| Show PRESIDENT SENDS STRONG MESSAGE ACCOMPANYING REPORTS OF THE CONSERVATION CONGRESS URGES NEEDED LEGISLATION Document In a Measure IB a Defense De-fense of the Retiring Administration Duty of the Present Generation to Its Descendants Pointed Out Obligations Obli-gations of Citizenship Urgent Need for the Development of the Coun trys Water Power VnnlilnRton With the transmission of he report of tho national conservation mental lun and accompanying papers rcnliliMit Hooscvclt also sent a messago to congress Tlio following Is a comprehensive com-prehensive synopils of tho document Tho president declares his entire con currenco with tho statements and conclusions con-clusions of tho report and proceeds It Is one of tho most fundamentally important documents ever laid before tho American people It contains tho first Inventory In-ventory of Its natural resources ever panda liy any nation In condensed form It presents a statement of our available capital In material resources which are the means of progress and calls atton lon to the essential conditions upon which tho perpetuity safety nd welfare of this nation now rest and must always continue to rest The facts set forth In this report constitute con-stitute an Imperative call to action The situation thoy disclose demands that wo F J r r J t d 44 + 7 4v 4 v I 1 V r rI I 1 if Roosevelt j President Roosevelt neglecting for n time If need be smaller and less vital questions nhall concentrate an effective part of our attention upon the great material foundations of national na-tional existence progress and prosperity The first of all considerations Is the permanent welfare of our people and true moral welfare the highest form of welfare can not permanently exist save on a firm and lasting foundation of material mate-rial wellbeing In thlrf respect our situation situ-ation Is far from satisfactory After every possible allowance has been made and when every hopeful Indication has boon given Its full welclit the facts still give reason for grave concern It would be unworthy of our history and our Intelligence In-telligence and Jlsastrous to our future to shut our eyes to these facts or attempt at-tempt to laugh them out of court The people should and will rightly demand that the great fundamental questions shall be given attention by their representatives rep-resentatives I do not advlso hasty or Ill considered action on disputed points but I do urge where time facts are known where the public Interest Is clear that neither Indifference and Inertia nor adverse ad-verse private Interests shall be allowed to stand In the way of the public Bond The great basic facts are already welt known Wo know that our population Is now adding about onefifth to Its numbers In ten years and that by the middle of tho present century perhaps 150000000 Americans and by Its end very many millions more must bo fed and clothed from the products of our soil Wo know now that our rivers can and should lip made to nerve our people effectively ef-fectively In transportation but that the vast expenditures for our waterways have not resulted In maintaining much lest I In promoting Inland navigation Therefore lot us take Immediate steps to ascertain the reasons and to prepare and adopt a comprehensive plan for InHn watcrwny navigation that will result In Rlvlnc the people the benefits for which they have paid but which hey have not yet received Wo know now that our forests for-ests are font disappearing that lens than onefifth of them are being conserved and that no good purpose can be mot by falling to provide the relatively small sums needed for the protection use and Improvement of all forests still owned by I tho govtrnmcnt and to enact laws to check tho wasteful destruction of the forests for-ests In private hands There are differences differ-ences of opinion as to many public quips lions hut the American people stand nearly as a unit for waterway development develop-ment and for forest protection Wo know now that our mineral resources re-sources once exhausted are gone forever for-ever and that the needless waste of them costs us hundreds of human lives and nearly J300OiXlCOi a year Therefore let us undertake without delay tho Investigations In-vestigations npnrY bofor our people will bo In position through state lotion or otherwise to put an end to this hug loss and waste and conserve both our mineral resources and the lives of the men who take them from tho earth This administration has achieved some Ulnas It ban sought hut haft not been able to achieve others It has doubtliK made mistakes but all It has done or attempted hiss been In the single consistent effort to secure se-cure and enlarge tho rlgrhtH and opportunities oppor-tunities of the men and women of the United States We are trylnjr to conserve con-serve what IM good in our social xys tem and we are xtrlvtnff toward this end win n we endeavor to clii away with what Is bad Success may he made too Irtrd for some if It IN armada too nosy for others The rewards of common Industry amid thrift may be too small If limo wards for others and on the whl u 1 > MS iluitble qualm are rnuJr ton largti and especially It the remards for qualities which are really fl nn the public standpoint undeslr nt tin permitted to bcom too larc Our atm is 100 far as possible to pro Ide such ondltions that there shall l < e equality of opportunity where tin re Is Ciu ilitj of energy fidelity I and Intelligence when there ta < t reason N able equality of opportunity the dli toutlni i of rewards will take car of self I J lie unchecked existence of monopoly monop-oly IK Inrnmpttlble with equality of opportunity rime reason for the ex erclso of government control over great monopolies It to tquallzo opportunity We are fighting against privilege It WHO nuidi unlawful for corporations to contribute money for election exP ex-P nseK III order to abridge the power of special pilvlleRo at the polls Hall road rate control Is nn attempt to secure se-cure tin iuilllv of opportunity for all men affected by rail transportation and that means all of us The great anthracite coal strike was settled and the pressing danger of a coal famine averted because we recognised that I the control of n public necessity Involves In-volves u duty to the people and that i I public Intervention In the affairs of a public service corporation In neither I to bo resemm ltd as usurpation nor permitted per-mitted as a privilege by the corpora lions but