THE NEW COMMISSION 



National Body Named by President Roosevelt to Take Up Work of Con^ 

 servation of Natural Resources — Make^oip of the Commission 



FOLLOWING up the suggestion 

 made at the recent Conference of 

 the Governors, held at the White 

 House in May, President Roosevelt has 

 appointed a Commission, which is 

 charged with the work of paving the 

 way for the development of a compre- 

 hensive plan for the conservation of the 

 Nation's natural resources. The title 

 of the newly appointed body is "The 

 Commission on the Conservation of Na- 

 tural Resources ;" it is organized in four 

 sections, or divisions, embracing for- 

 ests, waters, lands, and minerals, and its 

 purpose is to make a thorough examina- 

 tion of the condition of these natural 

 sources of wealth — to take an inven- 

 tory, as it were — and then to work out 

 a plan whereby the Nation, cooperating 

 with the several states, may undertake 

 the work of conserving and utilizing 

 these resources to the best possible ad- 

 vantage, avoiding, on the one hand, 

 wastefulness and rapid exhaustion, and 

 on the other hand, niggardly methods 

 such as, if adopted, would clog the de- 

 velopment of commercial enterprises in 

 so far as concerns the forests, the 

 waterways, the farms, and the mines. 



The President's letter appointing the 

 Commission was made public on June 

 8. In this letter the President goes 

 deeply into the reasons behind the or- 

 ganization of the Commission. He de- 

 tails the various steps that have led up 

 to the organization of a National body 

 that is to formulate plans for a Nation- 

 wide system of rehabilitation of all nat- 

 ural sources of wealth, and names the 

 men whom he has selected to under- 

 take this tremendous task. The Presi- 

 dent's official announcement is here 

 given in full : 



The White House 



Washington, June 8. 1908. 

 The recent conference of Governors in 

 the White House confirmed and strength- 



380 



ened in the minds of our people the convic- 

 tion that our natural resources are being 

 consumed, wasted, and destroyed at a rate 

 which threatens them with exhaustion. It 

 was demonstrated that the inevitable result 

 of our present course toward these re- 

 sources, if we should persist in following it, 

 would ultimately be the impoverishment of 

 our people. The Governors present adopted 

 unanimously a declaration reciting the neces- 

 sity for a more careful conservation of the 

 foundations of our national prosperity, and 

 recommending a more effective cooperation 

 to this end among the states and between 

 the states and the Nation. A copy of this 

 declaration is enclosed. 



One of the most useful among the many 

 useful recommendations in the admirable 

 declaration of the Governors relates to the 

 creation of state commissions on the con- 

 servation of resources, to cooperate with a 

 Federal commission. This action of the 

 Governors cannot be disregarded. It is ob- 

 viously the duty of the Federal Govern- 

 ment to accept this invitation to cooperate 

 with the states in order to conserve the 

 natural resources of our whole country. It 

 is no less clearly the duty of the President 

 to lay before the Federal Congress infor- 

 mation as to the state of the Union in rela- 

 tion to the natural resources, and to recom- 

 mend to their consideration such measures 

 as he shall judge necessary and expedient. 

 In order to make such recommendations the 

 President must procure the necessary in- 

 formation. Accordingly, I have decided to 

 appoint a commission to inquire into and 

 advise me as to the condition of our natu- 

 ral resources, and to cooperate with other 

 bodies created for a similar purpose by the 

 states. 



The Inland Waterways Commission, ap- 

 pointed March 14, 1907, which suggested the 

 Conference of Governors, was asked to con- 

 sider the other natural resources related to 

 our inland waterways, and it has done so. 

 But the two subjects together have grown 

 too large to be dealt with by the original 

 body. The creation of a commission on the 

 conservation of natural resources will thus 

 promote the special work for which the 

 Inland Waterways Commission was created, 

 and for which it has just been continued and 

 enlarged, by enabling it to concentrate on 

 its principal task. 



The Commission on the Conservation 

 of Natural Resources will be organized in 

 four sections to consider the four great 



