roper place.

I can now proceed with my American experiences without leaving any doubt
as to the point of view from which I approach the problem of rural life
in the United States. Having engaged in actual work upon that problem in
Ireland, where a combination of economic changes and political events
has made its solution imperative, and having been long in personal
touch with rural conditions in some Western States, my interest in
certain policies which were maturing at Washington may be easily
surmised. There I found that, with wholly different conditions to be
dealt with, the thoughts of the President and of others in his
confidence were, as regards the main issue, moving in the same direction
as my own. They too had come to feel that the welfare of the rural
population had been too long neglected, and that it was high time to
consider how the neglect might be repaired. In his annual message to
Congress in 1904, Mr. Roosevelt had made it clear that he was fully
conscious of this necessity. "Nearly half of the people of this
country," he wrote, "devote their energies to growing things from the
soil. Until a recent date little has been done to prepare these millions
for their life work." I did not realise at the time the full import of
these sentences. Nor did I foresee that the problem of rural life was
to be forced to the front by the awakening of public opinion, upon
another issue differing from and yet closely related to the subject of
these pages. Mr. Roosevelt was thinking out the Conservation idea, which
I believe will some day be recognised as the greatest of his policies.

CHAPTER II

THE LAUNCHING OF TWO ROOSEVELT POLICIES

Although somebody has already said something like it, I would say there
is a tide in the thoughts of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to
action. We make the general claim for our Western civilisation, that,
whatever the form of government, once public opinion is thoroughly
stirred upon a great and vital issue, it is but a question of time for
the will to find the way. But in the life of the United States, the
passage from thought to action is more rapid than in any country that I
know. Nowhere do we find such a combination of emotionalism with sanity.
No better illustration of these national qualities could be desired than
that afforded by the inception and early growth of the Conservation
policy.

I have already shown how my inquiries at Washington gave me access to
t