1908 



CONSERVATION— WOMAN'S WORK 



351 



the welfare of the home and the fu- 

 ture. 



That has been left for woman, and 

 it is conclusively a field where her 

 care and love and devotion to all that 

 makes for the betterment of human- 

 ity will find ample scope for work. 



Man has always been the maker of 

 money, while to woman has fallen the 

 province of being the saver of money. 

 When the necessity of economy is felt 

 in the home, woman bravely meets the 

 emergency, and plans for and effects 

 the necessary saving. 



So in the great national crisis which 

 now confronts us — the necessity for 

 economizing and preserving our fast- 

 disappearing resources for ourselves 

 and our children — woman is found the 

 willing and ready partner to carry on 

 the work. 



One has but to attend any gathering 

 of representative women, in conven- 

 tion assembled, to learn that there is 

 an overwhelming sentiment and a con- 

 sensus of opinion in favor of preserv- 

 ing forests and conserving natural re- 

 sources. 



Many women's organizations have 

 already placed themselves on record 

 as in favor of preserving forests. The 

 District of Columbia Federation of 

 Women's Clubs, with its seventeen af- 

 filiated clubs and 4,000 members, was 

 the first woman's organization to 

 adopt resolutions, introduced by the 

 writer on November 30, 1907, indors- 

 ing President Roosevelt's policy of 

 conserving the natural resources : 

 while the National Society of the 

 Daughters of the American Revolu- 

 tion followed, a close second. 



The General Federation of Wom- 

 en's Clubs, with its 800,000 workers 

 and hundreds of state and local 

 branches, has for several years made a 



specialty of work for preserving the 

 forests, upon which the proper con- 

 servation of all other natural re- 

 sources depends. It is conceded that 

 the almost universal sentiment in fa- 

 vor of preserving forests is due to the 

 interest taken in the subject by the 

 women's clubs and the work done by 

 them. 



The Conference of Governors on 

 the natural resources, just closed at 

 the White House, was honored by the 

 presence of Mrs. Sarah S. Piatt Deck- 

 er, of Denver, Colo., president of the 

 General Federation of Women's Clubs, 

 whom President Roosevelt especially 

 invited. The recognition thus accord- 

 ed the women of the country by the 

 President and the other great men of 

 the Nation shows the trend of public 

 opinion and gives evidence of the re- 

 alization and appreciation of woman's 

 ability along these lines. Mrs. Roose- 

 velt was also an interested listener at 

 the meetings. 



The saving of the country's re- 

 sources will be an assured fact when 

 the women of the country earnestly 

 devote themselves to that work. It is 

 peculiarly woman's work, as the time 

 is short, and as men are slow in ac- 

 tion, even when knowing the facts. 



Far-reaching results may be accom- 

 plished speedily by women educating 

 the men of their families. Then by 

 inculcating in their children the pre- 

 cepts of economy, and then impress- 

 ing them ,with the patriotic duty of 

 elevating the Nation to the highest 

 plane of civilization, the entire senti- 

 ment of the Nation may be changed 

 by the motherhood of the country in 

 a single generation, and this people 

 converted from the most wasteful and 

 extravagant in the world to the most 

 prudent and conservative. 



