4 



CONSERVATION 



conservation. The audience filled every 

 seat in the beautiful theater, even the 

 upper galleries being crowded ; and the 

 interest of those who were in attend- 

 ance was made unmistakably manifest 

 by the appreciative applause that was 

 of such frequent occurrence and vol- 

 ume as to interrupt the speakers. 



In calling the meeting to order, Mr. 



Pinchot, as temporary chairman, intro- 

 duced Rev. Edward Everett Hale, the 

 venerable chaplain of the United States 

 Senate, whose invocation was especially 

 appropriate, closing with the Lord's 

 Prayer, audibly joined in by the entire 

 assembly. Mr. Pinchot introduced the 

 permanent chairman, in a brief speech 

 of explanation. 



MR. PINCHOT'S OPENING SPEECH 



MR. PRESIDENT, ladies and gentle- 

 men : The meeting of the Governors 

 at the White House last May, out of 

 which this joint conference sprang, con- 

 sidered the natural resources of the country 

 as the foundations of our prosperity. The 

 conservation of these resources is clearly 

 necessary for our welfare, as a nation, now 

 and hereafter. 



Conservation implies both the development 

 and the protection of resources, the one as 

 much as the other. The idea which under- 

 lies it is in harmony with the true spirit of 

 this Nation. It expresses a deep-seated Na- 

 tional conviction, latent until it came, that 

 we have inherited from our forefathers both 

 an opportunity for ourselves and a duty to 

 those who come after us. Conservation de- 

 mands the use of common prudence and com- 

 mon foresight in dealing with the great ma- 

 terial resources upon which our present and 

 future welfare depends. 



The essence of conservation is the applica- 

 tion of common sense to the common prob- 

 lems for the common good. 



Conservation is simply obvious and right. 

 Therefore, of all the greait movements of 

 our recent history, not one has gained so 

 rapidly in public appreciation and support, and 

 not one has promised such results in securing 

 the greatest good to the greatest number 

 for the longest time. 



This Nation has been given three million 

 square miles of the richest, the most varied, 

 and the pleasantest of all continents. That 

 land belongs to us now, just as it has be- 

 longed to our forefathers, and as it will 

 belong to our descendants. We have the 

 right to use it and we have the power to 

 impair it. The choice is ours. We cannot 

 avoid it and we cannot delay it. That we 

 shall choose well, this meeting is the best 

 earnest and guarantee. 



The history of a nation is written best 

 of all in the progress and happiness of its 

 people. But it is written also in great move- 

 ments, great occasions and great men. We 

 are gathered here to-day in the furtherance 

 of a great movernent on a great occasion and 

 in the presence of great men. 



Judge Taft lost no time in present- 

 ing to the audience the first speaker 

 of the meeting, P'resident Theodore 

 Roosevelt. The President was com- 

 pelled at frequent intervals to inter- 

 rupt his remarks while waiting for the 



applause to subside, his declaration in 

 favor of a bond issue for internal im- 

 provements, if no other course seemed 

 open, apparently meeting with the full- 

 est and heartiest approval of his 

 hearers. 



ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



GOVERNORS, Representatives of the 

 States, and of the great national organi- 

 zation, members of the National Con- 

 servation Commission, and you men and 

 women, my fellow citizens, I welcome you here, 

 our guests, to Washington and to the work 

 you have gathered to do. No service to 

 the Nation in time of peace could be of 

 greater worth than the work which has 

 brought you together. 



In its essence your task is to make the 

 Nation's future as great as its present. That 



is what the conservation of our resources 

 means. This movement means that we shall 

 not become great in the present at the ex- 

 pense of the future, but we shall provide 

 that we may show ourselves truly great 

 in the present by providing for the great- 

 ness of our children's children who are 

 to inherit the land after us. 



It is the greatest National task of to-day, 

 and I thank you for making ready to under- 

 take it. 



If you do no more than fix the National 



