ke other
citizens, also in proportion to his attachment to the soil. That is the
principal spring of his steadiness, his sanity, his simplicity and
directness, and many of his other desirable qualities. He is the first
of home-makers.

The nation that will lead the world will be a Nation of Homes. The
object of the great Conservation movement is just this, to make our
country a permanent and prosperous home for ourselves and for our
children, and for our children's children, and it is a task that is
worth the best thought and effort of any and all of us.

To achieve this or any other great result, straight thinking and strong
action are necessary, and the straight thinking comes first. To make
this country what we need to have it, we must think clearly and directly
about our problems, and above all we must understand what the real
problems are. The great things are few and simple, but they are too
often hidden by false issues, and conventional, unreal thinking. The
easiest way to hide a real issue always has been, and always will be, to
replace it with a false one.

The first thing we need in this country, as President Roosevelt so well
set forth in a great message which told what he had been trying to do
for the American people, is equality of opportunity for every citizen.
No man should have less, and no man ought to ask for any more. Equality
of opportunity is the real object of our laws and institutions. Our
institutions and our laws are not valuable in themselves. They are
valuable only because they secure equality of opportunity for happiness
and welfare to our citizens. An institution or a law is a means, not an
end, a means to be used for the public good, to be modified for the
public good, and to be interpreted for the public good. One of the great
reasons why President Roosevelt's administration was of such enormous
value to the plain American was that he understood what St. Paul meant
when he said: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." To
follow blindly the letter of the law, or the form of an institution,
without intelligent regard both for its spirit and for the public
welfare, is very nearly as dangerous as to disregard the law altogether.
What we need is the use of the law for the public good, and the
construction of it for the public welfare.

It goes without saying that the law is supreme and must be obeyed.
Civilization rests on obedience to law. But the law is not absolute. It
require