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Show CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. A conference equal in importance to that of The'Hague peace meeting in its far-reaching effect upon the world was tlult held last week in Washington Wash-ington of the governors of the states and other distinguished dis-tinguished figures in the political and industrial life of the nation in the interest of the conservation conserva-tion of the natural wealth of the land. It is a matter mat-ter of common knowledge that the natural resources of America .have been wasted; that they are even .now handled with a prodigality which bodes evil, days for the future generations. When we read that 200Kin,00jl tons of coal, a re wasted annually in the operation of the coal mines of the country, nil as a result of skimming off the better portions ' and throwing aside the second class product, and see in our own Utah a mining company devoting years to rehandling the tailings of a former administration, admin-istration, and at a profit, too, there is no fur the-. need of pointing out instancer, wherein ec nonr and conservation of our wealth would be profitable. The destruction of the forests, the depletion of the lands by constant cropping, the annual washing off of the rich surface ground by the floods all contribute con-tribute to a aste which in the aggregate, reaches, into the billions of dollars in value. The present, conference to consider these things is the outgrowth out-growth of a recommendation made by the Inland Waterways convention to the president.-. In his address opening the conference President P.oos2velt said that the natural resources of our country are in danger of exhaustion if the old v.asteful methods of exploiting-them are permitted to continue. The nation has grown rich, apparently, apparent-ly, by rapid development, but when the m'nes of iron and coal and copper have Jeen exhausted, and no new source of supply is at hand, the realization will come that our apparent wealth is as unstable as the sands of the sea that" we have killed the goose and left for posterity a country with deteriorated de-teriorated farm lapds and with mines entirely barren. bar-ren. To save, to waste no more the precious 'heritage, 'heri-tage, was the keynote of the conference. In the early days" the great unexplored America furnished a seemingly inexhaustible supply of everything required by man. The great forests through which the aboriginees wandered in undisputed undis-puted possession furnished them with all the needs of their primitive existence. When the. whita men came the woods stood in the way of civilization, and they "were chopped down, burned off, destroyed to make room for tillable- fields. No thought was given to the future. Up to twenty years ago there was always the great west the empire of the plains and beyond the Rockies. Rut now it is discovered that the mineral and coal deposits are not renewable, renew-able, and when these are exhausted the world must learn to do without them. The 'conference to conserve the wealth of th-j land is ihe first public recognition of a duty we owe to posterity. It concerns not the present generation. gen-eration. There is enough for us, and more. Rut it is a plea for economy, for foresightedness, that in the years to come the products of the earth may be sufficient to guarantee comfortable existence to the earth's population, until the fullness of time. The conference must awaken the nation to a realization real-ization of the mighty problem and the patriotic duty of taking care of what has been placed hefe for our benefit. Refore this problem and this duty-it duty-it may be necessary to set aside some of the cherished cher-ished political ideals in recognition of tfie unity' of the nation; it may be necessary to abolish the geographical lines which separate the -nations of the world in recognition of the brotherhood of man. |
