236 



CONSERVATION 



Root stated to the North American 

 Conference that the President foresaw 

 the possibiHty that that conference 

 would be the precursor of a World- 

 Conference, and that, by an aide- 

 memoire in January last, the principal 

 governments were informally sounded 

 as to whether they would look with 

 favor upon an invitation to send dele- 

 gates to such a conference. Responses 

 were uniformly favorable. Following 

 upon this came the proposal from the 

 North American Conference that such 

 a gathering be held. In view of the 

 progress already made, it is conceded 

 that the conference will be held at the 

 time and place named. In his valu- 

 able article in this issue, continuing 

 the one from his pen in the last, Mr. 

 Treadwell Cleveland, Jr., of the Forest 

 Service, discusses this conference, and 

 formulates the problems which may be 

 expected to confront it. 



As the Secretary of State points out, 

 the object of the conference might well 

 be to plan an "inventory of the nat- 

 ural resources of the world, and to 

 devise a uniform scheme for the ex- 

 pression of the results of such inven- 

 tory, to the end that there may be a 

 general understanding and apprecia- 

 tion of the world's supply of material 

 elements which underlie the develop- 

 ment of civilization and the welfare of 

 the earth." 



In view of facts now common knowl- 

 edge regarding the destruction of nat- 

 ural resources in the Old World and 

 the New, the propriety and desirability 

 of such a conference should be clear. 

 As was stated in the preliminary aide- 

 memoire, "The people of the whole 

 world are interested in the natural re- 

 sources of the whole world, benefited 

 by their conservation, and injured by 

 their destruction." It is upon these re- 

 sources that the human race, for what- 

 ever progress and prosperity it may in 

 future enjoy, must, so far as can be an- 

 ticipated, rely to the end of time. And 

 so powerful has become the enginery 

 of modern industrial civilization, and 

 so gigantic and rapid the consumption 

 and waste of the earth's stock of raw 

 materials, that, unless measures are 



promptly taken to safeguard the resi- 

 due, race well-being, to the remotest 

 future time, may, in a brief, historic 

 period, be seriously handicapped. 



The present age demands facts. If 

 William the Conqueror was justified in 

 bringing together the materials which 

 make up the famous Domesday Book, 

 and if the United States Census policy 

 of continually broadening the scope of 

 our decennial inquiry is wise, why 

 should it not be wise to enable the 

 world to know the size of its bank ac- 

 count, as represented by its natural re- 

 sources? There seems to be but one 

 way to ascertain the facts — namely, by 

 concerted action, such as an interna- 

 tional conference implies. Again, there 

 is but one way to make the results of 

 such an inquiry available — namely, by 

 "devising a uniform scheme for the ex- 

 pression" of these results, and then 

 their publication. 



Such material, it is true, may be 

 utilized by special interests, as specu- 

 lators ; yet, while such interests exist, 

 this result cannot well be avoided. The 

 data will also be widely used by econo- 

 mists, and especially, it is fair to as- 

 sume, by representatives of govern- 

 ments in the formulation and admin- 

 istration of national policies. 



Even larger results may be expected 

 to follow. Through the invention and 

 improvement of agencies of transporta- 

 tion, communication, and the diffusion 

 of knowledge, the world is fast becom- 

 ing one great neighborhood. The 

 broad doctrine enunciated by the Presi- 

 dent, so contrary to the old-time, na- 

 tional particularism and exclusiveness 

 in accordance with which each nation 

 was prone to think of its own gain as 

 directly proportional to the losses of its 

 neighbors — the doctrine that the nations 

 must rise or fall together, that each is 

 part and parcel of one common whole, 

 that the social organism extends be- 

 yond national lines and includes the 

 race — such a doctrine must receive re- 

 newed emphasis at every delegated 

 meeting of the nations of the world 

 such as it may be hoped will follow 

 from the one of next September. As a 

 means of promoting international peace, 



