28 



CONSERVATION 



to you how the problem appeals to me. I can 

 only say to you that as a representative of our 

 Federal Government, here in Congress, I 

 shall aim to the best of my ability to work 

 along the lines suggested by this report, so 

 far as the interests of the Federal Govern- 

 ment are concerned ; but you Governors and 

 you representatives of the several States have 

 a greater problem even than we have, and we 

 must rely upon you more than upon anyone 



else to cooperate with us in this very import- 

 ant matter. 



I trust that, while we may not all agree as 

 to the details, yet in respect to the great 

 probkm in hand, we shall all work together 

 as patriotic American citizens, not only look- 

 ing to our own immediate welfare, but to the 

 welfare of the generations to come, in order 

 that our country may continue to grow and 

 prosper in the future as it has in the past. 



Senator Nelson was followed by rainfall of the Mississippi Valley and 

 Governor Noel, of Mississippi, who the stream flow -of that river. His talk 

 spoke on the same subject — lands — bore largely upon conditions in his 

 also paying considerable attention to own State, though attention was paid 

 the subject of water, and especially theto other sections. 



ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR NOEL 



IN OUR State of Mississippi, upfortun- 

 ately, both Federal Government and State 



government have acted unwisely and 

 rashly in the past. Our lands. State and 

 Federal, have gone from us, gone from the 

 people of the State, and gone into private 

 and corporate hands. Very little, and that 

 of the smallest value of any in the State, 

 is now possessed by either. However, that 

 does not diminish my interest, nor that of 

 the people of Mississippi, nor that of the 

 people of the United States everywhere, 

 in all the lands in all the States and all 

 the territories that are yet owned by these 

 different States or by the Federal Govern- 

 ment. It touches us. It reaches everyone. 

 It concerns the seasons, as to whether they 

 shall be moderate or strict, cold or warm. 

 It concerns the rains, the floods, and all of 

 that which largely affects us, as has been 

 fully explained here and in the reports of 

 this Commission. All these matters are in- 

 ter-related and we are to a large extent 

 governed and affected by them. 



Governor Johnson spoke of the waters that 

 we of the South get in the Mississippi 

 River from Minnesota. So we do get water, 

 and we get the mud and the floods from 

 up there too, and we are interested — those 

 who live in our State near its outlet — in 

 the kind of water we get down there, be- 

 cause the muddier the water, the harder it 

 is to handle, the more bars it creates, and 

 the worse it is. We are interested in the 

 way it comes. If there is an average rainfall 

 in the country amounting to 8.51 inches, we 

 want it to be somewhat more equitably dis- 

 tributed through the seasons than can be 

 when the forests are denuded and the waters 

 only pour down at one time, and instead 

 of having the leaves, and grasses, and roots 

 to lead it under the earth, a greater part 

 of it is forced down upon us at once. 



One-sixth in area, one-third in value, of 



Mississippi is in what is known as the Mis- 

 sissippi Yazoo delta. It is, when protected 

 from water in excessive amounts, one of 

 the most fertile regions for cotton and other 

 products in the United States, but when 

 overflowed, we can do nothing with it. Until 

 the Federal Government came to our aid 

 in the past few years, the overflows were 

 frequent and very disastrous in effect. These 

 overflows destroyed the utility even for the 

 God-given purpose of agriculture. 



We are interested in the matter of the 

 Government increasing its forest reserves. 

 We are interested in Minnesota and all the 

 other States, and in all individual and cor- 

 porate land questions, in seeing that they 

 properly use those lands which were pri- 

 marily intended for and now are best adapted 

 to forests. When it comes to agriculture, 

 we are interested in better agricultural 

 methods, not only in our State, but in all 

 the States of the Union ; for whenever they 

 adopt a plan to conserve these forests, then 

 will the water be more equally distributed 

 mto the smaller streams and thence into 

 the larger rivers and on down to the sea. 



We are interested in all that concerns 

 any part of the Union, but especially in- 

 terested in everything that concerns the water 

 that falls between the Rocky Mountains 

 and the Alleghenies and the Gulf and the 

 Lakes. A large part of that water comes 

 down to us in unequal amounts and under 

 unequally helpful or hurtful conditions. We 

 are all interested in these matters, and we 

 do feel that control and conservation of the 

 Applachian Reserve and the forest reserves 

 on the Rocky Mountains and everywhere 

 else in all the States should be had. We 

 are interested in all the methods of cultiva 

 tion and we are interested in the advance- 

 ment and betterment of the conditions of the 

 people of this country. God has so arranged 

 the world and its inhabitants and all its 



