Perhaps we may first ask ourselves: Why are we here? What came we here to do? What is Conservation? To whom does it apply? Who are Conservationists? And who are enemies of Conservation? Are there any, and why? What special principles must we subscribe to in order to be known as sufficiently orthodox in creed that we will be received as worthy disciples in this cause? And who but ourselves (and each for one another) shall pass upon our credentials as to our honesty of purpose in this great work? To whom are we answerable but to ourselves, the people? And why should a great congress of thousands of American people meet here, as we are doing this week, on this occasion, when we have a legal Congress in Washington representing every district in this broad land, whose members we have elected to make such laws as are necessary for our present and future welfare?
The answer seems to be that this assemblage represents a popular upheaval of public sentiment, animated and encouraged by those who have thought along advanced lines and are pioneers in this cause in the press and on the rostrum; some of whom have been right, and others of whom were almost wholly wrong. We are here to discuss these features, to winnow the chaff from the golden grain in this agitation of thought which we trust will be the beginning of wisdom, to be crystallized as far as practicable into proper National and State laws for the regulation of Conservation of public resources, and that the people may become awakened to that greater saving principle of personal and private Conservation. It is we, the people, instead of we, the politicians, who are and should be most in evidence at this Congress.
It has been said that knowledge is power. It is perhaps a better truism to say that action, with knowledge, is power. Knowledge without action would avail little; and action without knowledge would be groping in the dark. But with knowledge and action we can accomplish noble results.
All great reforms and improved conditions spring from the wants, needs, and consciences of a dissatisfied people. Sometimes the needed relief comes through an armed and sometimes through a peaceful revolution. Some man looms up above his fellows from the sea of unrest and his greatness is proven by his devotion to the cause, free from the selfish thought of personal aggrandizement; and by his wisdom and tact he creates confidence in his judgment, in his sagacity, in his fitness for leadership. So few there are who are willing to bear the cross from this high sense of duty and offer themselves a mark for calumny and vituperation, and often in many ways to become a sacrifice to a people's cause! And when one is found, it frequently happens that the public are slow in showing their gratitude and appreciation for what his discernment and discretion saved to a nation; the reward of proper recognition is often withheld until long after he is dead, because he lived in advance of his time.
But there are fictitious and exaggerated issues which are created and developed to huge proportions for the dear people by the sleek politician (and his name is Legion) who sets up his scarecrow of impending woe that he may rush valiantly in and save his constituents and the citizens of a nation from dire calamity, and generations unborn from distress and want. It is not my purpose to attempt to lull to sleep in fancied security those who have been influenced by those suspected of being unnecessarily active in fighting windmills. Always there is need of sound, conservative consideration before taking hasty action, and the people are becoming better informed and more critical in their discriminations, and are learning to know the loud-mouthed pretender from the thoughtful, loyal, public-spirited citizen. People now are doing their own thinking. Time was not long ago when the greatest newspapers of largest circulation manufactured public opinion so successfully that they were the great thinking machines for the country. It was so much easier for the people than doing the actual thinking and logical reasoning for themselves. People read the editorials of their respective journals in order to get ideas to use in their arguments with each other. I think that as an educator the newspapers then, as now, served a most valuable purpose, but it is infinitely of more help to the thinking man, who criticizes and analyzes what he reads before he accepts and assimilates it as his own. The pen has been mightier than the sword, and the "power of the press" has matured and developed conditions that had to be arbitrated by the sword.
The People Deceived
Much harm has been done by wrong thinking in regard to Conservation, and the people have been deceived and prejudiced; and like a strong man awakening from a sleep they have reached out in alarm to search for and punish, in advance of ascertaining what, if anything, was really the matter. Innocent people and innocent industries were maligned and injured. The public are now finding that they have been deceived by the scheming politicians, and by highly colored newspaper comments, and that "Conservation" has been used as a trick word and is not what they thought it was. They had been led to believe that it was something that someone else ought to do, or should be forced to do, and that they were being robbed because Conservation was not practiced; and that if Conservation laws should be passed as recommended by these ignorant agitators they would be greatly benefited; that everything would be cheaper than they had to pay, and that they could get more for what they had to sell. They never stopped to reason that Conservation without use means holding back from development the natural resources of the country and producing stagnation in business, and that if each succeeding generation should follow the same policy there never would be any improvement.
Those whose education never has extended beyond the three Rs can understand the principles of Conservation in reforestation, reclamation, and restoration—reforestation where it will pay to reforest; reclamation where it will pay to reclaim; and restoration where it will pay to restore to the soil the elements needed, and where forestry will not pay better.
The great American leader of Conservation always has maintained, and especially in his speech at the first Conservation Congress a year ago, that the first principles of Conservation is development of resources for the benefit of the people who live here now; he stated that there might be just as much waste in neglecting the development and use of natural resources as there is in their destruction by wasteful methods. In the second place, Conservation stands for the prevention of waste; and in the third place, Conservation stands for the preservation and perpetuation of our resources through wise economy and thrift. And its principles apply alike to individuals and to nations. If a policy in any department of Conservation requires great outlay of money in order to develop and conserve for this and future generations, then the Government, the whole people, and succeeding generations may be rightfully asked to bear part of the expense, which could be done by the selling of bonds, and by exemption from taxation some products of growth, like the forests, which are now taxed every year, making the owners pay taxes for a hundred years to get for the market only one crop. No other crop is taxed like this. The owners of any one resource should not bear all the burdens for growing it for future generations; and, if it does not pay, the soil will be used for other crops which will pay better.
True Leaders Misunderstood