committee of the Congress.
ARTICLE 6—ARRANGEMENTS FOR SESSIONS.
Section 1. The program for the session of each annual meeting of the
Congress, including a list of speakers, shall be arranged by the
Executive Committee. The entire program, including allotments of time
to speakers and hours for daily sessions and all other arrangements
concerning the program, shall be made by the Executive Committee.
Section 2. Unless otherwise ordered, the rules adopted for the
guidance of the preceding Congress shall continue in force.
ARTICLE 7—MEMBERSHIP.
Section 1. The personnel of the National Conservation Congress shall
be as follows:
_Officers and Delegates._
Officers of the National Conservation Congress.
Fifteen delegates appointed by the Governor of each State and
Territory.
Five delegates appointed by the mayor of each city with a population
of 25,000 or more.
Two delegates appointed by the mayor of each city with a population
of less than 25,000.
Two delegates appointed by each board of county commissioners.
Five delegates appointed by each national organization concerned in
the work of Conservation.
Five delegates appointed by each State or interstate organization
concerned in the work of Conservation.
Three delegates appointed by each chamber of commerce, board of
trade, commercial club, or other local organization concerned in the
work of Conservation.
Two delegates appointed by each State, or other university, or
college, and by each agricultural college, or experiment station.
_Honorary Members._
The President of the United States.
The Vice-President of the United States.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Cabinet.
The United States Senate and House of Representatives.
The Supreme Court of the United States.
The representatives of foreign countries.
The Governors of the States and Territories.
The Lieutenant-Governors of the States and Territories.
The Speakers of State Houses of Representatives.
The State officers.
The mayors of cities.
The county commissioners.
The presidents of State and other universities and colleges.
The officers and members of the National Conservation Association.
The officers and members of the National Conservation Commission.
The officers and members of the State Conservation Commissions and
associations.
Section 2. Membership in the National Conservation Congress shall be
as follows:
[Illustration: _J. B. White_(signature)
OF KANSAS CITY, MO.,
PRESIDENT, FOURTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS]
Individual membership: One dollar a year, entitling the member to
a copy of the Proceedings and an invitation to the next year’s
Congress, without further appointment from any organization.
Individual permanent, or life membership: Twenty-five dollars,
entitling the member to a certificate of membership and a copy of the
Proceedings and invitations to all succeeding annual Congresses.
Individual supporting membership: One hundred dollars, or more,
entitling the member to a certificate of membership, a copy of the
Proceedings, and an invitation to all succeeding Congresses.
Organization membership: Twenty-five dollars, entitling its delegates
to the Proceedings, and an invitation to the organization to appoint
delegates to the next Congress.
Organization supporting membership: One hundred dollars, or more,
entitling the organization to appoint one delegate from each State,
each of whom shall receive a copy of the Proceedings.
ARTICLE 8—DELEGATIONS AND STATE OFFICERS.
Section 1. The several delegates from each State in attendance at
any Congress shall assemble at the earliest practicable time and
organize by choosing a Chairman and a Secretary. These delegates,
when approved by the Committee on Credentials, shall constitute the
delegation from that State.
ARTICLE 9—VOTING.
Section 1. Each member of the Congress shall be entitled to one vote
on all actions taken _viva voce_.
Section 2. A division or call of States may be demanded on any
action, by a State delegation. On division, each delegate shall be
entitled to one vote; provided (1) that no State shall have more than
twenty votes; and provided (2) that when a State is represented by
less than ten delegates, said delegates may cast ten votes for each
State.
Section 3. The term “State” as used herein is to be construed to mean
either State, Territory, or insular possession.
ARTICLE 10—AMENDMENTS.
This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the Congress
during any regular session, provided notice of the proposed amendment
has been given from the Chair not less than one day or more than two
days preceding; or by unanimous vote without such notice.
RESOLUTIONS.
FOURTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS.
The Fourth National Conservation Congress, made up of delegates from
all sections and from thirty-five States of the Union, met in the
City of Indianapolis, do hereby make the following declarations:
Recognizing the natural resources of the country as the prime basis
of property and opportunity, we reaffirm the declaration of the
preceding Congress, that the rights of the people in these resources
are natural, inherent, and inalienable; and we insist that these
resources shall be developed, used and conserved in ways consistent
both with the current and future welfare of our people.
We put chief emphasis on vital resources and the health of the
people; and since health and brains are the first and most important
factors of efficient life, we urge the adoption of all rational and
scientific methods which will lead to their building-up.
To be well born is the primal requirement, and the first step to make
sure that children shall be well born is to stop the multiplication
of those bearing hereditary defects of body and mind. We believe that
science is capable of solving the problem satisfactorily and that
improvement is possible under existing conditions. We earnestly urge
its consideration by the public.
We believe that every State should have wisely ordered health
laws, with officers empowered to enforce them, and also that a
National Department of Health should be created, comporting with the
dignity and importance of the cause. This department should work
effectively for the promotion of the physical and hence the moral and
intellectual health of the people.
The accurate registration of births and deaths, which has been
called the ‘Bookkeeping of Humanity,’ is a fundamental necessity for
a study and knowledge of disease, and for all public health work.
Therefore, we affirm our belief in the importance of vital statistics
registration, and recommend that all States now without proper
vital statistics adopt as early as possible the model bill for the
registration of vital statistics indorsed by the United States Bureau
of the Census, and by many prominent professional and scientific
bodies.
We urge the strengthening of laws safeguarding the health and the
lives of workers in industrial establishments; and we commend
to the employers of labor all practicable safety devices and
proved preventive measures against illness and injury and physical
inefficiency; and we urge upon the other States the investigation of
accidents by elevators and the enactment of laws similar to those on
the statute books of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
We commend the activity of all individuals and organizations and
governmental agencies to put an end to such work by children and
women as impairs the health of the race. Childhood is our greatest
resource, and its right to protection in growing to a normal maturity
is inalienable. We deplore the ignorant use of medicines; and we
call upon all humane and educational agencies to teach the waste and
danger of any drug-habit.
We earnestly advocate the employment by communities and manufacturing
concerns of such methods of sewage disposal as will render their
waste products harmless to health and utilize them in the restoration
of soil fertility; and we urge the enactment by States of laws
prohibiting stream pollution and by the Federal Government of such
legislation as will prevent the pollution of interstate and coastal
waters.
Uniform State legislation regulating the refrigeration of perishable
food stuffs is advisable, therefore this Congress recommends that
its Food Committee be requested to study the questions involved in
the production, collection, sanitary preparation, transportation,
preservation and marketing of perishable foods and to report
its findings to the succeeding Congress as a basis for uniform
legislation.
In view of the enormous losses annually sustained by the agricultural
interests of the United States on account of the ravages of injurious
insects, which might be kept more under control by an increase of
insect-eating birds, we urge the passage of Federal laws for the
protection of all migratory birds; and the passage of State laws for
the prohibition of spring shooting and of the sale of game.
We reaffirm the great importance of our fishery resources, which are
threatened with serious diminution. We urge upon Congress and the
States to provide more liberally for the propagation and preservation
of food fishes.
LANDS.
We keenly recognize the need of the people of the country for more
complete and accurate knowledge of their land and its conditions than
is now available, in order to promote their economic, social and
intellectual well-being and to conserve scattered individual energy;
We recognize that such data should be collected by a general series
of State and National surveys arranged in the order in which they
will be most accurate and effective and that many of these are
already in progress;
This Congress earnestly points out the following kinds of data of
which the people have need and the approximate order in which it
should be collected, namely:
1. A thorough geographical survey of public boundaries and cultural
features.
2. Of the form or topography of the earth’s surface.
3. Of the geology, including the structure and economic deposits of
the earth’s crust.
4. Of the kinds and distribution of soils in their relation to
agricultural operations.
5. Of the climate in its local variations and relation to crops and
industry.
6. Of the surface and underground water supply of the country in its
local and regional relation, including flood and storage problems.
7. Of various biological, crop and forestry conditions and relations.
8. And of many other surveys of a more specialized character and
local application which may be adequately carried forward on the
basis outlined above.
We urge the several States and the Federal Government to examine
their existing agencies to determine whether they are completely and
effectively fulfilling these functions.
Further, we reaffirm the action of the last Conservation Congress in
approving the withdrawal of the public lands pending classification,
and the separation of surface rights from mineral, forest and water
rights, including water-power sites, and we recommend legislation for
the classification and leasing for grazing purposes all unreserved
lands suitable chiefly for this purpose, subject to the rights of
homesteaders and settlers, on the acquisition thereof under the land
laws of the United States; and we hold that arid and non-irrigable
public grazing lands should be administered by the Government in the
interest of small stockmen and home-seekers until they have passed
into the possession of actual settlers.
FORESTS.
Believing that the necessity of preserving our forests and forest
industries is so generally realized that it calls only for
constructive support along specific lines—
We commend the work of the Federal Forest Service, and urge our
constituent bodies and all citizens to insist upon more adequate
appropriations for this work and to combat any attempt to break down
the integrity of the national forest system by reductions in area, or
transfer to State authority.
Since Federal co-operation under the Weeks law is stimulating better
forest protection by the States, and since the appropriation for
such co-operative work is nearly exhausted, we urge appropriation by
Congress for its continuance.
We recommend that the Federal troops be made systematically available
for controlling forest fires.
Deploring the lack of uniform State activity in forest work, we
emphatically urge the crystallization of effort in the lagging States
toward securing the creation of forest departments with definite and
ample appropriations, in no case of less than ten thousand dollars
per annum, to enable the organization of forest fire work, publicity
propaganda, surveys of forest resources and general investigations
upon which to base the earliest possible development of perfected and
liberally financed forest policies.
We recommend in all States more liberal appropriation for forest fire
prevention, especially for patrol to obviate expenditure for fighting
neglected fires, and the expenditure of such effort in the closest
possible co-operation with Federal and private protective agencies;
and also urge such special legislation and appropriation as may be
necessary to stamp out insect and fungus attacks which threaten to
spread to other States. We cite for emulation the expenditure by
Pennsylvania of $275,000 to combat the chestnut blight, and the large
appropriation by Massachusetts to control insect depredation, and
urge greater Congressional appropriation for similar work by the
Bureau of Entomology.
Holding that conservative forest management and reforestation by
private owners are very generally discouraged or prevented by our
methods of forest taxation, we recommend State legislation to secure
the most moderate taxation of forest land consistent with justice and
the taxation of the forest crop upon such land only when the crop is
harvested and returns revenue wherewith to pay the tax.
