“ But there must be the look ahead, there must be a realization of the fact that to waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed. ”
Theodore Roosevelt, State of the Union Address (3 December 1907). copy citation
| Author | Theodore Roosevelt |
|---|---|
| Source | State of the Union Address |
| Topic | conservation development environment |
| Date | 3 December 1907 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5032/5032-h/5032-h.htm |
Context
“As a nation we not only enjoy a wonderful measure of present prosperity but if this prosperity is used aright it is an earnest of future success such as no other nation will have. The reward of foresight for this Nation is great and easily foretold. But there must be the look ahead, there must be a realization of the fact that to waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed. For the last few years, through several agencies, the Government has been endeavoring to get our people to look ahead and to substitute a planned and orderly development of our resources in place of a haphazard striving for immediate profit.”
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Meaning and analysis
