loo 



CONSERVATION 



ill the reclamation work and gave much 

 credit to the earnest hard-working men 

 who have made possible this great prog- 

 ress in both movements; "and," said 

 Mr. Newell, "when I say men, of 

 course. I mean women also." 



The work that women may do to- 

 ward the sanitary purification of 

 streams, and, as a secondarv consid- 

 eration. the beautification, by tree- 

 planting, of the banks of rivers and 

 streams, was spoken of by Mrs. 

 Lovell White, of California. Mrs. 

 White has for many years been inter- 

 ested in philanthropic work and is 

 State chairman of forestry for Cali- 

 fornia. She has the distinction of being 

 the Governor's appointee to the Gov- 

 ernors' conference with the National 

 conservation commission. Mrs. White 

 made an address in which she told the 

 story of the Calaveras Grove of Big 

 Trees of California, the oldest living 

 things on the face of the earth and which 

 are in danger of destruction through 

 private greed. She spoke of the diffi- 

 culties encountered in the efforts to 

 pass the bill for their preservation, 

 now pending before Congress. Mrs. 

 White also spoke of the need of better 

 fire protection for our forests and told 

 of the burning this summer of the 

 "Mother of the Forest," one of the 

 largest and most stately of the Calav- 

 eras trees. Fire menaced the entire 

 grove, and, although heroic efforts 

 were made to save the beautiful tree, 

 the fire at last caught in the topmost 

 branches and slowly ate its way down 

 to the heart of the tree, leaving the 

 "Mother of the Forest" dead, charred 

 and blackened. 



Governor Freer, of Hawaii, who 

 was in attendance at the joint conser- 

 vati;)n conference, gave much encour- 

 agement to the women who are leading 

 the great work for conservation of all 

 resources. Governor Freer said "The 

 importance of forestry has for many 

 years been clearly recognized in 

 Hawaii. Because of the peculiar con- 

 ditions of climate and topography in 

 these islands, irrigation is a necessity 

 over a large part of the area under 

 cultivation. The necessitv of forest 



protection is generally recognized in 

 Hawaii. In 1903 the legislature of 

 Hawaii provided for the creation of 

 territorial forest reserves and a Division 

 of Forestry. Since 1904, sixteen for- 

 est reserves have been set apart. The 

 reserves are created as protective for- 

 ests on the water-sheds of streams that 

 are needed for irrigation, power de- 

 velopment or domestic supply. Exten- 

 sive tree planting for construction 

 timber has been going on in Hawaii 

 for the last thirty years. The trees 

 planted are eucalyptus, Australian 

 ironwood, silk oak and the Japanese 

 cedar." 



Miss Janet Richards, widely known 

 for her current topics talks and lec- 

 tures, ably represented Mrs. William 

 Cunimings Story, vice-president for 

 the State of New York. 



Mrs. J. F. Allison, of Cincinnati. State 

 vice-president for Ohio, and wife of J. 

 F. Ellison, secretary of the National 

 Rivers and Harbors Congress, was 

 chairman of the revision committee 

 and gave the congress invaluable as- 

 sistance in arranging for the conven- 

 tion. 



Missouri was very ably represented 

 at the congress by Mrs E. C. Ellis. 



Massachusett and the forestry inter- 

 ests of that State were represented by 

 Mrs. Emmons Crocker, who is a fluent 

 speaker and a ready parliamentarian. 



Mrs. Lydia Adams-Williams ad- 

 dressed the congress, and made a plea 

 for the conservation of all natural re- 

 sources. 



The corresponding secretary, Mrs. 

 Frances Shuttle worth, gave an inter- 

 esting report of the work she had done 

 and proved herself one of the earnes:, 

 competent, and efficient workers. 



At the joint session of the National 

 Rivers and Harbors Congress and the 

 Woman's National Rivers and Har- 

 bors Congress, Mrs. Hoyle Tomkies. 

 president of the latter, outlined the 

 objects of the Woman's Congress and 

 told of its organization June 29, 1908, 

 and its growth in five months from 

 seven n^embers to a strength of over 

 1,500. "We endorse the bill of the Na- 

 tional Rivers and Harbors Congress 