We appreciate the increasing support by lumbermen of forestry reforms
and suggest particularly to forest owners the study and emulation of
the many co-operative patrol associations which are doing extensive
and efficient forest fire work and also securing closer relations
between private, State and Federal forest agencies. Believing that
lumbermen and the public have a common object in perpetuating the
use of forests, we indorse every means of bringing them together in
mutual aid and confidence to this end.
MINERALS.
We reaffirm the opinion of the last Conservation Congress that
mineral deposits underlying public lands should be transferred to
private ownership only by long-time leases with revaluation at stated
periods, such leases to be in such amounts and subject to such
regulations as to prevent monopoly and needless waste; and that in
case of doubt as to availability of such mineral deposits, or while
they are waiting exploration, surface rights to the land should
be transferred by lease only under such conditions as to promote
development and protect the public interest. Natural and manufactured
fertilizing materials should be limited and regulated by law.
Since present conditions in the mining industry result in heavy and
unnecessary loss of life and great waste of natural gas, coal and
other mineral resources, we call to public attention the need of
specific and uniform laws for the betterment of these conditions—laws
as rigid and comprehensive as we enact for the protection of life and
for the right use of property in any other fundamental industry.
WATER POWER.
We reaffirm the previously expressed belief of the Conservation
Congress than all parts of every drainage basin are related and
inter-dependent, and that each stream should be regarded and treated
as a unit from its source to its mouth.
Recognizing the vast economic benefits to the people of water power
derived largely from interstate and navigable rivers, we favor public
control of their water power development; and we demand that the use
of their water rights be permitted only for limited periods, with
just compensation in the interests of the people.
COUNTRY LIFE.
We applaud the betterment of conditions affecting country life, such
as good roads, and organizations for co-operative buying and selling;
and we urge the study of rural credit systems whereby the farmer may
more easily borrow capital at a reasonable rate of interest.
We applaud the work of making rural schools fit rural needs.
DR. W. J. McGEE.
We here place on record our sense of the deep loss by the country
through the untimely death of Dr. W. J. McGee, a member of a
Committee of this Congress, a scientific man of broad attainment, and
of the widest human sympathy, whose helpfulness in these Congresses
and many similar meetings will be sadly missed.
THE EXHIBIT.
We mention with appreciation the work of the Committee on Exhibits,
Mrs. Philip N. Moore, Chairman, which made the instructive health
exhibit under the management of Dr. Winthrop Talbot.
We record our grateful appreciation of the hospitality and
helpfulness of the State Government of Indiana, and of the City
Government of Indianapolis; and of the Local Board of Managers, Mr.
Richard Lieber, Chairman; of the Reception Committee, Mr. Albert E.
Metzger, Chairman; of the Commercial and Industrial organizations
which, through the Commercial Club, made the Congress here possible;
of the State Board of Agriculture, and of the Claypool Hotel, for
their helpful courtesies and generous co-operation; and we thank the
newspapers of Indianapolis for their unusually generous and accurate
reports.
We wish to assure the retiring President, Captain White, of the
heartiest appreciation of the Congress and of the country for his
generous and efficient administration of the complicated business
of the Congress; and Mr. Thomas R. Shipp, the Executive Secretary,
for his zealous labor and good judgment and skilful management;
and Mr. James C. Gipe, the Recording Secretary, for his energy and
efficiency; and Colonel John I. Martin, the Sergeant-at-arms, must
add one more vote of thanks to his ever-lengthening collection.
FOURTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS.
_OPENING SESSION._
The Congress convened in the Murat Theater, Indianapolis, Indiana, on
the morning of October 1, 1912, President J. B. White in the chair.
President WHITE—The Fourth National Conservation Congress will now
come to order, and the audience will please rise while the Rev. Dr.
F. S. C. Wicks invokes Divine blessing.
INVOCATION.
_Infinite and Eternal One, we would open our Congress with an
acknowledgment of Thee as the Giver of every good and perfect gift.
Thou hast placed us in a rich and fertile land, teeming with the
things needful for Thy children, and Thou hast laid upon us the great
responsibility of conserving these resources so that these blessings
will extend to our children’s children and to all generations
forevermore. To Thee be all the praise and the glory. Amen._
ADDRESSES OF WELCOME.
President WHITE—On behalf of the State of Indiana, your fellow
citizen, the Honorable Charles Warren Fairbanks, will address the
Congress in words of welcome. (Applause.)
Mr. FAIRBANKS—Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: Indiana has
frequently been honored by the presence of conventions of national
importance. Our countrymen, engaged in various and vast pursuits and
in the consideration of a large variety of questions, religious,
social, fraternal, economic and political in their character, have
assembled here from time to time to take counsel together with
respect to the subjects engaging their particular attention, and to
the advancement of our common welfare.
Our State has a hospitality for all who are engaged in promoting the
moral, material and political well-being of our rapidly multiplying
millions. I will not be misunderstood, I know, when I say that we
have never more heartily welcomed to our midst any body of men than
we now welcome the Fourth National Conservation Congress. (Applause.)
We recognize in this great assembly one of the most beneficent
agencies for good which has taken on the form of systematic
organization, national in its scope. It is not sectional, but is as
comprehensive in its purpose as the ample limits of the Republic.
It takes thought, not of the few, but embraces within its generous
purpose one hundred millions of people of all conditions and without
suggestion or partiality for white or black, native or alien born.
How vast and how vital the field of its activities!
How full of promise such an assembly as this is! It is, Mr. Chairman,
a complete answer to the pessimist. No thought of commercial gain
has brought you here; a spirit of altruism, love of country and of
mankind has been the impelling motive which has caused you, at your
own expense, to leave the comforts of your homes and firesides and
your daily vocations to come here and deliberate upon great themes of
larger interest to the great community of which you are a part than
to yourselves.
You hold no commission from the government, yet your service is of
profound importance to it. You are not public servants in a narrow
sense, but in a broad sense you freely serve the public in the best
possible way.
The lesson of men voluntarily devoting themselves to the betterment
of their fellows without the thought of sordid gain is a fine one and
must impress itself in a very vivid and beneficial way upon the minds
of others and tend to elevate the entire mass. What tends to impress
us with our interdependence and to stimulate a feeling of homogeneity
among us as this movement does is of incalculable benefit. It is a
splendid thing for people to fellowship together in this manner, to
take counsel of each other with reference to questions concerning the
common good. It shows that we are interested more in what concerns
the great body of the community than in what concerns ourselves.
General Harrison, gifted statesman and our fellow citizen, once very
happily expressed the fact of the strength of confederated numbers
in a good cause. He told of an engagement during the great Civil
War when he was colonel of an Indiana regiment that was fighting in
the midst of a woods and thicket. The enemy was pressing hard in
front and fighting every inch of ground with a desperation that was
unsurpassed. The Indiana regiment was feeling the shock of war in
an extreme degree, and was almost on the point of discouragement.
They felt they were fighting the battle alone. But in the course of
time, as they emerged into a savannah, they saw a New York regiment,
with its battle flags flying to the breeze; and over there another
regiment from Kansas, and a shout of victory went up all along the
line, for they found they were not a mere detachment, but part of a
great army fighting for a common cause.
So it is a fine thing to feel that we are part of a great army
fighting for a common cause—for home and country, rather than
detached units fighting for ourselves. (Applause.)
Conservation is comparatively new in the vocabulary of our modern
domestic economy, but it is a great word. It has come to be one of
the greatest words of the human language from a practical standpoint.
It is a continent-wide word in America. Conservation in some aspect
of the subject touches every community, every city, every State and
every individual. In other words, in a vital degree, it touches the
welfare of one hundred millions of American citizens. Its importance
is just beginning to be appreciated. Great today, but greater
tomorrow in the progress of affairs. (Applause.)
A good Providence endowed us so abundantly with the prime necessities
of our being that we have not fully realized the fact that there was
either a possibility or danger of dissipating them. We were wont
to boast of our inexhaustible resources. Nature has been prodigal,
and we have been prodigal in the use and abuse of what she had so
generously placed at our hands.
The forests—how vast and how majestic! We were obliged to fell them
for the plow and the harvest, and for homes and cities. We came to
look upon them as in our way—obstructions to our progress, as in a
certain sense they were, but in a large way they were not. And we
carried the work of demolition to the danger point before we realized
our mistake. What nature had been centuries creating for us we
frequently recklessly destroyed in a day.
The soil, the primary source of human life and strength, was rich
beyond compare. In the laboratory of nature the chemical elements
had been so nicely compounded that, to use a familiar simile, the
farmer had only to tickle the land with a hoe and it laughed with
the harvest. In time, Mother Earth began to resent neglect and
abuse, and the crop yield diminished; but that mattered little to
the unthinking, for there were still vast areas of virgin soil and
the food supply was adequate to our needs. In the course of time,
however, there were no unoccupied lands to be pre-empted, no fresh
soil for the asking.
MILLIONS COME TO OUR SHORES.
Millions of men and women flocked to our shores every ten years
from every land beyond the seas, seeking home and opportunity;
millions every decade were added to our population at home by natural
increase. Students of statistics came to realize that in the face
of an increasing demand for food supply at home, regardless of
the millions in the Old World dependent upon our granaries, soil
exhaustion was a subject of very vital importance, a crime, if you
please, not by the statute, but by moral law; and this may be said
with respect to the reckless or ignorant dissipation of all our
natural resources.
We are in a very real sense trustees of the fields and forests, mines
and other sources of wealth, not to use and abuse at our will, but
rather to use for our own reasonable necessities and then to transmit
them unimpaired, so far as possible, and if possible increased in
life-sustaining power, to our children. (Applause.)
By no other method can our civilization be perpetually maintained
upon the highest level and the Republic kept in the forefront of the
nations of the world. The man who owns and tills the soil, who owns
and fells the forest, who owns and mines the coal, has no moral right
to abuse his ownership; no one has a moral right to waste patrimony
which must support not only the owner but the man who is not the
owner, and whose continued comfort and existence must depend upon the
wisdom with which the owner of the soil and forest and mine uses them.
The importance of Conservation derives emphasis from the rapidity
with which our population grows. Our cities will not only multiply in
number, but their inhabitants will increase, population will become
congested everywhere, and the demand upon our natural resources will
be greatly increased. We have added nearly ninety millions to our
population in one hundred years. One hundred years ago we were small
in numbers compared with the older countries. We have outstripped
all but the older empires and republics of Continental Europe.
Take Russia, with her 172,000,000; take India, with 325,000,000,
and China, where they are building a republic upon the ruins of an
empire, with her 400,000,000, and the United States stands fourth
in magnitude of population among the nations of the world, having
outstripped all but these, and with the present ratio of increase,
in one hundred and fifty or two hundred years we will stand not the
last of these great populous countries. And what does this signify?
It signifies that the great subject of Conservation that you are
taking hold of with such intelligent, patriotic interest, will be the
overmastering question then as it is today. (Applause.)
Who can put a practical limitation upon a definition of Conservation?
Conservation of our natural resources does not go far enough. The
public health falls within the subject of Conservation in the fullest
and best sense, and that is susceptible of many subdivisions.
Conservation of the minds and morals, Conservation of our political
institutions—all of these and many more subjects of but little less
importance engage the attention of such men as are assembled here.
I understand, Mr. Chairman, that the human side of Conservation is
to receive particular emphasis in this Congress. I am glad it is
so. We have been so long concerned with the physical resources that
we have failed to give proper credit to really a larger aspect of
Conservation. As important as is the conservation of our natural
resources, far more important is the question of conserving the
health, conserving the intellect, conserving the morality of the one
hundred millions of people we have. (Applause.) I have known men who
were more solicitous regarding the health of a fine horse or dog
than the health of the family. I have sometimes seen (but not in any
of the States from which any of you come) ladies that had a more
affectionate solicitude for a fine cat or a fine poodle than for the
members of her household. (Laughter.) We are getting beyond that.
We are coming to appreciate that that greatest assets in the United
States today are men and women, and we must know how to conserve them.
There is manifest and gratifying awakening upon this subject
throughout the country. We have not begun to appreciate the
possibilities in this field. Men of science, the microscope, the
laboratory and carefully gathered and well-digested statistics have
opened up a new world to our vision. Physicians and surgeons have
been exploring the mysteries of the physical man and familiarizing
themselves with the perils of his environment and learning how to
arrest the work of his destroyer.
They have learned how to locate his worst enemies by the use of the
searching eye of the microscope, enemies who destroy more thousands
than those enemies who come with fleets and armies and flaunting
banners. It was not the Chagres river and Culebra cut which defeated
the French Company in the construction of the Panama Canal, but the
mosquito.
An American physician opened up the way to the completion of this
work of world-wide moment by destroying the insect which had
successfully defeated the French. The white plague, which takes such
tremendous toll annually, is now under siege from every quarter, and
science will in due time win a new victory in removing this scourge.
Better sanitation in cities, villages, schoolhouses, workshops,
homes, on farms and in cities, guarding our water supply against
pollution, insuring pure food and pure drugs and their better
preparation, are a few of the imperative requirements of the day.
And when I speak of pure food and drugs, Dr. Wiley comes to my mind.
(Applause.) He has to do with an aspect of practical Conservation
that will entitle him and his associates to perpetual remembrance in
the United States. (Applause.)
These are all practical questions, the importance of which cannot
be over-emphasized. They concern the health and happiness of many
millions of people and the destiny of the Republic itself.
INDIANA NOT INDIFFERENT.
Indiana has not been indifferent to this great movement. It has taken
up the work of Conservation with full appreciation of its magnitude
and its direct bearing upon the present and future of the State.
Our interests are so diversified that our conservationists in all
branches of the movement find full opportunity for the exercise of
their activities.
We have an agricultural college which is doing much to advance
agriculture, horticulture, stock raising and the like along advanced
lines. Farmers are being interested in the necessity of cultivation
of the soil and the importance of seed selection, drainage and the
like. We have farmers’ short courses instituted by the college which
are proving of immense value. We are conserving the health of the
livestock upon the farms. Sanitation has played an important part in
this branch of work, as it has upon the human side.
We have a board of forestry supported by the State, and a Forestry
Association organized by the people; also a commission to protect the
food supply of our lakes and streams. These are only a few of the
evidences of our progress in Conservation.
We are conserving with particular care the health of our school
children with admirable results. We have learned, somewhat slowly
perhaps, that sound bodies and sound minds should and can go
together, and that to educate the mind and allow the body to
become diseased is false economy on the part of the State and is
nothing short of a crime, committed through either our ignorance or
indifference.
We have sought to guard against and cure occupational diseases which
impair and disqualify so many wage earners. We have more and more
sought to throw around them such safeguards as well protect them
against injury and death, and then to provide an adequate measure of
compensation in case of accident as one of the legitimate burdens
upon industry of the community which ultimately rests upon the public.
HAVE REDUCED ACCIDENTS.
During the last fifteen years we have made much advance in the
conservation of the health of our people. By rigid factory inspection
we have reduced accidents to our workmen from machinery and by
improved sanitation we have protected their health. We have also
rigidly inspected our mines with like results.
In fifteen years diphtheria has decreased sixty per cent.,
consumption has decreased in this same period six to eight per
cent.; deaths from typhoid fever have fallen in the last two years
from almost two thousand to 936 in 1911. Education, better living,
improved sanitation, and an efficient State Board of Health, with
its excellent organization of health officers in every locality, the
co-operation of the press in the education of the people and support
of our health officers, have accomplished a great work in increasing
in a very considerable degree the health, vigor and happiness of our
people.
The net result of it all is told in the vital statistics of the
State. In the last fifteen years the duration of life has been
increased from 38.7 years to 44.6 years.
We are advocating the creation of a State Conservation Board with
supervisory power over all subjects of Conservation now committed
to separate and independent boards or commissions, so as to more
effectively co-ordinate their efforts in a scientific manner,
avoiding duplication and intensifying the work. It is suggested that
a building be erected by the State for the proper accommodation of
the entire Conservation service.
We regard this as a matter of great importance, and there is no doubt
whatever that the State will liberally respond to the prevailing
sentiment in favor of broadening the work of Conservation. It never
pursues any parsimonious policy in supporting whatever concerns the
education, health, moral safety and welfare of our people, so far as
this may be appropriately accomplished under the law.
It is not inappropriate in this presence to observe that the
Conservation of our political fabric must not be left out of
consideration. This is a matter we must always hold uppermost in our
minds, lest we allow harm to come to our priceless heritage.
Partisan utterance would, of course, contravene good taste, and I
shall not offend against it; but I may suggest with propriety that
we should hold fast to the fundamental principles of republican
government, which have been our guaranty of liberty and human rights
and of orderly progress for a century and a quarter.
The political wisdom of our forefathers has been abundantly
vindicated in our experience. Older countries in continental Europe
and in the Orient are turning toward us more and more and fashioning
their political institutions after ours.
We need not be quick to surrender the present well-tried guaranties
we have of justice and the rights of men for theories which neither
upon good reason nor upon experience are commended to our best
judgement.
The program which lies before you is full of the promise of
entertainment and instruction. Men of wide experience, students of
our economic and social needs, will lay before you the rich fruit
gathered by them in the fields of their activities. Specialists in
many branches of the great work of Conservation will make you their
debtors. I shall not, of course, attempt to anticipate the subjects
upon which they will enlighten you.
Custom, my friends, alone has led me to make the observations in
which I have indulged in extending you welcome on behalf of the
State of Indiana. It is quite unnecessary to occupy your time in
discharge of this pleasant duty, which but for his enforced absence
would have been performed by the distinguished Governor of the State.
You would understand me, I know, if I merely said “Welcome.” You
would know that it was no perfunctory utterance, but that it came
from the bottom of the Hoosier heart. In a sense we do not look
upon you as our guests; we prefer to regard you as members of our
household. (Applause.)
President WHITE—The thanks of the delegates, the thanks of the
visitors, and the thanks of the people of the United States are due
and will be given to the Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks for this most
intelligent address, this statement of the principles that lie at
the heart of every true conservationist. (Applause.) He has taken a
forward step, he has led in the great movement in his own State, and
he is now president of the Indiana Forestry Association.
I want to say that it is very fortunate for the people of the country
that this address, and others that will follow, will be published
and sent broadcast over this great land. We are going to teach the
principles of conservation in every home.
It is now fitting that the next speaker should be also a
conservationist—a conservationist of a different type, but no less
a true conservationist, for at his hands, through his work, has
come to the City of Indianapolis a reduction in fire loss from
$600,000 to $300,000 annually. He is President of the Merchants’ and
Manufacturers’ Insurance Bureau, and has practiced conservation in
a most practical manner by reducing the fire loss and saving money
to the people. We who have investigated that subject in Germany and
other countries know how necessary it is that it should be brought
home to us here in our cities and our homes. I now have the pleasure
of introducing to you the Chairman of the Local Board of Managers,
Mr. Richard Lieber. (Applause.)
Mr. LIEBER—Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a very great
pleasure and a distinguished honor to welcome you to our city upon
this auspicious occasion. The City of Indianapolis deeply appreciates
your coming and knows that through participation in your assemblages
and deliberations it will materially profit in those matters which
are of such vast and comprehensive benefit to its citizens. From
here, through your able and learned speakers, potential knowledge
will be disseminated throughout the length and breadth of our beloved
country, which, in its application, will increase the happiness,
contentment and usefulness of our people.
You have come here to consider most serious problems regarding the
conservation of national wealth, more particularly that of vital
resources, and above all, the conservation of human life.
For that reason, coupled with our welcome, is our expression of
thanks for your coming, for “your worth is warrant of your welcome.”
The thought of conservation is comparatively new. It marks a new era
in the development of the country, and nowhere are its lessons more
intensely needed than in a country like ours, vast in its expanse,
relatively sparsely populated and apparently inexhaustible in its
natural riches.
But are these riches inexhaustible? Can we go on in the manner of
our fathers and forefathers, who frequently had to destroy in self
defense?
Not since the days of the migration of nations, not even since the
legendary days of the fall of Troy has the world witnessed anything
like this stupendous conquest of a virgin continent. It is an
intensified Iliad of modern days. No comparison with former ages can
suffice. What are even the wondrous tales of Moses’ messengers of the
great land where “floweth milk and honey” compared with the gigantic
proportions and abounding riches of this modern promised land?
That the pioneer, coming to this land was destructive before he could
be constructive is a matter of historical truth. It could not have
been otherwise. He fought civilization’s battle, that civilization
may enjoy peace and prosperity. But some of these destructive habits
of the settler have taken root in our being and destruction has
continued where construction was needed. What have the American
people not wasted! Land and water, fish and game, coal, natural gas
and too many other riches. Above all, how many useful and dear lives
are drawn into the surging maelstrom of our national waste through
indifference, carelessness and greed!
We find ourselves confronted here with the anamorphosis of
civilization.
Human sacrifice belongs to a dark and unenlightened day, but the
human sacrifice in mills and mines, in railroads and sweatshops in
our time is a dark blot upon our civilization. (Applause.)
