1908 



THE GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE 



319 



the idea that the forty-six sovereign states, 

 in the performance of their duties of gov- 

 ernment, are lagging behind the stage of 

 development which the other sovereignties 

 of the earth have reached. As the popula- 

 tion of our states increases; as the rela- 

 tions between the people of each state and 

 other states grow more frequent, more com- 

 plicated, more important, more intricate, 

 what every state does is most important to 

 the people of every other state. (Ap- 

 plause.) 



"If you look at the international life of 

 the world you will see that the correspond- 

 ence between the nations is continually in- 

 creasing ; not in the letter-writing sense, 

 but in the intercommunication and under- 

 standing of things that they should do in 

 concert for the benefit of all their people. 



"Scores and hundreds of conferences and 

 congresses are being held under govern- 

 ment auspices to regulate the action of the 

 different nations of the earth. England 

 and France and Germany and Spain, and all 

 the nations of Europe, are considering the 

 conduct of their governments with refer- 

 ence to the effect which their action shall 

 have upon the pecple of each other govern- 

 ment. 



"i\ow, the states, in the exercise of their 

 sovereignty, in the exercise of the powers 

 reserved to them, rest under the same kind 

 of duty (applause), a duty that forbids the 

 people of any state to live unto itself alone. 

 (Applause.) 



"The Constitution of the United States 

 prohibits the states from making any agree 

 ment with each other without the consent of 

 Congress ; ])ut 5'Oti can make any number 

 of agreements with the consent of Con- 

 gress. Why should not the powers that are 

 reserved to the state sovereignties be exer- 

 cised by those sovereignties, with a wise re- 

 gard for the common interest, upon con- 

 ference, upon complete understanding of 

 the duties of good neighborhood, under a 

 firm resolve to make it wholly unnecessary 

 that this continual pressure to force the Na- 

 tional Government into the performance of 

 the duties that the states ought to perform 

 should continue? (Applause.) 



"I regard this meeting as marking a new 

 departure, the beginning of an era in which 



the states of the Union will exercise their 

 reserve sovereign powers upon a higher 

 plane of patriotism and love of country than 

 has ever existed before." (Great applause.) 



Secretary Root was followed by Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury George B. 

 Cortelyou, who made a few happy re- 

 marks along the line of Mr. Root's 

 speech. 



Hon. W. M. O. Dawson, Governor 

 of West Virginia, took the platform at 

 the close of Secretary Cortelyou's re- 

 marks, and spoke on the necessity of 

 t:onserving the country's resources in 

 coal, petroleum, natural gas, etc. He 

 said that no state in the Union can say 

 that its affairs are of importance to no 

 one save the people within its borders. 

 If the people in Missouri are wasting 

 a part of the common heritage of the 

 whole country, he said, the people of 

 West Virginia, as a part of this com- 

 mon country, are interested in seeing 

 that Missouri stops such waste ; and, 

 likewise, if West Virginia wastes the 

 natural resources that are the common 

 property of all the people, all the other 

 states are interested in seeing that the 

 waste in West Virginia is ended. 



After some little discussion it was 

 decided that the Governors, governors' 

 advisers, members of Congress, mem- 

 bers of the Supreme Court, and mem- 

 bers of the (Cabinet be given equal 

 privilege in the matter of being heard, 

 and after a motion to this effect had 

 been made by Governor Blanchard, 

 seconded by Governor Hoch of Kan- 

 sas, and carried, a motion by Gover- 

 nor Hanly of Indiana, to adjourn, 

 closed the first day of the Conference. 



SECOND DAY'S SESSIONS 



The morning session of Wednesday, 

 May 14, was called to order at ten 

 o'clock, Governor Johnson, of Minne- 

 sota, taking the chair when President 

 Roosevelt retired. The session was 

 opened with the address by Mr. James 

 J. Hill. 



Mr. Hill was originally scheduled 

 to read a paper on "Transportation," 



and according to the original program 

 his paper was to have been read at the 

 morning session of May 15. This was 

 changed, however, and Mr. Hill's sub- 

 ject was "The Natural Wealth of the 

 Land and its Conservation." It is per- 

 haps not generally known that the 

 great railway magnate is a high 

 authority on this subject, and his pa- 



