Proceedings [of the] fourth National Conservation Congress [at] Indianapolis, October 1-4, 1912

by United States. National Conservation Congress

Mrs. Bright—The one object for the conservation of all the material resources of a Nation is for the use, comfort and benefit of the homes of the people.

It would be of little importance what became of forests, lands, waters, minerals or food were there no men, women and children to use and enjoy them.

Therefore, at the very heart of this Conservation work should be the two departments covering homes and child life.

It has been a source of encouragement to see that men who are leaders in many great developments of our land, have given definite place to the study of the conservation of the home.

There is need for it if America is to be the greatest of all the nations, for with its wonderful natural resources it can only be as great as the quality and character of its people.

Great minds are needed to think and plan with wisdom and unselfishness for the America that is to be, for the protection of homes that are to shelter and nurture the men and women who a few years hence will take our places.

The United States has its Departments of State and War and Navy. It has not yet seen that the greatest questions it has to meet are the protection and care of the American people and American homes.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture is educating the farmer to make the most out of his land. It gives him information concerning the soils, the rotation of crops, the protection against the many enemies of plant life, the care and feeding of stock and poultry. It protects the forests and the fisheries. All these things for the service of man have received the guardianship of the Government.

Homes are just as important as farms, and there is just as great need of proper consideration for their elevation and protection as there is that of farms and stock and forests.

The protection of infant life is of more value, even in a pecuniary way, than the protection of the cotton crop, yet three hundred thousand babies die annually whose lives might be saved if the United States gave the same careful, intelligent information to the mothers as it does to the farmers.