Chapter VII: Section 3: The term “State” as used herein is to be construed to mean (2)

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.

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: