Conservation means three things:
What Conservation Means.—Conservation means three things: |1. Retention.| First, that public lands still in the hands of the nation and the states shall not be thoughtlessly turned over to private corporations and individuals for their own profit, but shall be administered so far as practicable by the public authorities for the benefit of the whole country; second, |1. Retention.|that such portions of our timber, coal, oil, and mineral resources as have already passed into private hands shall be so regulated by law as to prevent their wasteful exploitation; and |3. Replacement.|third, that the government shall do its best to encourage the replacement of such natural resources as can be replaced (for example, by the reforesting of land and the restocking of lakes with fish).[fish).]
Coal and iron.
The Mines.—No country can ever become great in industry unless it has ready access to minerals, especially iron and coal. It was the possession of iron and coal in great quantities that served to make England during the nineteenth century the industrial leader of Europe. Various regions of the United States possess these great stores of mineral wealth and have made good use of them. There is one great difference between mineral resources and other natural resources, namely, that when minerals are once taken from the earth there is no way of renewing them. Soil can be replenished, and forests regrown; but minerals form an endowment which, when once drawn from the bowels of the earth, can never be replaced. Hence the urgent need for a policy of conserving these important sources of national wealth. Coal and iron, while they are the natural resources upon which the growth of industry mainly depends, are not the only forms of wealth drawn from below the surface of the ground in this country. |Other minerals.| In the mining of silver and gold the United States is one of the foremost among the various producing countries. Copper, lead, oil, zinc, aluminum, quicksilver, and other natural materials are also taken from the earth in large quantities each year.
The earlier practice.
The Conservation of Coal, Oil, and Minerals.—Until about fifty years ago, land containing coal or other mineral resources was sold and granted by the government like any other lands. The individual or corporation became the owner of whatever wealth might happen to lie beneath the surface. In this way an enormous amount of wealth was practically given away. It was not until a few years ago that the government decided to reserve for itself all coal and minerals which might be discovered in lands given to settlers. |The present coal situation.| But this action came too late, for most of the coal-bearing lands had already passed into private ownership. By its failure to take due thought for the morrow the government had sold, for a few dollars per acre, what might have been a source of enormous revenue. If the practice of reserving the right to all coal, oil, and minerals in granted lands had been adopted in 1810 instead of in 1910 the value of these rights today would be greater than the entire national debt.
A large and steady supply of coal is of the utmost value to industry; in fact modern industry depends upon it. Yet when coal is once taken out and burned it cannot be replaced; there is only so much of it in the country and when that is gone there will be no more. It took nature many millions of years to produce the coal that is there now. At the present rate of increase in yearly consumption all the coal that is known to exist in the United States will be gone in about one hundred and fifty years. Some saving can be made by the use of oil and water power. Some economies in mining and in the use of coal are also possible. But these will hardly avail to prevent the ultimate exhaustion of the supply. At best we can only set that day a bit further off.
Conservation of oil.
Speaking of oil, the amount of crude petroleum or fuel oil now actually known to be available in the United States will be exhausted in less than fifty years if the present rate of consumption is maintained. There is every likelihood that this rate of consumption will be increased owing to the greater use of gasoline and kerosene for motor power. Large quantities of oil, however, are, available in Mexico. Within recent years it has been hoped that, with the progress of mechanical appliances, it will be practicable to obtain oil from shale rock.
The wastage of our forest wealth.