President upon various political matters. There is, as we know, indeed great difference of opinion. But there can be no difference of opinion among thinking men as to his service to the nation in this matter of the conservation of our resources. When he took the office of President, our timber, our minerals, our coal, for all in the eastern part of the United States, for all the central part had passed into private hands. A beginning had been made of the reservation of the forests of the West before President Roosevelt's time, but during his administration practically all of the great forests of the West which still remained have been withdrawn from public entry and remain the property of the nation. Not only so, but the mineral fuel also is no longer subject to entry but remains subject to the nation. And now following these two great acts he has taken up the question with Congress, with the governors, with the people, as to the conservation of all our resources, both those in public and those in private hands. I believe that the work which the President has done in this matter will among future generations mark him as not only one of the greatest statesmen of this nation, but one of the greatest statesmen of any nation of any time.

At this Conference upon the National Resources, May 13 to 15, a series of notable addresses were given. Andrew Carnegie spoke upon the "Conservation of the Mineral Resources." Mr. James J. Hill and Professor Chamberlin spoke on the "Conservation of the Soil." I. C. White, state geologist of West Virginia, spoke on the "Conservation of the Coal and Oil Resources." Mr. Long spoke on "Forest Conservation;" Governor Pardee, of California, on "Irrigation," and Emory R. Johnson spoke on the "Waterways." These addresses were discussed by the governors and their scientific advisers.

It is impossible in a twenty-minute talk to attempt to summarize the points which were made in these addresses, which extended through a period of three days. Only a few of the most notable facts can be mentioned. It was clearly developed as a result of those three days' discussions, that we in the last half of the nineteenth century have drawn more heavily upon our resources of coal and iron than all previous generations. It was shown that the forests which were said to be inexhaustible are far toward exhaustion throughout the eastern and central part of the United States; and the only great forest supplies which remain to us untouched are those of the Pacific States, California Oregon, and Washington. Fortunately, through the intervention of the President, these are permanently conserved to the nation. It was shown that our soils in the eastern and central part of the United States had become depleted in their fertility. A century ago North Carolina was one of the greatest agricultural states of the Union; now a large part of its acreage has been converted into bad lands or has been covered again by the forests. The New England states, New York and the other central states, instead of increasing in their land values are decreasing; and in the state of Ohio the fall of land values in the last twenty years was more than fifty millions of dollars. Of all our

resources the soil is the most fundamental. Upon the soil we depend for our food and clothing, and although we have occupied the larger portion of this country less than a century, a large part of the area is depleted in its richness. And what is one century compared with our hopes for the future life of this nation? This great depletion in richness has been due to single cropping, to unscientific farming, combined with erosion of the streams, so that the lands of the East instead of becoming more fertile have steadily become less fertile, and are yielding a smaller crop than they did a half century ago. Our children may complain of our political mistakes; they may complain of the problems which are put upon them as the result of our inexperience in social matters; but that will be as nothing as compared with the blame that they will lay upon this generation for their wanton extravagance in using our natural resources. We have been using the heritage of our children and our children's children as if our supplies of natural resources were inexhaustible, whereas every one of them is exhaustible. Iron is limited in amount, and should be drawn upon as carefully as a bank account.

It took millions of years of labor of earth and sun to manufacture our natural resources. They are the inalienable heritage of our people and not of a chosen few. Under our laws we have largely intrusted them to the care of great corporations. These corporations must so administer their trusts that the people shall possess their heritage. By this I do not mean to suggest that the corporations now controlling these properties should be wronged, but they should understand that they are in the position of trustees with reference to these great sources of wealth; and if they do not willingly. administer them to the advantage of the people, the nation and the states not only ought to, but will prescribe regulations necessary to accomplish this; even if such regulations go to the point of fixing the price of labor and of output.

Mr. William J. Bryan in summarizing the results of The White House conference in a notable address said, "There is no twilight zone between the nation and the states where exploiting interests may take refuge from both."

The conference produced a deep impression upon all those who attended it. The Committee upon Resolutions drew up a strong series which were unanimously adopted, covering many points of transcendent importance in the conservation of the natural resources of the nation. In this report it was pointed out that there is a close correlation between the conservation of one resource and that of another. If the forests are conserved, the streams will have equal flow; they will be available for navigation; they will give the highest efficiency for water power; the lowlands will not be inundated; and thus the preservation of the forests will assist in many ways the usefulness of the streams. And if the streams are utilized for water power, the coal will not be so heavily drawn upon. The conservation of soil and the streams are all connected with the beauty of the country.

And so this great subject of conservation is an interlocking one. It makes no difference where we begin. It is not easy to pick out any one subject

perhaps which should be emphasized in preference to another. But if it were possible to select any one measure which is more important than any other at the present time, because the dangers are more imminent, it is that of the conservation of the forests of the southern Appalachians. You who are in the South and from the South know very well that there are very steep slopes in that region. You know the soil is deeply disintegrated, it is only held in place by heavy vegetation. If those forests are removed, the abundant rain fall will carry down vast quantities of clay and sand, and destroy the lowlands. You who are from California know that a comparatively small amount of material, as the result of hydraulic operation, has done much damage to the lower part of the stream. It has choked navigation. It has destroyed extensive areas of arable land. The amount of material which has gone down the streams of California as the result of hydraulic operation is not a onehundredth part of the amount that would be thrown upon the great valley of the South if the great Smoky Mountains were denuded of their forests. Yet one man, or one group of men in Congress, stood in the way of this measure which was for the conservation of the nation!

