NEWS AND NOTES 



The Third National Conservation Congress 



Nearly twelve hundred delegates attended 

 the sessions of the Third National Con- 

 servation Congress at Kansas City, Sep- 

 tember 25, 26 and 27. Since the first pre- 

 liminary gathering in Washington, prob- 

 ably no conservation assembly has adhered 

 more strictly to the line of actual conserva- 

 tion than this one. President Wallace had 

 made it very clear in advance that the 

 disappointments of the Saint Paul meet- 

 ing were not to be repeated. 



Quite naturally with so distinguished a 

 leader of agricultural development at the 

 head of the congress, the key-note of these 

 meetings was the conservation of the soil. 

 This was struck in an able address at the 

 opening session by fTesident Wallace, and 

 it was followed by a number of speakers. 

 Together with this the improvement of 

 country life, along tne lines indicated by 

 the country life commission, was considered 

 as a necessary adjunct to the development 

 of agriculture along the best and highest 

 lines. 



The program was not crowded as so 

 many programs of similar gatherings in 

 years past have been with speakers of 

 political prominence, although there were 

 on the program such men of national note 

 as President Taft, Mr. Bryan, Dr. Wiley, 

 Secretary Fisher and Judge Lindsay. 



The President confined his address 

 strictly to the subject of agricultural de- 

 velopment and did not introduce any of 

 the moot public questions of the hour. An 

 able address by Captain J. B. White on the 

 third day of the congress dealt with prac- 

 tical forestry in Europe and America. 



An amendment was adopted at one of 

 the sessions of the congress giving all na- 

 tional associations which have conserva- 

 tion committees a member on the advisory 

 board of the congress. This would include 

 such organizations as the National Asso- 

 ciation of Manufacturers, the National 

 Board of Trade, the Daughters of the 

 American Revolution, and the Federation 

 of Labor. Another amendment proposed 

 by J. B. White as a result of Judge Lind- 

 say's address in behalf of the child included 

 conservation of human life in the objects 

 of the congress. 



The resolutions of the congress recom- 

 mended the early opening of the coal fields 

 of Alaska on a leasing system, the fields 

 to remain under national ownership until 



such times as states may be created in that 

 portion of our territory; the enlargement 

 of the powers of the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission for further supervision of rail- 

 way business; the establishment of a par- 

 cels post; the development of inland water- 

 ways; the movement looking toward the 

 safeguarding of the national health; and 

 a system of free scuools which should be 

 organized and conducted so that i^e great 

 purpose for which the congress exists will 

 be realized through the work and lives of 

 men and women trained in healtn, home- 

 making citizenship and industry. The reso- 

 lutions referring to forestry and the public 

 lands were as follows: 



FOBESTBT AND LANDS. 



"We commend the eflBcient work of the 

 federal forest service, and particularly urge 

 upon Congress the need for more liberal 

 financial provision for protection of the 

 national forests from fire, and the desira- 

 bility of making tue army available with- 

 out delay whenever needed to supplement 

 such protection. 



"We also appreciate the forestry progress 

 being made by many states, believing it 

 not only the function but the duty of the 

 state to safeguard its forest resources by 

 liberal appropriation for fire prevention; 

 by acquisition and conservative manage- 

 ment of state-owned forest lands; by en- 

 couraging the practice of private forestry 

 on timberlands and wood lots in every way, 

 especially through reform in forest taxa- 

 tion, and by providing for the educational 

 work necessary to secure all these ends. 



"We commend the increasing effort at 

 better forest management and protection 

 by timber owners themselves, and urge 

 upon all such the study and emulation of 

 the several co-operative systems for this 

 purpose. 



"We urge the co-operation of public and 

 private educational authorities in instilling 

 the principles of forest economics in the 

 minds of the young of today, who will be 

 the doers of tomorrow. 



"The public lands should be safeguarded 

 from losses through natural agencies and 

 negligent or thriftless use; that they should 

 be so cultivated and improved that they 

 may pass to each coming generation with 

 increased fertility and productivity and 

 that they should forever be used as sites 

 for homes in which the strength and spirit 



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