In this mad chase after things material at any cost, we must pause,
for a nation will become unbalanced in its natural progress if its
spiritual and intellectual advance be retarded.
Conservation wishes to bring about a more harmonious blending of
these national needs. It teaches a wholesome regard for created
values, it preaches the sanctity of a child’s life and the economic
value of our boys’ and girls’ health, and aside from general
consideration where is an application of conservation ideals and
principles more needed than in our cities. We must learn that a good
man’s or woman’s example in the community is more beneficial and of
greater force than a mere ordinance. Virtue, righteousness and high
principle spring from the seen of teaching that has fallen in mind
and heart; they are inculcated but cannot be legislated. (Applause.)
[Illustration: CHARLES LATHROP PACK
PRESIDENT, FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS]
Would it not in this connection be braver for us fathers and mothers
to speak openly to our boys and girls concerning the dangers that
beset them in their course of life end thus turn the energies of
their lives into the board avenues of light, strength and usefulness
than to let them be drawn into the abysmal chasm of a veritable
hell of human waste. Would it not be better to save, to lessen the
inflow, than to clog the mouth of this human sewer by police orders
after prudery, hypocrisy and cowardice have filled it? (Applause.) We
are everlastingly treating symptoms instead of diseases, attacking
effects instead of causes, and we persistently thereby aggravate the
malady.
Let us have more light of thought, more air of true freedom and a
deeper and more sympathetic understanding of our own needs and those
of our fellow man that we may be enabled to show the folly of vice,
the contentment of virtue; that we may alleviate pain and want, and
that the warmth of human sympathy may send hope to the hopeless,
courage to the faltering and faith to the despondent.
With these fervent wishes the City of Indianapolis welcomes the
Fourth National Conservation Congress. (Applause.)
President WHITE—These words of welcome, coming from a different point
of view, are felt deeply by us all. We feel the spur of duty still
greater.
It is very fitting that another side of conservation should be heard
from. The business men, the local business organizations of a city
have done a good work for conservation. Human efficiency is one of
the greatest forces that move the world, and systematic organization
is one of the greatest powers towards efficient conservation of life
and of all material progress. A business man knows that his success
depends upon perfect organization, and that perfect organization is
just as necessary to the conservation of every natural resource.
I have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr. Winfield Miller,
of Indianapolis, who speaks on behalf of the local business
organizations. (Applause.)
Mr. MILLER—Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: When I was honored
by the commercial organizations of Indianapolis with the invitation
to extend for them a few words of greeting and welcome to this
National Conservation Congress, I looked into the biggest book, the
Dictionary, for a definition of the word “Conservation.” I found
the word concisely defined to mean “the art of preserving from
decay, loss or injury.” While the definition is not extended, it is
comprehensive and can be readily amplified to cover every phase of
the question.
I then turned to the greatest book, the Bible, and read that early
edict which still holds good, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread.” Over this ancient decree and its cause, there have been
volumes of theological commiseration, but in the light of subsequent
history, it is now generally agreed that man has been a greater force
in the garden of the world that if he had remained in the Garden of
Eden.
The thought occurs, however, that resting under the edict of
life-long toil man would, from an early period, have practiced
conservation in all things. But he soon discovered that “the earth
and the fulness thereof” were his, and, as ever, has been injuriously
careless of results.
Again, he was not left without hope. The same great authority, in
language and grandeur of thought unsurpassed, gives a promise of
perpetual inspiration, in this, that “While the earth remaineth,
seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and
day and night shall not cease.” This promise, according to accepted
chronology, has the confirmation of forty centuries of time and gives
man the assurance of a continued field in which to do his work. The
earth, the air, the waters are his environment; they are immutable,
unchangeable. The animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms furnish him
food, clothing, shelter, life. Their best use should be his first and
highest consideration.
Nature has been prodigal in her gifts to man. Her kingdoms have been
his to rightfully exploit. But too long and too often has selfish and
neglectful exploitation been his purpose and practice.
There is abundance for all if nature’s forces are properly conserved
and her products fairly distributed. But some men, in their greed
and haste, have grabbed a thousand-fold more than their necessities
or happiness required. They eat their bread in the sweat of the
other man’s face. On the other hand, the many have been ignorantly
neglectful of the opportunities of their environments—so that life
presses hard, too hard. Avarice, ignorance, waste, have linked arms
to the detriment of civilization.
We must strive for the necessities of food, clothing and shelter.
These sustain animal life, which is worth while; but animal life,
endowed with the highest moral and mental strength, is the goal to be
reached, for the summit of man’s ambitions should shine with human
comfort and happiness. Conservation is the road to that summit and
this National Congress has convened to further blaze the path and
light the road. (Applause.)
Inventions of the last century, mostly within the half century, have
injected into the field of travel and communication means that excite
profound admiration; chemical analysis of the air and soil have shown
that the food supply of the world, if nature’s forces are properly
conserved, is without limit; while the mighty strides made in the
better understanding of the physical needs of man himself insure the
race at large improved health and longer life.
May I briefly indulge in a few common illustrations? The telegraph,
the telephone, the automobile, steam and electric power save time
and shorten distance. In that part of commerce relating to traffic
we have caught the spirit of conservation. The railroad builder no
longer takes the route of the least resistance in construction, but
applies the geometric proposition that the straightest line is the
shortest distance between two given points, works to that end, meets
the difficulties of engineering, reduces gradients, and practically
builds his road along the line of least resistance, conserves time,
saves energy, increases efficiency and lessens rates.
The school books tell us of the “Seven Wonders” of the ancient
world—the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and so on; all to
gratify the vanity of kings and queens; not one for the advancement
of civilization.
In a little more than two years the dream of four centuries will be
realized—the Panama Canal will be completed. The distance from the
Occident to the Orient will be shortened seven thousand miles—the
truly modern wonder in advancing civilization and practical
conservation. (Applause.)
While the physical aspects of this mighty work, as they relate to
the traffic and commerce of the world, stand out in bold relief, but
little less, if any, in achievement, is the practical demonstration
that scientific sanitary methods can clean the plague spots of the
world and make them healthy and habitable for man.
Who can compute the saving of time and energy this mighty work will
bestow on the generations to come. Long after the passions of this
generation have ceased, history will record the names of the strong
men who have brought to full consummation this great waterway, as
true benefactors of mankind.
At this time, our public press is ecstatic over the great harvests
of 1912 that promise such abounding prosperity. Some writers are so
extravagant as to say that the bountiful yields from our soil make
an epoch in history. To speak of one crop only, the corn, or Indian
maize crop, spreads over 108,000,000 acres, and is estimated to be
3,000,000,000 bushels. How enormous! At fifty cents a bushel, its
money value would be $1,500,000,000, or $16.00 to every man, woman
and child in the United States. Measured in bread, there would be
enough to give to each of our 93,000,000 of people a five-cent loaf
for more than 320 days, or nearly one full year. As gratifying as
this is, the average yield is only twenty-seven bushels per acre;
while it is shown that, by proper selection of seed, cultivation and
fertilization of the soil, easily twice the yield could be produced,
which would double the benefits enumerated.
How often do we pass a barren field, the soil too impoverished to
grow wire grass, nettles, or thistles. The every-day farmer will tell
you that a crop or two of clover will restore the necessary plant
life to the soil of that field, and again make it blossom like the
rose. He knows from practical observation and experience the cure, if
he cannot scientifically trace the cause of the transformation.
Truly truth is stranger than fiction. Back of the restoration of
a thousand barren fields restored to productiveness in the simply
way named, lies one of the world’s greatest romances in patient
scientific investigation that will continue to bring untold benefits
to mankind. You know the story of Professor Nobbe, of Forest Academy,
Germany. He also knew that clover and other legumens of the plant
family would restore fertility to the soil. But why? After long and
exhaustive study, labor and experiment, he found that the clover
family were nature’s chemist of the soil; that by an invisible,
intangible cord of attraction they drew from the inexhaustible
reservoir of the air nitrogen so necessary to plant and animal life.
We are told that “nitrogen is what makes the muscles and brain of
man; that it is the essential element of all elements in the growth
of animals and plants, and, significantly enough, it is also the
chief constituent of the gunpowder and other explosives with which
the wars of the world are waged. The single discharge of a 13-inch
gun liberates enough nitrogen to produce scores of bushels of wheat.”
Some day, through this agency, man may turn his attention entirely
from war to the production of food, and in that hour true
conservation of life will have reached its triumph.
We are further told that four-fifths of the air we breath is
nitrogen, and that four-fifths of the atmosphere around us is
nitrogen, so that if mankind dies of nitrogen starvation, it will die
with food everywhere in and about it.
So that, while the human race may be but from three to six months
behind abject starvation, the fact begins to appear that through
science “mankind has just begun to sound the world’s capacity for
food production and that it is practically limitless.”
The proper conservation of the soil by the application of the
research of scientific discovery means increased yields of all plant
crops, with but little greater expenditure of energy. This would
enable the producer of food and clothing to sell more pounds, bushels
and yards at less cost, and still reap as great reward for his labor
as at present. This would forestall the Malthusian doctrine that
population increases faster than the means of subsistence and, still
better, would help to solve the high cost of living that presses
so sorely upon the millions throughout the world today. Man is a
productive machine; so the more machines of the highest type the
world possesses the better for the world.
This conservation movement that is so strongly taking hold of
the minds of thinking men and women, is so big, so broad and so
comprehensive that it covers every phase of human thought and
activity in what is best and highest for the individual as well as
organized society. It is education in the broadest sense.
The Golden Rule is not only a statement but a living principle. To
teach that a just distribution of nature’s gifts to each individual
who is willing to earn and conserve his share is a recognition of
that principle.
The City of Indianapolis esteems it a high honor to have this
Congress with us. To all of its members, and especially to the
distinguished men from other lands who have come to give us their
best thought upon the various questions affecting this great
movement, we extend our most cordial welcome and greeting, and our
deep appreciation of your presence.
Our commercial organizations also cordially join in holding the
door of welcome and hospitality open to you, and bespeak for your
deliberations their kindest sympathy and deepest interest.
President WHITE—This is a proud day for the officers of this
Congress, for its delegates from the different States, and for the
friends of Conservation everywhere, to be welcomed so hospitably,
not only for ourselves who are strangers within your gates, but
generously because of your sympathy in the great cause for which we
stand. The citizens of your great city are noted for their public
spirit, for their broad culture, and as being always found in the van
with the army of those of progressive ideas. It is very fitting that
the State of Indiana should have this Congress within its borders
because of the immense interest shown and all the valuable help
given by its citizens in the conservation of all natural resources,
especially of human life and soil fertility.
