 

 lieve in union, which, carried to its log- 

 ical conclusion, is cooperation : and in 

 considering a question so vital as the 

 very life of the Nation what grander 

 principle should be invoke 1 than the 

 one which expresses itself in the term 

 cooperation. 



President Roosevelt, in his address to 

 the Governors at the White House, 

 pointed out that even "Washington 

 clearly saw that the perpetuity of the 

 -tale- could only be secured by union, 

 and that the only feasible basis of 

 union was an economic one: in other 

 words, that it must be based on the de- 

 velopment and use of their natural re- 

 sources." 



The President also pohred <,ut that 

 "whilst our natural resources are not 

 gone, they have been so injured by neg- 

 lect and by the division of responsi- 

 bility and utter lack of system in deal- 

 ing with them, that there is less naviga- 

 tion on our waterway^ now than there 

 was fifty years ago." And, finally. "In 

 the past we have admitted the right of 

 the individual to injure the future of 

 the Republic for his own profit. The 



time has come for a change. As a peo- 

 ple, we have the right and the duty to 

 protect ourselves and our children 

 against the wasteful development of 

 -in- natural resources, whether that 

 waste is caused by the actual destruc- 

 tion of such resources or by making 

 them impossible of development here- 

 after." 



The Resolutions Committee of the 

 \\liite House Conference also stated in 

 its report, made to the Convention, that 

 "\Ye declare the conviction that in the 

 use of the natural resources our inde- 

 pendent states are interdependent and 

 bound together by ties of mutual bene- 

 fits, responsibilities and duties." 



The Inlan 1 Waterways Commission, 

 in its preliminary report, voiced its con- 

 viction regarding the matter thus: 

 "Means should be devised and applied 

 for coordinating forestry, fanning, 

 mining, and related industries with the 

 use of streams for commerce and for 

 other purpose." Also, "questions con- 

 cerning the control of water-power and 

 waterways sbould be treated as a gen- 

 eral question of national extent, while 

 local or special projects should be con- 

 sidered a> parts of a comprehensive 

 policy of waterway control in the in- 

 terest- of all the people." 



James J. Hill concluded his admira- 

 ble address at the Governors' Confer- 

 ence b\ -axing: "If this movement i^ 

 to make headway it needs 



the cooperation of all the influence's, the 

 help of every voice, the commendation 

 of nation and state, and snch coopera- 

 tion as that out of which this nation 

 was born, and by which it was reared 

 t<> worthy manhood." 



Andrew Carnegie, in his paper, likens 

 "this Nation to a large family receiv- 

 ing a rich patrimony from thrifty pa- 

 rents deceased intestate 

 Now the first duty of snch a family is to 

 take stock of its patrimony: the next, 

 to manage the assets in such manner 

 that none shall be wasted, that all be 

 put to the greatest good of the living 

 and their descendants." 



Prof. Emory R. Johnson, in his 

 "Navigation Resources of American 

 Waterway^," says "There is only one 



