1908 



THE GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE 



347 



over the control of waterways and re- 

 sources to the National Government. 

 President Roosevelt came into the 

 discussion with a forcible statement 

 along the lines brought out in the re- 

 marks of the different governors. Il- 

 lustrating the stand taken by the Fed- 

 eral Government, the President said: 



"My position has been simply that where 

 a privilege, which may be of untold value in 

 the future to the private individuals granted 

 it, is asked from the Federal Government, 

 the Federal Government shall put on the 

 grant a condition that it shall not be a grant 

 in perpetuity. (Applause.) Make it long 

 enough that the corporation shall have an 

 ample material reward. The corporation 

 deserves it. Give an ample reward to 

 the captain of industry, but not an 

 indeterminate reward. (Applause.) Put 

 in a provision that will enable our chil- 

 dren at the end of a certain specified period, 

 to say what, in their judgment, should be 

 done with any great natural power which 

 is of use to the grantee only because the 

 people as a whole allow him to use it. It 

 is eminently right that he should be allowed 

 to make ample profit from his development 

 of it, but make him pay something for the 

 privilege, and make the grant for a fixed 

 period, so that when the conditions change, 

 as in all probability they will change, our 

 children — the Nation of the future — shall 

 have the right to determine the conditions 

 upon which that privilege shall then be en- 

 joyed. (Applause). 



"Where that policy can best be carried 

 out by the states, carry it out by the states ; 

 where it can best be carried out by the Na- 

 tion, carry it out by the Nation. My con- 

 cern is not with the academic side of the 

 question. My concern is in the employ- 

 ment either of the state rights or the prin- 

 ciple of National sovereignty, as it will best 

 conserve the needs of the people as a 

 whole. (Applause and cheers.) 



Hon. A. E. Mead, Governor of 

 Washington, followed the President, 

 and brought up a subject that had not 

 before been mentioned — the conserva- 

 tion of the resources upon which a 

 very important northwestern industry 

 depends, the fisheries industry. He 

 said that the salmon industry of the 

 northwest is of tremendous importance 

 to the people of that part of the 

 United States, and he spoke for 

 the enactment of laws that would pro- 

 tect that industry, both for the sake 

 of the State of Washington and the 

 territory of Alaska. 



Hon. J. Frank Hanly, Governor of 

 Indiana, followed with a series of in- 

 terrogations, saying that they were 

 submitted as an appeal for informa- 

 tion along certain lines of conserva- 

 tion. He wanted to know if the pro- 

 gram of conservation meant the im- 

 position of limitations upon produc- 

 tion of coal, lumber, etc., and asked, 

 if this is the case, would it not mean 

 putting limitations upon the industrial 

 life of the Nation. He expressed his 

 full sympathy with the purposes of 

 the Conference, and stated that his 

 remarks were made solely for the pur- 

 pose of gaining information, and not 

 in a spirit of opposition or criticism. 



Hon. Augustus E. Willson. Gov- 

 ernor of Kentucky, presented some 

 facts in regard to the utilization of 

 natural resources in his State. Refer- 

 ring to Air. Mitchell's statement in re- 

 gard to the loss of life attendant upon 

 coal mining operations, he said that 

 one of the big coal companies of Ken- 

 tucky has produced in the last ten 

 years 1,100,000 tons of coal with the 

 loss of only one life. This coal com- 

 pany, he said, owns or controls great 

 areas of land, and on its land the com- 

 pany, unaided, has planted 1,000,000 

 black wdlnut trees and a quarter of a 

 million other trees. 



He spoke of Kentucky's interest in 

 the improvement of the country's 

 waterways and said that no other 

 State in the Union realized more ful- 

 ly the importance of a rational and 

 practical development of a system of 

 inland water transportation. 



Hon. Eward W. Hoch, Governor of 

 Kansas, expressed the interest of the 

 Sunflower State in the problem of 

 conserving and extending the nation's 

 inland waterways. He said that he 

 had been deeply impressed with the 

 mutuality of interest which had de- 

 veloped in the Conference. "Calif- 

 ornia," he said, "cannot say to Florida 

 or to Colorado, 'we have no need of 

 thee', and Maine cannot say to Texas, 

 'we have no need of thee'. We are 

 mutual in interest, and this Confer- 

 ence has cemented our Union as noth- 

 ing has ever done before." 