To become the best, to do the best for all in a community, we must
each develop the best within us, and must find our greatest reward in
something far beyond the mere accumulation of dollars. Our community
of interests recognizes a reciprocity of duty each to and for the
other. Our title to the regard of our fellow men must come from our
devotion to them and our love of humanity and its highest ideals,
and not from selfish zeal in accumulating monetary wealth, which
only represents the toil, the waste, and the necessities of human
lives. This has been and is the age of commercialism. The measure of
success has been gauged by the amount of money accumulated. In the
language of Goldsmith, our country was in danger of descending to a
condition “where wealth accumulates and men decay.” But I believe a
turning point has been reached; and that we are entering upon a new
era, a more glorious conception of higher duties for mankind; so
that it shall not be asked: “What hath he taken from others in the
competitive struggle for existence,” but rather: “What hath he given
to others of himself for their advancement and development?” He who
lives only for himself and does not plant for those that are to come
after him, lives in vain. I believe the time is near at hand when
a man shall be regarded with pity and as very poor indeed, who has
nothing but money selfishly gained for selfish use.
The Conservation Congress of the United States has a great field to
occupy. Its labors are for the betterment of its citizens in every
way. Its work is to seek for the best methods to do the greatest good
to all for this and for future generations. And in this there is no
partisan politics; but it is such good national politics, that each
party will strive only in seeking for the best methods for the common
good.
Human life, with its possible attainments, is far beyond valuation
in money. We should reverse the tables; and instead of human life
being estimated in dollars, the dollar should be valued only for what
it can do for greater humanity. Dr. Holmes, Director of the United
States Bureau of Mines, in illustrating waste of material resources,
says that in producing one half billion tons of coal, we waste or
leave underground one quarter of a billion tons. And then only eleven
per cent of the energy in coal is utilized; nearly ninety per cent is
lost through inefficiency of boilers, engines and dynamos. How great
a per cent. are we wasting of human life and human efficiency? We
will have abundance of all the necessaries of life, and even of life
itself, if we wisely save, wisely develop and protect, and wisely
use. Human life is our greatest asset, and its waste is a permanent
loss. The wealth of the nation is in its men, thrifty, honest,
capable and patriotic men—in their moral and physical health, the
foundation of their highest efficiency. The milestones of a nation’s
progress are recorded in the history of every generation. In India,
the average duration of life is twenty-five years; in Sweden more
than fifty years; in the State of Massachusetts (the State where
most careful records have been taken) it is over forty-five years.
Wherever sanitary and highest medical science has been applied, it
has been found possible to increase the span of life. In Europe it
is said to have doubled in three and a half centuries. The report
from Massachusetts shows an increase of fourteen years in the past
century. So this humanitarian cause is surely a most economic, worthy
and profitable one. In figuring from the standpoint of capital,
Prof. Mayo Smith estimates that men and women between fifteen and
forty-five years of age are worth an average of one thousand dollars.
But figuring from a human standpoint, they are worth all that there
is, money being only one of the tools to work with in effecting
exchange of commodities, and the products of brawn and brain. We want
to increase the ratio of the value of man to the soil, of man to all
and any of his products, of man to money, and to put man first all
the time. (Applause.)
We will increase the fertility and productiveness of the soil and
we will enlarge the scope and increase the efficiency of the man.
We waste in production as well as in consumption. In agriculture we
will say that we will make the soil produce so many bushels per acre
per man. The man will be first in his wise application of labor and
methods and of means to an end. The “limits of subsistence” under
what political economists used to call their “law of diminishing
returns” has no fear for the conservationist. The developing of human
intelligence is enlarging the production of the soil. Irrigation,
where possible, and where impossible the science of what is called
dry farming brings increasing results. Old farms in Europe produce
more than they did 300 years ago, and this will prove true with
us, and there will be no starvation for the human race because of
increasing population.
And so will it be with all other industries, occupations and
professions. He will be greatest who accomplishes most for man. For
the brotherhood of man was the world made and the fullness thereof.
Such freedom as may benefit any individual and does not in any way
work to the injury of others is natural justice to all. Competition
shall be robbed of the “red tooth and the bloody claw,” and
co-operation and development for the good of all shall be the supreme
object of all our efforts.
We will protect our watersheds by growing forests, and learn to
control our floods, prevent soil erosion, and store the water, and
convert its power into electricity, and from electricity produce
light, heat and power in undiminishing quantity forever. In nearly
every State there is daily flowing to waste power enough, if
arrested and utilized on its way to the sea, to turn every wheel of
industry and to move the traffic of commerce, and furnish light and
heat for every city. It is said that the wheel does not turn with
water that is past, but other wheels farther down the stream do,
and the power is used again and again and finally pumped back by
the sun to the mountains and plains to forever repeat the process
of service to mankind. New discoveries are being made, and the use
for by-products is being multiplied so that they are often found to
be of greater use than the product from which they are derived. We
must protect our forests by preventing forest fires. Government and
State appropriations must be made sufficient for this purpose. In
the report of the Conservation Commission to the President, it is
stated that fifty million acres are burned over annually, and since
1870 there has been lost each year an average of fifty lives and
fifty million dollars’ worth of timber. The lumbermen’s interests
are to prevent fires and to stop waste; and they are anxious to
co-operate with the State and with associations for this purpose, and
are already doing so in many places. The true, saving features of
forestry are becoming better understood, and better applied; and we
will save our forests, and will grow trees, wherever necessary and
profitable, the same as any other crop; and there will be no timber
famine in the near or distant future. Our foresters are studying
the experience of France, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, coupled
with our own experience, and we are making successful progress.
In Kansas five years ago, according to President Waters of the
State Agricultural College, there was only one school that taught
agriculture. Now nearly five hundred high schools and more than six
thousand rural schools are teaching the principles of agriculture,
forestry and domestic science.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue reports that for the official
year 1912 ending June 30, the people of the United States drank
more whisky and rum and smoked more cigarettes than ever before in
its history. The smoking of over 11,221,000,000 cigarettes exceeded
the record of 1911 by nearly two billions. Does this make for or
against human efficiency? In this huge traffic is it the man or
the dollar that stands first in importance? Popular education will
be the source of protection, that all may have a fair chance for a
useful life. There are other great factors of vice and crime leading
to national decay. Also there is the enormous waste of human life
by our railroads, mills, mines and factories amounting to tens of
thousands annually, and those permanently injured and made a burden
to themselves and to society to tens of thousands more. In no
civilized country in the world is this loss anywhere near as great in
proportion to work accomplished as in the United States. The greatest
part of this immense loss can be prevented. (Applause.)
Here is thought and work for those in the department of vital
statistics and those in charge of our health departments, who are
laboring for the conservation of human life. Surely there is a
great moral and economic need for this national organization. May
this Congress, which now begins the work of its program, prove to
be another step in advance of its predecessors in the labor of love
and of progressive activities. The work in this vineyard is for both
men and women; for him with one talent as well as for him with ten
talents. Conservation should be taught in our schools and preached in
our churches. It is a call of and for all the people.
In the language of the official call of this Congress, the objects
of this Congress are “to provide for discussion of the resources of
the United States as the foundation for the prosperity of the people;
to furnish definite information concerning the resources and their
development, use and preservation, and to afford an agency through
which the people of the country may frame policies and principles
affecting the conservation and utilization of their resources and
to be put into effect by their representatives in State and Federal
governments.” (Applause.)
President WHITE—The preliminary organization has now been completed.
It was expected that the President of the United States would be
present to honor this occasion, at the opening of this Congress, or
it was at least hoped that it would be possible for him to do so, but
before he knew that he would send a personal representative he wrote
a letter of greeting to the Congress, which I will now read:
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT.
Beverly, Mass., September 7, 1912.
Hon. J. B. White, President National Conservation Congress, Bemus
Point, N. Y.:
My Dear Mr. White: Inasmuch as I have had to deny myself the pleasure
of being present at the opening of the National Conservation Congress
on October 1st, I want to take this means of conveying to the
officers and delegates my very cordial greetings and good wishes for
a most enthusiastic and instructive session.
You who know of my very real interest in the conservation of our
national resources need no assurance of my hope that your meeting in
every way may be a success, and I only want to say that that interest
has not diminished in the slightest.
May your deliberations be productive of great good in promoting
the cause of Conservation and in enlisting public interest in the
solution of the problems which must be met in giving the people of
the present day the benefit of the nation’s resources, while at the
same time insuring to posterity its full heritage.
Sincerely yours,
WILLIAM H. TAFT.
It was afterwards found possible for the President to be represented
personally, and he has sent the Honorable Henry L. Stimson, Secretary
of War, to represent him here at this Congress. I now take pleasure
in introducing to you Secretary Stimson. (Applause.)
ADDRESS BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR.
(Representing the President of the United States.)
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the National Conservation
Congress: I unite very sincerely in the congratulations which the
former speakers have tendered to you on your assembling here in such
an important and such a noble cause.
I am very happy to be here as the representative of President
Taft—happy, both because of the interest which I know he feels in
the great movement for Conservation, and also because of my own
personal association with and enthusiasm for that movement. Four days
ago, when I was busily engaged in inspecting one of the army posts
of northern Wyoming, in the far away Rocky Mountains, I received an
urgent telegraphic request from the President, that I should come
here today and attend your meeting on his behalf. And the 1,600 miles
or more which separate Fort Yellowstone from Indianapolis, may serve
at the same time as a measure of the President’s interest in your
meeting, and a measure of the depth of my own unpreparedness to speak
to you today. I know, therefore, that you will understand and pardon
me if I talk to you rather informally, merely as one friend to others
interested in a great common cause, and confine the brief remarks
which I shall make to one of the phases of Conservation with which I
have become familiar through the work of the War Department.
Parenthetically, I might say that inasmuch as the Department of War
is not usually considered as a particularly appropriate agency for
the conservation of life, I will have to hark back to the material
side of Conservation in some of its aspects which have been presented
at your former meetings.
