thing to conserve our natural resources is going to put us to a new 

 test of the practical character of our system of government. It is 

 going to involve the question of whether, with the changing condi- 

 tions, with the closer relations and the interdependence of the various 

 parts of this country, our National Constitution will furnish the means 

 of meeting that necessity. Now, I have no doubt that it will. 



WM. H. TAFT. 



A Famous Churchman. 



"No policy of our National Government is more in keeping with 

 those democratic principles upon which our Republic is founded than 

 the conservation of our natural resources, and none is to have a greater 

 influence upon the future prosperity of our land. Our fertile soils, 

 our inland waters, our mines, and our forests are God-given heritages 

 which belong no more to the present generation than to generations 

 that are to come. It is our duty as American citizens to regard these 

 resources as sacred trusts, to preserve them, and to use them wisely 

 and with moderation, that we may, as far as possible, provide against 

 the days of want that are surely approaching; and that when these 

 days are at hand they may not come as a crushing retribution, but as 

 a wholesome discipline by which we shall be taught the great lessons 

 of thrift and foresight." 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 



The Great Commoner. 



"It should be our purpose, not only to preserve the nation's resour- 

 ces for future generations by reducing waste to a minimum ; we should 

 see to it that a few of the people do not monopolize that which in 

 equity is the property of all the people. The earth belongs to each 

 generation, and it is as criminal to fetter future generations with 

 perpetual franchises, making the multitude servants to a favored 

 faction of the population, as it would be to impair, unnecessarily, the 

 common store. 



Money spent in care for the life and health of the people, in pro- 

 tecting the soil from erosion and from exhaustion, in preventing waste 

 in the use of minerals of limited supply, in the reclamation of deserts 

 and swamps, and in the preservation of forests, still remaining and 

 the planting of denuded tracts money invested in these and in the 

 development of waterways and in the deepening of harbors is an 

 investment yielding an annual return. If any of these expenditures 

 fail to bring a return at once the money expended is like a bequest 

 to those who come after us. And as the parent lives for his child as 

 well as for himself, so the good citizen provides for the future as well 

 as for the present." 



WILLIAMS JENNINGS BRYAN. 



A University President. 



"This small revolving globe we dwell upon has been used as a 

 home by us humans, by us and our ancestors, for a goodly row of 

 centuries. But we were too few and weak to master it and put it 

 clean beneath our feet. It mostly got the best of us. Of late we 



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