A MILLION WOMEN FOR CONSERVATION 



IX HER report as chairman of the 

 waterways committee of the District 

 of Columbia Federation of Women's 

 Clubs, at the annual meeting held in 

 Washinoton, D. C. May 5, 1909, Mrs. 

 Lydia Adams-Williams, the writer and 

 lecturer on conservation, and the first 

 woman to take up the work, said in 

 part: 



"The subject of the conservation of 

 the natural resources of the Nation is 

 the uppermost one before the people of 

 the United States to-day. 



"The District of Columbia Federa- 

 tion of Women's Clubs has the honor 

 of being- the first woman's organization 

 to adopt resolutions in favor of the con- 

 servation of natural resources ; these 

 resolutions were adopted in November. 

 1907, following an address by your 

 chairman on 'waste of natural resources 

 and need for conservation.' In this 

 great movement, it is a high honor and 

 one for congratulation that the D. C. 

 Federation of Women's Clubs led all 

 the other women's clubs of the country 

 in the national movement for conserva- 

 tion. The resolutions were published in 

 full in Conservation, the official maga- 

 zine of the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion, in the issue of May, 1908. 



"The second woman's organization to 

 adopt conservation and to take active 

 interest in the work is the National So- 

 ciety of the Daughters of the American 

 Revolution. Your chairman submitted 

 the resolution on conservation which 

 the D. A. R. adopted, and she especially 

 urged them to take up the work. The 

 resolution was adopted in April, 1908, 

 at the time of the annual convention, by 

 the National Executive Board. The 

 resolution was published in Conserv.\- 

 TiON, in the issue of May, 1908, and it 

 also received wide publicity throughout 

 the United States. 

 346 



"The third woman's organization to 

 adopt conservation is the General Fed- 

 eration of AVomen's Clubs. In June. 

 1908, your chairman attended the bi- 

 ennial meeting of the General Federa- 

 tion of Women's Clubs, in Boston, as 

 a representative of the D. C. Federa- 

 tion of Women's Clubs, and as one of 

 the speakers on forestry ; also as the 

 representative of the magazine Con- 

 servation. 



"In May, 1908, before the biennial 

 convention, your chairman wrote Mrs. 

 Decker about forming a conservation 

 committee in the General Federation ; 

 and, while at the convention in Boston, 

 she urged upon Airs. Decker, the out- 

 going president, and upon Mrs. Moore, 

 the incoming president, and upon many 

 of the officers and directors of the 

 General Federation the necessit}' of ap- 

 pointing a conservation committee. 

 Later, after the adjournment of the bi- 

 ennial, she wrote Mrs. Philip N. Moore, 

 the new president, and again urged the 

 formation of a conservation committee ; 

 Mrs. Moore replied, in September. 1908. 

 as follows : 'At our recent board meet- 

 ing in Colorado Springs we made a 

 subcommittee on waterways, which, 

 with our present committee on for- 

 estry, will form our conservation com- 

 mittee.' Later the subcommittee on 

 waterways was changed to a regular 

 committee. 



"Your chairman also attended the 

 Woman's National Rivers and Harbors 

 Congress, and spoke on conservation, 

 and made a motion, which, after de- 

 bate, was carried, changing the consti- 

 tution to include conservation as one of 

 the objects of the organization. 



"To summarize briefly, the four lead- 

 ing women's organizations of the United 