Of course, the main work which the Federal Government performs
in regard to Conservation is done through the Department of the
Interior. Incidentally, the truest of all indications of the interest
with which the President regards the conservation of the natural
resources of this country lies in the character and attainments of
the man whom he has placed at the head of that Department in order
to conserve them—Walter L. Fisher. (Applause.) You will all of you
remember how his thorough investigation and clear-cut decision
of the famous Cunningham claims, has settled and disposed of, in
the interest of the people, one of the most bitter controversies
of our cause. You are also undoubtedly familiar with the careful
investigation which he made last year into the very complicated
and serious problems of conservation which confront our Nation in
Alaska; and with the luminous address with which he reported his
conclusions and pointed out a solution of these questions. Though the
work of his Department in investigating and conserving in the public
interest, the water power sites which remain on our public lands, and
our remaining beds of coal and phosphate, has not attracted so much
attention as his work in these former more controverted matters; yet
there is, I think, a very general and well founded feeling throughout
the country that in all these matters the interests of the people of
the United States are being thoroughly protected by the Secretary of
the Interior in accordance with the most intelligent and thorough
views of Conservation. (Applause.)
I allude to his method of thorough investigation because I think it
is characteristic of the attitude of the President himself toward
this whole subject. In order that progress should be real, it must be
based upon carefully ascertained facts. In dealing with the problems
of Conservation, we are dealing with problems which are new to our
Nation. As the honorable speaker who first addressed you pointed
out, we have only recently passed from an era of exploitation into
an era of Conservation. We are surrounded by thousands of our fellow
countrymen who have been brought up to honestly believe that the
only method of developing the country is to turn its resources as
rapidly as possible over into private hands. In putting into effect,
therefore, the new policy to which the Nation has now come, there
must be care taken lest false steps, or the injustice which may come
from hasty action, may not produce a reaction which will delay or
imperil the reform. As a former District Attorney, representing the
people in the enforcement of the law, I have long had it impressed
upon me how essential it was that no hasty, or harsh, or intolerant
action, taken in the heat and controversy of a jury trial, should
thereafter imperil the entire work and by producing injustice, and
a subsequent reversal in the higher courts, bring some great reform
into disrepute or temporary delay. Patience, thoroughness, and
courage, mark the only pathway towards permanent progress and reform.
(Applause.)
Now, the subject which I am going to call to your attention briefly
this morning is one of those few matters where my own Department,
instead of the Department of the Interior, touches upon the problems
of national Conservation. It is also a subject the history of which,
I think, exemplifies clearly the importance of the methods to which
I have just alluded. I wish to point out to you the attitude of the
administration as to the Federal regulation of water power in our
navigable rivers.
It is needless to remind such a body as yours of the importance
of that sphere of Conservation. All our other present sources of
power—such as coal, wood, oil, and the like—are limited, and will be
eventually exhausted. Water power alone is permanent. And just as we
are coming to learn more and more the value of that permanence, we
are simultaneously, through the development of electricity, learning
to transmit its energy to greater and greater distances. No other
subject occupied more keenly the attention of the past session of
Congress, or was more vigorously debated upon the floors of that body.
For many years our national policy, or rather lack of national
policy, towards our waterways and our water power, has presented a
singular inconsistency. On the other hand, we have been spending
hundreds of millions of the taxpayers’ money on the improvement of
the navigation of our great inland waterways. On the other, we have
been granting away permits for the construction of dams on these same
rivers and waterways, which will create water power of incalculable
and increasing value; and we have been doing this without exacting
_for_ the taxpayers any return or compensation whatever.
I believe it was not until the administration of President Roosevelt
that any effort was made to obtain for the public any compensation
for the water power which was thus granted away. Mr. Roosevelt
demanded in his veto of the James River bill, and in several other
messages, that no permits for dams in navigable rivers should be
granted without a reservation of proper compensation to the public
for the grant thus made. His action was courageous and right. But
there were not as yet in the hands of the public sufficient carefully
ascertained facts upon which the constitutional power of the Federal
Government to take such action could be confidently based. And there
was therefore great ground for misapprehension in the public mind of
any action attempting to take such a position. A bitter controversy
at once arose with those advocates of States’ rights, who contended
that the Federal Government had no rights whatever in connection with
water power, that under the Constitution its powers were limited
solely to navigation, and that water power was an entirely separate
and distinct sphere, falling wholly within the jurisdiction of
the several States. Such advocates contended that for the Federal
Government to exact compensation for a water power right, simply
because it was in a position to withhold the permit altogether
if it wanted to, was little better than legalized blackmail; and
the progress of the reform was stubbornly and for a long time
successfully contested.
Even as late as 1906, the General Dam Act, passed by Congress and
approved by the President, conveys to the Executive no clear right
to exact compensation for these grants. It has remained for Mr.
Taft’s administration, following the method of patient investigation
and research which I have above mentioned, to collect the facts
necessary to solve the problem, and to show from these facts that
the jurisdiction of the Federal Government over navigation must
necessarily include jurisdiction over water power as an incident of
the navigation.
Most of the rivers of this country are long and comparatively
shallow. In order to make them commercially navigable, there has
become prevalent among engineers a method of improvement known as
the “slack water” method or the method of “canalization.” The method
consists in building throughout the length of these rivers, a series
of dams and locks, by which the river is converted into a succession
of deep pools, adequate for commerce of a far more important
character than could use the river in its unimproved condition. In
fact, many rivers which are not capable in their natural state of
being used at all commercially, can by this method be made useful and
available for important commerce.
Now, most of the dams thus constructed in a “slack water”
improvement, particularly in the rapid portions of the streams, will
create water power of commercial value. It is also manifest that if
the commercial value of the water power thus created can be realized
by the Government and turned into further river improvement, the
improvement of navigation on our rivers can be greatly expedited,
and the expense to the general taxpayer very much lessened. And, on
the contrary, unless this is done, the complete improvement of the
river will be just so much delayed and postponed. The water power
developed is thus shown to be intimately connected with navigation.
It is a by-product of the improvement which can be turned into
further improvement. And from the standpoint of constitutional law,
it makes no difference whether the dam in question is to be erected
by the Federal Government or by a private corporation. If it is a dam
which is to assist the navigation of the river as well as to create
water power, the power of the Government will be complete. What the
Federal Government can constitutionally do itself it can do through
an agent.
The corps of army engineers to whom are referred all proposed bills
in Congress granting permits for dams for water power have been
accordingly, under Mr. Taft’s administration, directed to investigate
and answer specifically four questions in every report. They are
directed to ascertain in regard to every such bill:
First, is the river on which the dam is to be created a navigable
stream subject to being improved, either now or in the future of the
country, at the expense of the general taxpayer?
In the second place, they are asked whether the dam which is sought
to be constructed will form an essential part of any such improvement.
Thirdly, whether the dam will create water power of commercial value.
Fourthly, whether the value of that water power will tend to increase
with the growth and development of the Nation.
You can see for yourself the pertinence of such questions. Once
answered in the affirmative, there is a case presented upon which the
jurisdiction of the Government’s power can rest.
Trial has now shown that the answers to these questions are nearly
always in the affirmative. And as a result of the information thus
obtained we are in a position now, unlike our position six years ago,
where we can take a step forward, and hold permanently the ground
thus gained.
There is now laid before Congress a sure foundation upon which
we can rest our national right to exact the fair value of these
grants. Investigation has regularly brought out the fact that each
one of these dams is essentially connected with navigation, and
that a failure to preserve the right to regulate them and to exact
compensation for the power created is throwing away a valuable
national asset.
The issue has been sharply drawn by President Taft, and his position
clearly stated in his message, submitted on the 24th of last August,
vetoing the bill which proposed to grant authority to build a dam in
the Coosa River. The Coosa River is in Alabama. The bill in question
sought to authorize the Alabama Power Company to build a dam suitable
for the development of navigation in that river, and at the same time
to create water power for the exclusive benefit of the corporation.
It contained no provision permitting the Federal Government to exact
any compensation for the rights of water power thus granted. The bill
was strongly urged by powerful leaders of both houses of Congress.
It was also vigorously opposed by the leaders of the conservation
movement of Congress. But it ultimately passed. The President vetoed
it in a message which asserts in unqualified language the duty of the
Federal Government to reserve to itself the right to exact proper
compensation. (Applause.) The President says on this point:
“I think this is a fatal defect in the bill, and that it is just as
improvident to grant this permit _without_ such a reservation as it
would be to throw away any other asset of the Government. To make
such a reservation is not depriving the States of anything that
belongs to them. On the contrary, in the report of the Secretary of
War it is recommended that all compensation for similar privileges
should be applied strictly to the improvement of navigation in
the respective streams—a strictly Federal function. The Federal
Government by availing itself of this right may in time greatly
reduce the swollen expenditures for river improvements which now
fall wholly upon the general taxpayer. I deem it highly important
that the nation should adopt a consistent and harmonious policy of
treatment of these water power projects which will preserve for this
purpose their value to the Government whose right it is to grant the
permit.”
There are few subjects of equal importance with the proper
improvement of our great river systems. We are behind many of the
nations of Europe in our appreciation of this importance. The
development of our rivers is not only vitally important for the
commerce that they will thus carry, but even more for the regulative
effect which they should and can have upon the freight rates of
the railroads with which they compete. If Mr. Taft’s position is
sustained, it means that all the potential value of these streams can
be turned toward the improvement of their navigation. As he says, it
offers one of the possible solutions for our swollen river and harbor
appropriations. On the other hand, it also means that the hand of the
nation is to be kept on this great national asset of our water power;
and that this great subject of water power regulation will be handled
comprehensively, consistently, and with due regard for the wants of
the Nation as a whole.
If, however, the view of the opponents of the President prevails,
it means that this necessary improvement of our rivers will be
greatly postponed, and that all the expense of such improvement will
have to be borne by the general taxpayers of the Nation. And it
further means that the closely related subject of our water powers
on these navigable rivers, instead of being treated nationally and
broadly, will be subject to the piecemeal policies of forty-eight
different States. Seldom is there presented an opportunity to apply
the principles of conservation simultaneously to two such important
subjects as river transportation and water power regulation.
(Applause.)
President WHITE—I am sure we all appreciate the address that has just
been delivered by our distinguished representative of the President.
It has left upon our minds the significance of the importance of
protecting those natural resources that are permanent and which
should not be given away to private individuals, or corporations.
We will now hear some announcements.
Mr. THOMAS R. SHIPP (Executive Secretary)—The section of which Dr.
Wiley is chairman, the section on “Food”, will meet this afternoon
at four instead of tomorrow morning. The meeting will be held in the
Palm Room, Claypool Hotel, and will be open to the public. The fact
that Dr. Wiley is at the head of this section and will preside and
speak will make it of great interest to delegates. In addition to
Dr. Wiley, there are other gentlemen of national reputation on this
question who will speak. An invitation is extended to all delegates
to attend this meeting this afternoon at 4:00 o’clock.
President WHITE—If there are no further announcements we will adjourn
until this afternoon at 2:00 o’clock.
