the issue was probably the impetus was probably -- the issue was probably the impetus for chenowith's spiny letter to his friend. ike moved to his defense. it seems to me, he said, no greater intelligence is required in order to discern the practical as a key -- necessity of establishing some kind of security in a specialized and highly industrialized age. at one time such security was provided by the existence of free land and a great mass of untouched and soluble natural resources. these are no longer to be had for the asking. ike's letters to chenowith make similar references he had made elsewhere but his defense of natural resources was something new. it revealed the middle way political debt to a string of political thought not constantly associated. the extinction of the frontier and the necessity for federal welfare programs. the census bureau's pronouncement of the frontier extension had gathered little notice outside specialist circles. offering a range of talks from popular uprisings in the middle ages, to early lead mining. preceded turner's own lecture on the history. alth