With reasonable prudence and preparedness we need never fear
another such attempt. If there be danger, it is not from an external
source. In the second great crisis, the Civil War, a part of our own
people strove for an end which would have checked the progress of
development. Another such attempt has become forever impossible. If
there be danger, it is not from a division of our people.
In the third great crisis of our history, which has now come squarely
upon us, the special interests and the thoughtless citizens seem to have
united together to deprive the Nation of the great natural resources
without which it cannot endure. This is the pressing danger now, and it
is not the least to which our National life has been exposed. A nation
deprived of liberty may win it, a nation divided may reunite, but a
nation whose natural resources are destroyed must inevitably pay the
penalty of poverty, degradation, and decay.
At first blush this may seem like an unpardonable misconception and
over-statement, and if it is not true it certainly is unpardonable. Let
us consider the facts. Some of them are well known, and the salient ones
can be put very briefly.
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