I speak plainly upon this matter, because it is one upon which I feel strongly. So deeply were the governors of the states moved by the importance of the subject of conservation that several of them announced before they returned to their homes, that the first act that they should perform would be to appoint a commission for the conservation of our natural resources. In their resolutions they requested the President to appoint a United States commission to co-operate with them in this great subject. This President Roosevelt has done, and already there are a number of state commissions appointed. Doubtless before two years have gone by, the majority of the states of our nation will have commissions on the conservation of the natural resources of their respective states. And these commissions will co-operate with one another and with the United States Commission in this great work. Up to the present time the Executive Committee of the United States Commission has had one meeting, and a great campaign of work has been outlined. In the first place it has been seen that we must at the outset take an inventory of our resources, find out what we now have, find out how much of this material has already been utilized by this nation, find out the rate of present exploitation per year of our minerals and fertilizers in order to be able to calculate the probable time that these resources will last.

This commission has realized that a great set of studies must be taken up with reference to decreasing the waste and increasing the economical use of our resources. At the present time we gain from our coal not more than one-third to one-fifth of its full value; the methods of mining waste a large quantity. How may we reduce the waste in mining, and more economically use the product that is mined? Here will be a great investigation, which will continue through a number of years.

Then these commissions-the state and government commissions--have

before them the great problem of educating the people to realize the importance of this subject; the problem of instilling in the youth a sense of responsibility to succeeding generations with reference to our natural resources. And here is the point where we appeal for assistance from this National Education Association. Each one of you-a teacher, a principal, a superintendent, an instructor in a college or a university or a grammar school-each one of you may be a center of influence in carrying forward this campaign, which, the President says, is the one of the most supreme importance before this nation.

We in the midst of the marvelous resources of this country can scarcely realize its importance; but any of you who have ever read about China, and know how the mountains of that country have been denuded of every stick of timber, how the soil has been carried down, down to the sea, how the productiveness of the country has been enormously decreased because of the unwise exploitation of the natural resources, will realize how important conservation is to our nation. We have little more than a hundred years behind us as a nation. We hope not only for a thousand, but thousands of years to be before us. We hope for a future history longer than nations have continued in the past. And if this be so, we can readily realize that the utmost care should be exercised in the use of our natural resources, a large portion of which required for their making the building of the world. Therefore, as a representative of the National Committee, I ask the active co-operation of this body in conserving the national resources of the nation.

THE FUNCTION OF EDUCATION IN A DEMOCRACY M. G. BRUMBAUGH, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, PHILADELPHIA, PA. We have in our midst an educational institution that numbers its variform activities by the thousands, its physical plant by the tens of thousands, its teachers by the hundreds of thousands, its pupils by the millions, and its annual expenditures by the hundreds of millions. This institution, represented alike in the great urban centers and in the remotest rural community, and precious in the heart of every patriot, is the free American public school. In a general way it is regarded as the bulwark of our liberties, the stronghold of our democracy. It is praised by all in their organized capacity and criticized by all in their individual capacity. Heedless alike of praise and censure, it steadily performs its function to democracy and thrives by a mystery of growth that baffles analysis.

What is its function, and how may it best be promoted? Democracy is essentially, as Lincoln characterized it, "government of the people, by the people and for the people." Its hope and its destiny are with the masses. What the masses are determines what democracy can be. If, then, our democracy is to be essentially and really the pride and glory of men it must rest upon some more fundamental and vital institution whose function it is to train individuals for participation in the form of government we avow. This prop beneath the

Republic, this universal factory whose output is to make an advance democracy, is, for obvious reasons, the free public school.

Two individuals can participate in a common cause only to the extent that they possess common sentiment and common knowledge. To increase their effective participation requires a broadening of their common knowledge. To make participation impossible requires only the absence of common knowledge. This holds true throughout. Hence, our democracy depends upon the possession by all its individual participants of a fund of common knowledge, which fund is the currency of democracy; and the function of the public school is to impart such a fund of common knowledge to all that participate in our democracy as to make facile the interchange of ideas and the reciprocal regard of each for the other. The initiation into democracy should always be contingent upon the possession of this common knowledge. For that reason the stranger from without should serve an apprenticeship in the American public school before he is invested with the toga of American citizenship. Likewise any one in our midst, native or foreign born, that has neglected to fit himself for participation in our democracy should be denied what his own neglect prevents him from comprehending. I am well aware that a few do, independent of the school, find agencies of guidance that will fit for participation in democracy, but for the masses the hope of a worthy citizenship, and the hope of our civil institutions alike, rests with universal public education.

Moreover, the growth of democracy, as well as its security, depends upon the widening of this fund of common knowledge. Hence the specific means of promoting the best traditions in our national life will be found to lie in the increased efficiency of the schools. What the school is as the creator of common thought and common sentiment determines what our democracy is. Upon this basis the state supports the school, and the system of education is maintained by taxation prescribed by the laws of the state. The measure of this financial support is the measure of our belief in democracy. When any citizen opposes an equitable, indeed, a liberal support to the schools he opposes the government itself.

To promote the ends of democracy many states by compulsory laws prevent child-labor and also require attendance at school between the ages of eight and fourteen. These laws should be universal in the Republic. We must, as educators, take our stand with those that oppose the coining of the blood of childhood into the currency of the market place. We must also take our stand like Luther and those since him that refuse to allow our government to be impaired by the presence in our midst of a schoolless child.

In maintaining an efficient system of education the state is governed not by sentiment but by necessity. It is not the life of the individual but the life of the state itself that is involved. In no other form of government is this so manifestly true, since in ours alone is the measure of education the measure of democracy. Hence we have little to learn from European states concerning the function of our system of education. To imagine that we can learn by a