It cannot be assumed
that all were looking so far ahead, but the declaration of principles
which had called this great assemblage had in it this import--something
loftier than any declaration of personal rights. It was a declaration of
duty--of duty not to the past, not even to the present, but to the long,
long distant future.
"Recognizing the natural resources of the country as the prime basis of
property and opportunity, we hold the rights of the people in these
resources to be natural and inherent and justly inalienable and
indefeasible; and we insist that the resources should and shall be
developed, used, and conserved in ways consistent with current welfare and
with the perpetuity of our people."
When this or a like sentiment is framed out of the consciousness of a free
people into a controlling declaration of public policy, we shall have not
merely a nobler offering to put beside the beaver-skin and the university,
but a document worthy to be put above our Declaration of Independence
even, and an interpretation of the words "the people of the United States"
in our Constitution that will give them an import beyond the highest
conception of its authors.
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