THE FOINT CONSERVATION CONGRESS 



5 



attention upon the problem, you will have 

 done well. It augurs well for the future 

 that you are here and it is to the credit 

 of our country that in this matter it should 

 take the lead among the nations of the world. 

 All we are asking, gentlemen, is that the 

 National Government shall proceed as a 

 private business man would, as a matter of 

 course, proceed. He will regularly take ac- 

 count of stock, so that he may know just 

 where he stands. If you find that he does 

 not, that he does not know how his outgo 

 corresponds with his income, you will be 

 afraid to trade with him. The same meas- 

 ures of prudence demanded from him as an 

 individual, the same measures of foresight 

 demanded from him as an individual, are de- 

 manded from us as a nation. Unfortun- 

 ately, nations have been slow to profit by the 

 example of every individual among them 

 who makes a success of his business. The 

 United States is substantially the first na- 

 tion to prepare to take an inventory of its 

 stock in hand, and it has only begun to do 

 so, in any definite way, within the last few 

 months. 



Last May, you, the Governors of the States 

 and Territories, met at the White House to 

 confer with each other and the President, 

 upon the material basis of our National wel- 

 fare. You united in a memorable declaration, 

 which should hang on the wall of every school, 

 and even' citizen who is a voter in the United 

 States in the next generation should know 

 about it. Out of the conference at which 

 the declaration was adopted grew the Na- 

 tional Conservation Commission, whose chief 

 duty was, as I have said, to prepare an in- 

 ventory of the natural resources of our 

 country, those resources which are, in the 

 language of the Governors, the foundation 

 of our prosperity. This report is to be used 

 by the President in transmitting to Congress 

 information as to the state of the Union so 

 far as the natural resources are concerned. 



The Commission consists of Senators and 

 Representatives, members of the executive de- 

 partments, and public-spirited private citizens 

 familiar with particular resources. It is 

 wholly tvithout funds and it has, therefore, 

 depended altogether on the public spirit of 

 its members and the cooperation of the 

 executive departments at Washington and 

 in the several States, especially the scien- 

 tific and statistical bureaus. 



I wish to take this opportunity to express 

 on behalf of the people of this country my 

 profound appreciation of the disinterested 

 work work so valuable that it could not be 

 paid for adequately and which, as a matter 

 of fact, was not paid for at all performed 

 by the members in private who have given so 

 lavishly of their best time and thought in 

 forwarding this cause. 



Its work has brought these bureaus in 

 closer and more effective cooperation than 

 ever before, and for this reason its results 

 will rank as by far the most useful state- 

 ment of natural resources ever pre- 



pared in any country. Each bureau, without 

 relaxing its regular work, has collected and 

 summarized the results of its past work, and 

 has contributed them to the Commission. 



I desire to make special acknowledgment 

 to the men who have so cheerfully and suc- 

 cessfully accepted and carried out this addi- 

 tional task. They have rendered a real serv- 

 ice to the whole Nation at a cost of great 

 personal sacrifice of time and effort to them- 

 selves. And the best of it all was the ad- 

 mirable spirit of cooperation which char- 

 acterized the whole work. 



I am especially glad to welcome the co- 

 operation of the States, through their con- 

 servation commissions and otherwise. With- 

 out it the great task of perpetuating the Na- 

 tional welfare would succeed with difficulty. 

 If States and Nation work for it together, 

 all in their several fields, and all joining 

 heartily where the field is common, we arc 

 certain of success in advance. 



No right-minded citizen would stop the 

 proper use of our resources ; but every good 

 American must realize that National im- 

 providence follows the same course and leads 

 to the same end as personal improvidence, 

 and that needless waste must stop. The time 

 to deride or neglect the statements of ex- 

 perts and teaching of the facts has gone 

 by. The time to act on what we know has 

 now arrived. Common prudence, common 

 sense, and common business principles are 

 applicable to National affairs, just as they 

 are to private affairs, and the time has come 

 to use them in dealing with the foundations 

 of our prosperity. 



Now, I do not believe in hysteria or sen- 

 sationalism in the press or anywhere else. 

 I would not grow hysterical or sensational 

 in describing our condition ; but neither 

 must we allow a false security based on con- 

 ditions long since passed away to blind us, 

 to prevent us from seeing the facts and ap- 

 plying common sense to the situation they 

 disclose. The purpose of the inventory was 

 to give the facts not to create an alarm, 

 but to take stock of what we have, and so 

 to lead to the necessary action for its pres- 

 ervation and increase. 



Our natural resources are so related tin 

 the use of one affects the use of all the 

 others. This is especially true of our water- 

 ways. Every man, woman and child within 

 our borders has an interest in them, through 

 navigation, power, irrigation or water supply, 

 or through all four. We have neglected our 

 waterways more than any other natural re- 

 sources, and we must put an end to that 

 neglect. The Inland Waterways Commis- 

 sion has told us how. 



First, let us prepare a comprehensive plan 

 for inland waterways development along the 

 lines pointed out by the Commission. Such 

 a plan must consider every use of the wa- 

 ters ; it must put the interest of all the 

 people in advance of any private interests 

 whatsoever. 