_SECOND SESSION._
The Congress was called to order by President White at 2:00 o’clock
p. m.
President WHITE—Gentlemen, we are a little late in getting together
this afternoon, owing to the late adjournment of the morning session.
We have a program for four days, a most entertaining one. Those that
do not get here will miss something, while those of us who are here
are going to gain something.
The audience will please rise while the Rev. Dr. A. B. Storms invokes
the Divine blessing.
INVOCATION—_Our Heavenly Father, we wait for a moment, asking for the
blessings of Thy grace upon us. We need Divine guidance in all our
counsels; may we be guided by Heaven. We return Thee thanks for Thy
great kindness, for the bountiful harvest, for the resources with
which Thou hast stored the earth. We thank Thee for the revelation
of Thy love, for the redemption that speaks of the worth of Thy
children. We thank Thee for all the impulses Thou hast set in motion
for bringing good out of evil, for bringing men to their best. We
pray for the guidance of the divine spirit that in all these councils
which have for their purpose the good of our kind, we may have such
guidance and be sustained by such grace that permanent good shall
come.
May Thy blessing rest upon this Congress, upon all it represents,
upon our people and Nation. May this be a people whose God is the
Lord, we ask in the Redeemer’s name. Amen._
President WHITE—The first thing on this afternoon’s program is a
report from Dr. George E. Condra on “What the States are Doing.”
He is President of the National Association of Conservation
Commissioners. We are very much interested to know how far the spirit
of Conservation is being taken up and applied in the different
States. We will now hear Dr. Condra.
Dr. CONDRA—Mr. President and Delegates: This report, prepared at the
request of the Executive Committee of the Congress, is based on data
received from several Governors, and the conservation organizations
of various States. It can not be given in detail, for that would
require too much of your time. Neither do we deem it advisable to
treat the subject State by State, for it would call for needless
repetition. Consequently the data are reviewed subject by subject
corresponding to the leading departments of Conservation, and the
States are mentioned only in connection with the progress they have
attained in each department. It is assumed that: 1. You are in full
sympathy with State Conservation and its co-operation with Federal
agencies. 2. You do not expect to hear overdrawn statements. 3. You
wish a review of such conservation facts as are really worth while
in development. 4. You know how natural resources control industrial
development. 5. You agree that the leading resources in the United
States are mineral fuels, iron, water, soil, plant and animal life,
the varying importance in the distribution of which determines to
a considerable extent the locations of industrial and commercial
centers, and that these resources are not distributed according to
state lines, but that development is influenced to some extent by
State laws.
COAL.
The importance of coal in our country is much greater than most
people suppose. It is well distributed. The amount of power derived
from it is many times that of all our man power working every
hour of the day. The annual production of our coal leads that of
Great Britain by a wide margin. The ranking States in output are
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky,
Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Wyoming, Tennessee and Maryland. Wyoming
is thought to contain even larger natural stores of coal than
Pennsylvania. Mr. Edward W. Parker, head of the coal division of the
United States Geological Survey, reports over two trillion tons of
unmined coal west of the 100th meridian, lying principally in the
Great Plains and Rocky Mountain provinces, and in smaller districts
farther west.
[Illustration:
MRS. PHILIP N. MOORE
OF ST. LOUIS, MO.,
VICE-PRESIDENT, FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS]
It is evident that there is much more coal for future consumption
than most conservationists have claimed. This is a pleasing fact,
for it indicates that industry should not be seriously hampered by
lack of this source of power for many years to come. The argument
that there is enough coal and to spare is used, however, to further
selfish ends. It causes bad management of coal lands at many places.
Notwithstanding the fact that the United States is so favorably
endowed with coal it is coming to be known that some of the better
bituminous and anthracite grades most favorably located are doomed to
early exhaustion. The rapid increase in the use of these is causing
some of the eastern States to show deep interest in conservation.
During the year the conservation of coal was directed mainly towards
larger recovery from the mines, to the study and prevention of mine
accidents, especially those caused by explosions, to improving the
methods of use whereby more power is derived, and to the saving of
by-products in coke making. The National Bureau of Mines lead in
most of these investigations. Several States, mostly in the eastern
province, studied the same problems, as for example, Pennsylvania,
West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama. Illinois was equally
active in the interior province. Practically all coal mines are now
inspected by delegated authority.
The bee-hive coke oven produced relatively less coke during the year
than the by-product oven in which is recovered coal tar and other
useful products of considerable value. Investigations definitely
proved that the most economic way to use certain soft coals is in
the manufacture of producer gas. The culm heaps in the Scranton and
Wilkesbarre districts were drawn upon more than formerly for the
production of the smaller sizes of washed coal. This is an important
utilization of what formerly was waste.
It would seem that every one in this Congress should be deeply
interested in the conservation of coal whether his State produces it
or not, for the permanence of this resource has a power relation,
one that affects the industrial and social development of the whole
country.
PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS.
These are uncertain resources as to their occurrence and permanence
of development. The amount of production, however, is very large,
coming from several States, and having increased from about
63,000,000 barrels in 1900 to over 200,000,000 barrels in 1911. New
pools were developed in each province, though the annual production
fell off at places. The largest developments were in California and
Oklahoma, yet Illinois, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania,
Louisiana and Indiana were important producers, as they have been for
several years. No new conservation movements were inaugurated except
that California took more definite steps to prevent waste at the
wells. Adequate tankage, together with a high degree of attainment
in refining, are the two leading factors in the conservation of
petroleum. This industry is a splendid example of conservation for
special interests, yet the public is supplied with many useful
commodities, such as kerosene, gasoline, waxes, paraffine, oils, etc.
Kerosene has a close commercial relation to the gas engine and the
automobile industry. The price of gasoline, for reasons not fully
understood by the speaker, made a marked advance. Just how this may
affect the future building of gas engines is not known.
The production of natural gas is even more erratic than petroleum. It
is readily used in the manufacture of brick, tile, glass and cement.
A lack of permanence gives to the gas-using industries a migratory
character, a movement to and from gas regions. For several years
such plants have operated up to their full market capacity in Kansas
and Oklahoma. The financial depressions of 1907 and of the past
year checked some of factory building in and near the gas regions.
For about two years certain companies have been diligent in selling
equipment for making gasoline from natural gas.
The conservation movement is partly responsible for the decrease
in waste of natural gas. Formerly the unused wells of Oklahoma and
Louisiana, especially, were allowed to cast their millions of feet
of fuel into the air without even a remonstrance from the States.
Flambeaux burned night and day in the streets of small towns and
many persons between Indiana and Texas were then heard to say that
gas is cheaper than matches. The States stand indicted. This wrong
to nature and to present and future industry cannot be repaired. The
deed is done, and our only hope is that we may escape without having
to suffer for such an offense.
IRON ORE.
This is the basis of iron and steel manufacture. It supplies the
materials used in harnessing the power of fuel and water and has
importance in mining, transportation, smelting and milling. The
industries connected with iron and steel making in the United
States are conducted in a much larger way than in Great Britain and
Germany next in rank. The increasing use of steel by railroads,
in highway construction, ship-building, the making of engines and
farm machinery, and for large building is causing many persons to
wonder how long this progress can continue unhampered. Is there no
limit to our high grade ore and to the development of the gigantic
enterprises dependent upon coal, iron and steel? What appears to be
the correct answer to this question has been made by good authority.
It is that the supply of high grade ore, like that now used, is not
permanent—that it will not last many years. If this is true, the
time will be when it will become necessary to mine less desirable
ore, grading lower and lower as production continues. This, without
doubt, will have an unfavorable effect upon our whole industrial
organization.
The history of iron in the United States is most interesting. It
shows that one by one many of the small districts were abandoned
for the richer fields of the Lake Superior region, the Birmingham
and Guernsey districts. The States that lost out in this change
now realize that production may again return to their borders when
the richer and larger deposits are exhausted. In consequence of
this several States are beginning investigations looking to the
future utilizing of low grade ores. At the smelters more than
usual thought is given to the quality of output, making it more
durable or otherwise better suited to the use for which it is
intended. Experiments are under way for the purpose of testing out
hydro-electric smelting in parts of California and other western
States where the ore is distant from coal.
Much of the iron and steel conservation is directed by corporate
interests in whom the ownership of ore and the development based
thereon are definitely established.
WATER RESOURCES.
Dr. W. J. McGee, whose death we mourn, once said that “water is
the prime necessity of life.” He also discussed its importance for
drinking, in navigation, for power, and in the production from the
soil of such materials as food and clothing.
The drinking water of the country and small towns is obtained
principally from underground through wells and springs. A few States
are trying to improve their domestic water supply by making sanitary
surveys, noting the relation of the wells to drainage from lots,
privies and other dangerous sources. Typhoid epidemics, due to sewage
entering the water system, occurred in several towns. More than usual
activity was manifest in making careful studies of streams in their
relation to floods, drainage, power, sewage, water supplies and
navigation. The Lakes and Rivers Commission of Illinois has gathered
and published more data than other States in this line. The subject,
“Navigation of Inland Waterways,” with special reference to the
Mississippi and its “Lakes to the Gulf Route,” received new impetus
principally because of its relation to the Panama Route. The Gulf
States are now supported by Illinois especially in a campaign for
larger attainments in this development.
Irrigation had a good year, especially so in the Rocky Mountain and
Great Plains regions. The irrigation development is an important
contributor to the larger industrial life of the whole country.
LAND AND SOIL.
The United States has vast areas of land of many kinds. The soil of
this land is our greatest physical resource. Its fertility feeds
the crops and is therefore of fundamental importance in agriculture
and industrial development based thereon. Nevertheless, it is true
that many disregard this great fact in their farm management. They
conserve their own selfish interests and not the state. Just how to
develop the State’s view point in land management is not known. The
southern States, in co-operation with the United States Department of
Agriculture, are making progress in the solution of this problem. In
many places there, the farmers are showing rapid improvement in crop
rotation and methods of cultivation.
In Texas and Florida, much of the wet alluvial land is being improved
by drainage. The Levee and Drainage Board of Texas surveyed over
300,000 acres last year and constructed 100 miles of levees. Land
valued at twenty dollars an acre became worth seventy-five dollars to
one hundred dollars at a cost of thirty dollars per acre. Deep floods
of the Mississippi River did great damage in Louisiana, Mississippi,
Arkansas and Kentucky, causing the Delta region to put forth a plea
for National aid in draining the wet lands of the South. It does seem
that their plea for support should not go unheeded when such a vast,
fertile area lies unreclaimed.
