THE SOUTHERN CONSERVATION 



CONGRESS 



While disappointing in the matter of at- 

 tendance, and showing the lack of thorough 

 preparation and of concentrated purpose, the 

 Southern Conservation Congress held at At- 

 lanta, October 7 and 8, produced some use- 

 ful addresses, framed an important state- 

 ment of principles and policies, and regis- 

 tered the convictions of the South on the 

 fundamentals of conservation. 



At the opening session, acting mayor E. 

 E. Pomeroy, of Atlanta, welcomed the con- 

 gress in the name of the city. Response was 

 made by J. B. White, of Kansas^ City. The 

 chairman, E. L. Worsham, then briefly stated 

 the object of conservation and of the con- 

 gress, and thereupon introduced Gifford 

 Pinchot, who dwelt in his address upon the 

 practical workings of the conservation idea 

 where it has been tried, pointing out the need 

 of extending it, particularlv in the South, 

 and showing the opportunities for individ- 

 ual service. With reference to the opening 

 for the practice of forestry in the South, 

 Mr. Pinchot said : 



The South has to-day the best of chances 

 for the application of practical forestry to 

 her great timber tracts. What the results 

 will be have been amply proven at Biltmore, 

 where magnificent forest preserves have been 

 brought out on some of the poorest lands 

 in the Piedmont region. 



The first step to take in the preservation 

 of your forests is to make it easy for the man 

 who wishes to put it into practice on his 

 own lands. Give him something adequate in 

 the shape of fire protection and, if necessary, 

 exempt him from taxation at least to a cer- 

 tain extent. There are thousands of men 

 who would take up the work if encouraged 

 as they might so easily be. 



In the second place, every southern citi- 

 zen should make it his duty to demand of 

 his senator that he vote for the Apoalachian 

 and White Mountain preserve bill, which 

 comes up before the United States Senate 

 the middle of next March. Far-sighted 

 southerners have been fighting for this bill 

 for the past twenty years, and they have a 

 better opportunity of having it passed now 

 than ever before. The House has already 

 passed the measure, and with the pressure 

 that the South can bring to bear, it will 

 pass the Senate without the shadow of a 

 doubt. 



Addresses by Governor A. E. Willson of 

 Kentucky, B. N. Baker of Baltimore, and H. 

 L. Whitefield of Columbus, Miss., followed. 



Charles S. Barrett, president of the Farmers' 

 Union, contributed a paper to the proceed- 

 ings. 



At this session E. L. Worsham was elected 

 president of the congress and Dr. N. P. 

 Pratt of Atlanta was elected Secretary. 



Conspicuous in the afternoon session of 

 this day was the address by Dr. C. W. Hayes, 

 chief geologist of the United States. Be- 

 sides giving a number of striking examples 

 of waste in the utilization of Southern min- 

 eral resources, .Dr. Hayes came out boldly 

 for the view that a full share of the burden 

 of conservation must be borne by the con- 

 sumer. He insisted that the conservation 

 of natural resources means higher present 

 cost of raw materials and hence of the fin- 

 ished product. 



At this session important addresses were 

 delivered also bv A. L. Ponder, attorney 

 for, and Henry E. Hardtner, Chairman of 

 the Louisiana state conservation commission, 

 and F. M. Miller, member of the Louisiana 

 legislature, outlining the progressive meth- 

 ods by which Louisiana has recently secured 

 the passage of thirty conservation bills. 

 Other speakers were Dr. A. M. Soule, presi- 

 dent of the Georgia Agricultural College, 

 whose subject was "Conservation in Agri- 

 culture," and the presiding officer, Charles 

 J. Haden. a member of the executive com- 

 mittee of the Greater Georgia Association. 



At the morning session on the second day 

 of the congress. President K. G. Matheson of 

 the Georgia School of Technology presided, 

 and the first address was by J. Girvan Peters, 

 of the U. S. Forest Service, who had for 

 his subject "The Work of the Forest Serv- 

 ice in the South." Mr. Peters outlined 

 the history and present status of the lum- 

 ber and turpentine industries in the South, 

 explained the methods by which the Govern-^ 

 ment co-operates with states and with private 

 timberland owners in working out concrete 

 problems in policy and forest management, 

 indicated the desirable legislation which has 

 been passed by Southern states as a result of 

 information obtained as to their respective 

 needs and opportunities for forestry, and 

 described briefly the principles by which the 

 Government manages the national forests 

 in the South, the Ocala and the Chostaw- 

 hatchee in Florida. Fnally, he made refer- 

 ence to the proposed establishment of na- 

 tional forests in. the Appalachians in these 

 words : 



Before concluding I desire to say a few 

 words al)out the Appalachian bill. T want 



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