1908 



THE GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE 



343 



committee and empowered to ap- 

 point five other Governors to act on 

 the same committee ; and this execu- 

 tive committee will hold a meeting 

 during the early summer to elaborate 

 further the plans for the first gather- 

 ing of the new "House of Governors.''' 

 In commenting on this organization, 

 Governor Folk, who stands as the 

 father of the movement, said : 



"One hundred years from now the House 

 of Governors will be looked upon as one 

 of the greatest factors in the Government 

 and development of the United States. It 

 will cement the states of the Union as they 

 have never been cemented before. The 

 value of the work that such an organization 

 can do cannot be over-estimated. While 

 the body will have no legal standing, and 

 will, therefore, be in no position to dictate 

 what laws shall, or shall not, be passed by 

 the various legislatures, it is, nevertheless, 

 true that recommendations made by the 

 Governors would undoubtedly be enacted 

 into law. In this way, many problems 

 which now prove troublesome, would be 

 solved. We could easily deal with uni- 

 form divorce laws, railroad legislation, and 

 other such matters of interest outside the 

 borders of any one state. There will be 

 no conflict between the action of the Con- 

 ference, in placing the power in the hands 

 of the President to call the next meeting of 



Governors to discuss the conservation of 

 natural resources, and that of the commit- 

 tee which proposes to call a meeting of the 

 Governors to discuss all matters of com- 

 mon interest. We will work in harmony, 

 and our object is simply to broaden the 

 scope of the work of the proposed meeting." 



. As has been stated, Govenror Folk 

 really stands as the sponsor for the 

 new movement. He, . and others 

 among the Governors, felt that the 

 proposition for assembling a confer- 

 ence of the Governors on call of the 

 President left matters too indefinite: 

 and it was also felt that such confer- 

 ences as might be called by the Presi- 

 dent, while they might work efficiently 

 toward handling problems of general 

 conservation, would not feel like deal- 

 ing with other problems, such as an 

 organization like the House of Gov- 

 ernors might wish to take up. 



The matter of temporary organiza- 

 tion was left in the hands of Govern- 

 ors Willson and Swanson, though it 

 was regarded as practically settled 

 that Governor Folk would be made a 

 members of the permanent executive 

 committee. 



THIRD DAY'S SESSION 



At the opening of the session of 

 Friday, May 15th, Governor Blan- 

 chard read the report of the Commit- 

 tee on Resolutions. He stated that 

 this report is not really in the form of 

 a set of resolutions, but rather was 

 designated to express the views and 

 recommendations of the Conference. 



"We, the Governors of the states and 

 territories of the United States of Amer- 

 ica, in conference assembled, do hereby de- 

 clare the conviction that the great prosper- 

 ity of our country rests upon the abundant 

 resources of the land chosen by our fore- 

 fathers for their homes and where they 

 laid the foundation for this great Nation. 



"We look upon these resources as a her- 

 itage to make use of in establishing and 

 promoting the comfort, prosperity, and hap- 

 piness of the American people, but not to be 

 wasted, deteriorated, or needlessly de- 

 stroyed. 



"We agree that our country's future is in- 

 volved in this ; that the great natural re- 

 sources supply the material basis upon 

 which our civilization must continue to de- 



pend, and upon which the perpetuity of the 

 Nation itself rests. 



"We agree, in the light of facts brought 

 to our knowledge and from information re- 

 ceived from sources which we cannot doubt, 

 that this material basis is threatened with 

 exhaustion. Even as each succeeding gen- 

 eration, from the birth of the Nation, has 

 performed its part in promoting the prog- 

 ress and development of the Republic, so 

 do we in this generation recognize it as a 

 high duty to perform our part, and this 

 .duty, in large degree, lies in the adoption of 

 measures for the conservation of the nat- 

 ural wealth of the country. 



"We declare our firm conviction that this 

 conservation of our natural resources is a 

 subject of transcendent importance, which 

 should engage unremittingly the attention 

 of the Nation, the states, and the people in 

 earnest co-operation. These natural re- 

 sources include the land on which we live, 

 and which yields our food; the living waters 

 which fertilize the soil, supply power, and 

 form great avenues of commerce ; the for- 

 ests which yield the materials for our 

 homes, prevent erosion of the soil, and con- 

 serve the navigation and other uses of our 

 streams ; and the minerals which form the 



