In both cases the essential
fact is that he can not get what he needs. Conservation holds that it is
about as important to see that the people in general get the benefit of
our natural resources as to see that there shall be natural resources
left.
Conservation is the most democratic movement this country has known for
a generation. It holds that the people have not only the right, but the
duty to control the use of the natural resources, which are the great
sources of prosperity. And it regards the absorption of these resources
by the special interests, unless their operations are under effective
public control, as a moral wrong. Conservation is the application of
common-sense to the common problems for the common good, and I believe
it stands nearer to the desires, aspirations, and purposes of the
average man than any other policy now before the American people.
The danger to the Conservation policies is that the privileges of the
few may continue to obstruct the rights of the many, especially in the
matter of water power and coal. Congress must decide immediately whether
the great coal fields still in public ownership shall remain so, in
order that their use may be controlled with due regard to the interest
of the consumer, or whether they shall pass into private ownership and
be controlled in the monopolistic interest of a few.
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