XATIOXAL CONSERN'ATION CONGRESS 



571 



that the net result of this national con- 

 conversation on conservation will be 

 beneficial. The committee on resolutions 

 was successful in constructing a very 

 good working platform. The unfortu- 

 nate and for the most part useless war 

 of words on the outworn state rights 

 issue probably convinced no one, but it 

 afiforded a safety valve for certain pent 

 up feelings and may help to clear the 

 air. ]\rany of the speakers, beginning 

 with the President, had well thought 

 out messages which were good to hear 

 and will make useful reading. 



The first two da}'S of the congress 

 were given chiefly to the President, the 

 ex-president, and the governors. The 

 first address at the opening session on 

 Monday morning was by Governor A. 

 O. Eberhart of Minnesota and it set a 



good keynote both in matter and man- 

 ner. He spoke with comparative brev- 

 ity, showed the significance of the con- 

 servation movement in general, 'and es- 

 pecially in its relation to agriculture, 

 and reviewed particularly the resources 

 and work of Minnesota. He urged the 

 establishment by all the states of con- 

 servation commissions, having power to 

 deal with all the problems of natural 

 resources. 



There was an address of welcome bv 

 Mayor Keller, of St. Paul. 



Incidentally it may be noted that we 

 learned at this congress that the Union 

 is made up of forty-six states, each one 

 of which is the finest and richest section 

 of the earth. State pride was constantly 

 on tap throughout the sessions. 



THE ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT 



President Taft was received locally 

 and by the congress with all the respect 

 due to his great office and to his own 

 likable and dignified personality. His 

 address made a strong and favorable 

 impression. Many who came to criti- 

 cise remained to praise and there is no 

 doubt that the President made friends 

 by it. He did not minimize the impor- 

 tance of the occasion, or the greatness 

 of the opportunity. His enunciation of 

 his conservation policy was carefully 

 made and forcefully and judicially 

 stated. It showed a broad and impar- 

 tial study of the subject. There was in 

 it no play to the galleries. It was 

 plainly a great efifort by a sincere man 

 to square himself before the country 

 upon one of its chief issues. It was a 

 weighty state paper addressed to the 

 people of the United States. 



"Conservation," the President said, 

 "as an economical and political term, has 

 coiue to mean the preservation of our 

 natural resources for economic use so 

 as to secure the greatest good to the 

 greatest muuber." He briefly reviewed 

 the develo])ment of the country which 

 has made the issue of conservation 

 acute and, referring to the need for 

 some one. to arouse the country td a 

 sense of the conditions, he made a fine 



reference to his predecessor. "Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt," he said, "took up this 

 task in the last two years of his second 

 administration and well did he perform 

 it. As President of the l^'nited States 

 I have, as it were, inherited this policy 

 and I rejoice in my heritage. I prize 

 my high opportunity to do all that an 

 executive can do to help a great people 

 realize a great national ambition." Con- 

 servation he declared to be a national 

 question and not one of politics, of fac- 

 tions, or of persons, and he added that 

 "a satisfactory conclusion can only be 

 reached promptly if we avoid acrimony, 

 imputations of bad faith and political 

 controversy." 



The President summarized briefl}' the 

 .statistics of the public domain and class- 

 ified his discussion under six heads, ( i ) 

 agricultural lands; (2) lands contain- 

 ing metalliferous minerals; (3) forest 

 lands; (4) coal lands; (5) oil and gas 

 lands, and (6) phosphate lands. 



( )ur land laws f;)r the entry of agri- 

 cultural land, including the original 

 homestead law, the enlarged homestead 

 act, the desert land act, the donation or 

 Carev act, and the national reclamation 

 homestead law he considered to have 

 worked well and to need no radical re- 

 form. He reviewed favorably the 



