1908 



THE WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE 



241 



ter supply and the water power of the 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts? If 

 nothing else is done in the way of tariff 

 revision, the need of immediate action 

 in this respect appeals particularly to 

 those States which, like Massachusetts, 

 find their attempts at reforestation, 

 through the efforts of State laws and 

 State foresters, negatived by the bounty 

 given by the tariff to the destruction of 

 the trees." 



C. S. Deneen, Governor of lUi-iois: 



"I appreciate fully the importance of 

 the movement which you have inaugu- 

 rated, and shall be pleased to do anything 

 within my power to assist you in this 

 regard." 



Fred M. Warner, Governor of Michigan: 



"The plan outlined for a Conference 

 that shall have for its object the discus- 

 sion of methods for the conservation of 

 our country's great natural resources 

 meets with my cordial approval. Our 

 people's enero-ies have been devoted to 

 the development and exploitation of 

 these resources for more than a century 

 and a quarter, and the time has come 

 when this policy should be followed by 

 an era of conservation. How to bring 

 this about is a problem now confronting 

 us as a people, and to its solution we 

 should devote the best there is in us." 



Albert B. Cummins, Governor of Iowa: 



"I am wholly in sympathy with the 

 movement that looks to the conservation 

 of our natural resources." 



John Sparks, Governor of Nevada: 



"It must be conceded that our people, 

 insofar as conservation of natural re- 

 sources is concerned, have been waste- 

 ful in the extreme. Your call to the 

 Governors and their advisors, as out- 

 lined in your letter, meets with my 

 hearty approval. An exchange of opin- 

 ion in such a gathering will certainly be 

 productive of great good." 



J. Frank Hanly, Governor of Indiana: 



"I am in hearty sympathy with the 

 purpose which has prompted the call 

 for this Conference, and if I can be of 

 any service to you at any time, you may 

 command me." 



R. B. Glenn, Governor of North Caro- 

 lina: 



"I will make it a point to be present 

 and take oart in this meeting, which, I 

 think, will be of incalculable advantage 

 to the entire Nation. I can assure you, 

 Mr. President, that nothing will give me 

 more pleasure than at any and all times 

 to aid, in any way in my power, in the 

 upbuilding of the great natural resources 



of our Nation, and in preserving from 

 willful and malicious destruction our 

 forests, mines and other natural sources 

 of wealth." 



F. R. Gooding, Governor of Idaho: 



"This meeting, I am sure, will be pro- 

 ductive of much good. It should arouse 

 the people to the importance of conserv- 

 ing the natural resources with which this 

 country has been so generously blest. 

 The people have looked upon these re- 

 sources as inexhaustible; waste and ex- 

 travagance have been practiced on every 

 hand, until the citizen who has taken the 

 time to look into our great resources is 

 becoming alarmed for the future inter- 

 ests of the country." 



C. N. Haskell, Governor of Oklahoma: 



"I believe that this Conference will be 

 of much benefit, and that the study of 

 these subjects — the natural outgrowth 

 of such a conference — will be vastly ben- 

 eficial to posterity." 



M. F. Ansel, Governor of South Caro- 

 lina: 



"I have for some time taken great in- 

 terest in the question of the conservation 

 of our forests and waterways, and I 

 have been made mindful of the fact that 

 unless something is done to conserve 

 these interests, our posterity will not 

 have what they are entitled to from our 

 hands. And I realize the importance of 

 this great question to our country at 

 large." 



John C. Cutler, Governor of Utah: 



"The suggestions regarding the con- 

 servation of the natural resources of our 

 great country are most timely and ap- 

 propriate. It has been evident for some 

 time that the people of America are too 

 wasteful of the splendid patrimony God 

 has given them. Apparently assuming 

 that our resources are inexhaustible, we 

 have manifested an extravagance which, 

 if allowed to go unchecked, will impov- 

 erish the country and transmit a bank- 

 rupt commonwealth to later generations. 

 This condition is not so apparent in the 

 West as in the older regions of the East. 

 But that is all the stronger reason why 

 we of the West should take the matter 

 in hand and stop the wasteful tendency 

 before actual need confronts us. For 

 the tendency toward extravagance^ is at 

 least as great here as in the East; its re- 

 sults are not yet so apparent only be- 

 cause it has not prevailed so long." 



William M. O. Dawson, Governor of 

 West Virginia: 



"I beg to say that I am in hearty 

 accord with the purpose of the meeting, 

 and am glad indeed that you have 



