NEWS AND NOTES 



585 



but scarcely defines the situation. There is 

 no charge that the law has been violated in 

 the past. The real point at issue is whether 

 the law shall be administered in a spirit of 

 harmony with the principle of conservation 

 of our resources and of retaining for the peo- 

 ple as much as possible of the value of the 

 public lands and their contents or in a spirit 

 of getting into private hands all such lands 

 and resources as speedily as possible, in the 

 supposed interest of "business" and of 

 "building up the country." 



Pinchot represents the conservation prin- 

 ciple and Ballinger the "use it all now" prin- 

 ciple. The law is the same for both, but it 

 makes a great deal of difference which spirit 

 controls its administration. Secretary Bal- 

 linger is a western man, a man of the ex- 

 treme West, where the people are obsessed 

 with the idea of quick growth of cities and 

 exploitation of resources. Anything that in- 

 terferes with cutting down the forests, dig- 

 ging out the metals, bringing new lands 

 under cultivation or the rapid growth of 

 business, is anathema in the home of the 

 Secretary of the Interior. Genuine conserva- 

 tion of the country's resources prevents 

 them from falling into the hands of those 

 who would exploit them for personal gain 

 and, while incidentally making "business 

 good," would make the people pay roundly 

 for what had once belonged to them. 



President Taft will be called to take a 

 stand in this matter. — St. Louis (Mo.) Star. 

 August 17, 1909. 



«? «=' «? 



Waterways Commission in Berlin 



Berlin, Aug. 2T. — The Congressional Water- 

 ways Commission arrived here last Tuesday 

 and has had a Inisy week. The members 

 include Senators Burton, Gallinger, and 

 Simmons, and Representatives Wanger, 

 Stevens, Alexander, and Sparkman. The 

 commissioners have firmly declined all invi- 

 tations to social festivities, and have been 

 putting in most of their time visiting the 

 waterways near Berlin and grappling with 

 the statistical materials which the German 

 authorities have been sending to their hotel 

 by the bale. 



Senator Burton has had conferences with 

 the Prussian public works department. The 

 commissioners left tonight for Dresden to 

 take a boat down the Elbe. — Washington 

 Post, August 22, 1909. 



«* Jfe' «« 



Conservation Congress in Seattle 



The first National Conservation Congress 

 of the United States, to be held in the audi- 

 torium of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposi- 

 tion on August 26, 27, 28, 1909, promises 

 to be the largest and most enthusiastic gath- 

 ering of prominent men ever held on the 

 Pacific coast. * * * The indications are 

 that many thousand people will congregate 

 on the grounds of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific 



Exposition to discuss the principles of con- 

 servation. 



Sixty-four universities and other educa- 

 tional institutions will be represented. Four 

 governors, the members of forty state con- 

 servation commissions, and the Governor of 

 Hawaii and his commission are expected. 

 The churches will be represented by twenty- 

 two bishops and other prominent church- 

 men, and in consideration of that fact a 

 special religious day will be observed for 

 considering the subject of conservation. Tlic 

 commercial organizations from Maine to 

 California have accepted the invitation and 

 will send delegates of prominence. Presi- 

 dent Taft is expected to speak. 



Other well-known men, some of whom have 

 formally accepted the invitation to address 

 the Congress, are: Prof. Ralph S. Hosmer, 

 of the Hawaiian Conservation Commission ; 

 Gov. W. T. Freer, of Hawaii; Mr. Gfford 

 Pinchot, United States Forester and Chair- 

 man of Joint Committee on Conservation ; 

 Gov. M. E. Hay, Washington ; Mr. William 

 L. Finlcy, of the KTational Audubon Societies; 

 Prof. John Craig, of Cornell University ; 

 Rev. Henry Sloane Coffin, of the Union 

 Theological Seminary of New York ; Prof. 

 L. R. Higgins, of Tacoma, representing Occi- 

 dental College, of Los Angeles; Anson 

 Smythe Burwell, of Seattle, representing 

 Oberlin College; David R. Sanderson, of 

 Vancouver, B. C, representing the Rose 

 Polytechnic Institute, of Terre Haute, Ind. ; 

 Senator G. W. Chamberlain, of Oregon ; 

 J. N. Teal, of the Oregon state conservation 

 commission ; W. K. Kavanaugh and W. F. 

 Saunders, of St. Louis; Senators Joseph H. 

 Dixon and Paris Gibson, of Montana ; 

 ex-Gov. George C. Pardee, of California ; 

 Hon. James R. Garfield, and George H. Max 

 well, of irrigation fame; Senator Reed Smoot, 

 of Utah, and A. C. Shaw, of the Forest 

 Service, Washington, D. C. 



There will be nine sessions of the Con- 

 gress and a special religious service, con- 

 ducted by visiting churchmen on the Sun- 

 day following the Congress. At that meet- 

 ing definite plans will be put in motion for 

 the conservation of natural resources of land 

 and water. 



Special delegates will be appointed to at- 

 tend the International Conservation Confer- 

 ence at The Hague, Holland, where an 

 organization will be formed for the pur- 

 pose of conserving the natural resources of 

 the world. — Spokane (Wash.) Chronicle. 

 August 13, 1909. 



^ ^ ^ 



The Forest Conference 



The Forest Conference under the direction 

 of the Society for the Protection of New 

 Hampshire Forests at Bretton Woods on 

 Tuesdaj', Wednesday, and Thursday of last 

 week brought together a distinguished com- 

 pany. Governor Rollins presided and Gov- 

 ernor Jordan was there. The state foresters 

 of Vermont, New York, New Jersey, and 