Nearly every State is studying soil erosion, the tenant system and
land taxation. Dr. E. N. Lowe, State Geologist of Mississippi,
reports that his survey endeavored to secure the enactment of a
law that would tend to check the great losses in the northern part
of the State caused by soil erosion. The bill was opposed by a
prominent senator on the ground that it would interfere with the
personal rights of land owners. The bill did not pass, but Dr. Lowe
is to conduct a campaign of education before the next Legislature is
convened. The difference in viewpoint here shown, is the difference
between the meaning of “legal” and “right.” Does any one have the
right to ruin the land?
Co-operative soil surveys were carried on during the year in the
various States with complete success. Every State now sees the need
of reliable study and mapping of its soils, to serve as a basis for
farm management, taxation, and real estate. At a recent meeting of
the National Tax Association, held in Des Moines, Iowa, the relation
of land surveys and taxation was discussed with considerable detail.
It was the conclusion that land value maps should be prepared by soil
surveys to serve as a physical basis of taxation.
FOREST RESOURCES.
Though originally endowed with vast areas of forest on public domain,
some having great value, our Federal Government was slow to develop
effective measures for its protection, utilization and future
growth. One generation stripped the forest from the agricultural
lands of the central west; and their posterity turned the trick
with interest in the west. No wonder many persons took advantage of
such an occasion as was presented in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific
regions to help themselves where the public treasury was free for
the asking, not having been carefully surveyed and evaluated. The
large timber owners are not alone to blame for this history, which in
considerable part is not what it might have been. It is time, then,
to close the chapter and to turn our attention to present day events
in so far as they are related to forest conservation. Now the State
foresters and Federal forces closely co-operate with the large lumber
producers along several lines. The Weeks Law, recently enacted,
furthers co-operative effort in the prevention of forest fires. One
of the first States to take advantage of this law was Wisconsin.
Then came applications from New Hampshire, Montana and most other
forest States. New York appears to lead in perfecting State patrol.
Most States in the Appalachian province have perfected their patrol
systems. Oregon appears to lead in the Pacific region.
Colorado of the Rocky Mountain province is fighting the Forestry
Commission, the Conservation Commission and Federal agencies, under
the guise of State Rights. Here the National Government has large
reserves and is meeting the expense of fire protection. Certain State
men are diligently spreading the doctrine of State Rights, claiming
that the Federal Government should cede its domain to the State. Such
a sentiment is echoed, but not so forcefully, in a few other western
States. The opponents of this doctrine claim that the States do not
have the means to patrol the forest, and that the State Rights people
are making the campaign for selfish reasons—to secure ownership of
the forest.
During the year, many cities and States added to the area of
their parks and forest reserves. The Maryland Legislature voted
$50,000 for this purpose. The Appalachian bill passed the last
Congress, providing funds for use in establishing reserves in the
Appalachian province. A start in this development has been made at
several places. It is reported, however, that land speculators are
interfering with the project by securing options on land that is
wanted for the reserves.
The work in general tree planting and forestation progressed about
as usual. Promoters handle eucalyptus propositions in California
with varying degrees of success. Many States, especially in the
middle west, are planting catalpa for the production of posts. One
of the largest problems in several States, as in Oregon, Washington,
Wisconsin and Michigan, is that of utilizing the cut-over land. Some
of this is suitable for farming, but much of it is classed as forest
land. The problem then is one of reforestation, which cannot be done
economically on most of the land because of high tax. The tax problem
is closely related to and by many thought to be the controlling
feature in the reforestation of land in private ownership. The
Wisconsin and the Oregon Conservation Commissions are studying
the problem. Louisiana has passed laws intended to promote timber
planting on large holdings.
A few States published helpful literature on economic species of
trees suitable for forestation, shade and decorative purposes. A
little volume by the New Jersey Forest Commission, title “Planting
and Care of Shade Trees,” is a model that other States may well
follow.
Following in line with the recommendations of this Congress, and in
harmony with the policies of state foresters and the Federal Bureau,
considerable progress was made during the year in forest surveys
and forest studies. Fully half of the States are doing this work
under the direction of their geological surveys, forest bureaus, or
Conservation Commissions. Maryland and Rhode Island have completed
such surveys.
Several large lumber producers report improvements in the way of
saving practically all of the timber. When one wants to cite an
example of extreme waste in lumbering, he usually refers to the
Pacific region, perhaps not realizing that the method of utilization
may be determined by commercial limitations. Be that as it may, it
is pleasing to know that some companies in the West, as for example,
the Smith Lumber & Manufacturing Company, are installing by-product
plants. The company above named is building a fiber plant to utilize
the waste mill products by the sulphate process, and to extract the
turpentine from the red fir.
VITAL RESOURCES.
More than usual progress has been made in recent years in learning
that living things, whether forest, forage, cereal crops, game, fish,
farm animals or man, are natural resources subject to development.
Perhaps the greatest result of the Conservation movement is found
in its helpfulness in improving the life and lot of people. Such a
stimulus is needed, for it certainly is time society should conserve
its men and women not only in working efficiency but in fitness to be
fathers and mothers as well.
Most States have departments to promote good seed, fish and game
resources, and the breed and health of animals. Some of the
publications issued by these departments are most attractive and
valuable as, for example, the reports on birds by the North Caroline
Geologist-Natural History Survey.
More than usual State activity is now put forth in improving the
stock, health, life and working efficiency of people. To further this
end there is inspection of water, milk, food, drugs, and factories.
Several States are making preliminary sanitary surveys; others
conduct investigations under the head of “conservation of people.” It
has been learned that the public health can be markedly improved by
observing a few simple safeguards that prevent sickness and disease.
This calls for education, and perhaps for organized inspection
of both the home and the school. State medical colleges begin to
realize their duty in preventive medicine, and in some cases show
a willingness to co-operate with health organizations in extension
work in the conservation of public health. A number of the Southern
States have taken important steps to rid their sections of typhoid,
tuberculosis and the hook worm disease. Mississippi reports marked
progress in this line. The Louisiana Health Train is known to all.
The exhibits at this Congress indicate the great progress attained by
Dr. Hurty and others in their fields. In closing the discussion in
this department it should be noted that practically all parts of the
country show a deep interest in the work of Dr. Wiley and the fight
he has made for pure food. It is further evident that there is a
strong demand for a Federal health department to work in co-operation
with the state departments.
CONSERVATION ORGANIZATION.
Several State departments are related to Conservation work, as for
example, the Geological Survey, Soil Survey, Natural History Survey,
Forest Commission, Public Service Commission, Pure Food Department,
Health Department, and Experiment Stations. So, since most of these
have been in existence for several years, we should know that
conservation work is not a new thing. The various forces were united
into a definite movement, however, in 1908, following the Governors’
conference at Washington. Immediately after the adjournment of that
meeting the Governors appointed State conservation commissions to
serve their respective States. Unfortunately, many commissioners
were selected mainly because of their political affiliations. In
some cases the selections were made wholly on the basis of ability
to serve. Such Commissioners were chosen from among public spirited
citizens, and the State and university departments closely connected
with industrial development.
Practically all commissioners chosen because of political affiliation
did very little work. Most of them were not reappointed after
changes in State administrations. The non-political commissions
did better work as a rule, and soon received financial support and
statutory authority from the State for a wider range of activity.
The commissioners with this authority are now appointed by the
Governor, or they become commissioners by virtue of their connection
with certain university and State departments named in the State
laws. The tendency is to make the commissions entirely non-political
and to give them full charge of certain natural resource surveys
and the State supervision of development, at least to some extent.
A resolution passed by the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress
of this year is of interest in this connection. It reads thus: “We
favor the selection of Conservation Commissioners from among those
who are actively engaged in State surveys, in the investigation of
conservation problems, or in the development of public welfare.”
It further urges that the work of such commissioners be done along
non-political lines and in co-operation with Federal Conservation
efforts. Most States have conservation commissions.
The best organized work is in New York, Rhode Island, Oregon,
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas, Utah, West Virginia and New Mexico. The
New York Commission has three commissioners, a secretary, assistant
secretary, deputy commissioners and several engineers, all well
paid. The Commission has full authority to investigate and supervise
the development of water, forest, fish and game resources. Rhode
Island stands next to New York in organization, duties, and results
attained. Its commission has full charge of the natural history
survey, supervises the development of natural resources, and conducts
an educational campaign. Nebraska’s commission is non-political,
composed principally of heads of departments in the University,
who also direct the various State surveys. The duties of the
commission are largely in supervision and education. A Conservation
Survey unites the efforts of the University and State departments
in systematic surveys of the water, soil and forest and in making
careful field studies of the leading economic problems. Nebraska
holds a Conservation Congress each year with a large attendance.
This Congress has great value in unifying State development. It
is under the guidance of the Commission, Conservation Survey and
public spirited citizens and is an open forum for the discussion
of development problems. The duties of other State Commissions are
similar to those of the States above described. Utah is directing its
effort mainly in the line of making non-political maps.
The Conservation Commissioners together with other persons directing
State development have an organization called the National
Association of Conservation Commissioners. It meets each year as
a department of this Congress. The object of the association is
co-operation, in which each State is able to learn of the progress
attained in other States.
That the conservation activities in the various States are benefited
by the different sessions of the National Conservation Congress
is very evident. The influence also of the National Conservation
Association is helpful.
In concluding this division of my report, I wish to emphasize the
facts that the State conservation commission is coming into a broad
field of work, that it must stand for the best interests of the State
as a whole, that an important part of its activity is to unite the
efforts of departments now existing in a co-operative work that has
practical value to the State. Such commission must be composed of
broad-minded men, preferably those who have a thorough acquaintance
with the departments represented. The commissioners should be free
from political entanglements, and refrain from using their position
for selfish ends. They should stand for the greatest good of their
States first, last and all the time.
Does your State have a commission of this kind?
SURVEY BASIS OF DEVELOPMENT.
The survey idea is now popular. In fact it may be abused in some
cases, especially where the work is done with a lack of scientific
spirit and undue rapidity. Such effort has no place in the
conservation survey which seeks to determine useful facts, those
really worth while in development.
In harmony with the spirit of the year which calls for
the fundamentals, we have the following resolution by the
Trans-Mississippi Congress, passed in its last session:
“Recognizing the natural resources as the physical basis of
development, we urge the States of the Trans-Mississippi region to
make surveys of their leading resources under competent direction,
and to publish reliable reports upon the same. We favor such
reorganization of the State conservation commissions as will qualify
them to make inventories of natural resources, to study industrial
problems, and promote the proper development of the respective
States.”