on tha contrary to bo accepted ac-cepted as a duty and exercised as aright a-right by the government In the Interest In-terest of nil tho people The tom rlcney of the army nnd the navy has been Increased so Unit our people may follow In peace the great work of making this country a better place for Americans to live In and our navy wn Kent round the world for the same ultimate purpose All tho acts taken by tin government during the last soven years and all the policies now being pursued by the Government fit In as parts of a consistent whole The enactment of n pure food law was a recognition of the fact that the public welfare outweighs the right to private gain and that no mnn may poison the people for his private profit The employers liability bill recognized recog-nized the controlling fact that whllo the employer usually has at stake no more than his profit the stake of tha employe Is a living for himself and his family We are building the Panama canal and this means that we are engaged In the giant inglneorlng feat of all time We are striving to add In all ways to the habltablllty and beauty of our country We are striving to hold In the public lands the remaining supply of unappropriated coal for the protection and benefit of all the people We have taken tho llrst steps toward the conservation of our natural resources re-sources add tho betterment of country coun-try life and the Improvement of our waterways We stand for the right of every child to a childhood free from grinding toll rind to an education for tho civic responsibility and decency of every citizen for prudent foresight fore-sight In public matters and for fair i play In every relation of our national and economic life Iu International matters we apply a system of diplomacy diplo-macy which puts the obligations of International morality on a level with those that govern the notions of an honest gentleman In dealing with his fellowmen Within our own border wo stand for truth and honesty In public and In private life and we war sternly stern-ly against wrongdoers of every grade All these efforts are Integral parts of the name attempt the attempt to enthrone Justice nnd righteousness to secure freedom of opportunity to all of our citizens now and hereafter and to set the ultimate Interest of all of us above tho temporary Interest of any Individual class or group The nation Its government and Its resources exist first of all for the American citizen whatever his creed race or birthplace whether ho be rich or poor educated or Ignorant provided pro-vided only that he Is a good citizen recognizing his obligations to the nation na-tion for the rights and opportunities which he owes to tho nation The obligations and not tho rights of citizenship Increase In proportion to the increase of n mans wealth or power The tlmo Is coming when a man will bo Judged not by what ho has succeeded In getting for himself from tho common store but by how well he hall done his duty as a citizen and by what the ordinary citizen has gained In freedom of opportunity because be-cause of his service for the common good The highest value we know Is that of the Individual citizen and the highest Justice Is to give him fair piny In the effort to realize tho best there Is In him The tasks this nation has to do are great tasks They can only be done at all by our citizens acting together to-gether and they can be done host of all by the direct and simple application applica-tion of homely common sense The application of common sense to common problems for the common good under the guidance of the principles upon which this republic was based and by virtue of which It exists spells perpetuity per-petuity for the nation civil and industrial Indus-trial liberty for Its citizens and freedom of opportunity In tho pitrsuli of happiness for the plain American for whom this nation wus founded by whom It was preserved and through whom alone It can bo perpetuated Ipon I thin platform larger than any party difference higher than class prejudice broader than any question of profit and loss there In room for every American who realizes that the common good Manila first Accompanying time message ure ex planatloiiH nud recommendations of work to be done for the future good of the country The president says It Is especially Important that the development develop-ment of water power should be guarded guard-ed with the utmost care both by the national government and by the states In order to protect tho people against the upgrowth of monpnly and ti > In sure to them a fair share In the benefits bene-fits which will follow tine development of this great asset which belongs to time people and should bo controlled by them I urge that itrmlMlon be made for both protection and more rapldfrdevcl opment of the national forests Othor wBe ilthir the Increasing UM of these forests by tho people must Im checked or tholr protection niralnt fire must bo dangerously weakened If we compare tho actual tire damage on similar sim-ilar areas on prlvato and mitionil forest for-est lands during the pant y > sr the government fire < patrol saved rummer clal timber worth as much us the total cost of caring for all national forests at the present rnto for about tan yearn I especially commend to congress the facts presented by the rommls slon as to tho relation between forests for-ests and stream flow In Its bearln upon the Importance of the forest lands in national ownership Without With-out nn Undorstiindlng of this ultimate relation the eonservatlon of both these natural resource nuist largely fall The time has fully arrived for recognizing rec-ognizing In the law the responsibility to the community the state and tine nation which rents upon the private ownership of private lands Time ownership own-ership of forest land le a public trust The man who would handle hU forest ail to online erosion and to Injur stream flow must ho not only educated but he must he controlled In conelimioii the president urge upon congress the desirability of mnlntalnliiir n national commission on limo ronnervattrm of time resources of the country He adds I would also advise that an appropriation of at least JGOOOO be mild to cover the expenses pensei of tin imsionil conservation commission for tieoeaxary rent assist anec and travelling expenses This Is I a very small sum I know of no other malt In wli ih tli < appropriation of KO simll a sum would 1RUt In < 0 1 jrff c a b ueltt to the whole nation |