382 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



but increase the navigability of streams, 

 and so promote water transportation; and 

 the control of streams will reduce soil ero- 

 sion, and permit American farms to increase 

 in fertility and productiveness and so con- 

 tinue to feed the country and maintain a 

 healthy and beneficial foreign commerce. 

 The proper coordination of the use of our 

 resources is a prime requisite for continued 

 national prosperity. 



The recent Conference of the Governors, 

 of the men who are the direct sponsors for 

 the well-being of the states, was notable in 

 many respects ; in none more than in this, 

 that the dignity, the autonomy, and yet the 

 interdependence and mutual dependence of 

 the several states were all emphasized and 

 brought into clear relief, as rarely before 

 in our history. There is no break between 

 the interests of state and nation ; these in- 

 terests are essentially one. Hearty coopera- 

 tion between the state and the national 

 agencies is essential to the permanent wel- 

 fare of the people. You, on behalf of the 

 Federal Government, will do your part to 

 bring about this cooperation. 



In order to make available to the National 

 Conservation Commission all the information 

 and assistance which it may desire from the 

 Federal Departments, I shall issue an execu- 

 tive order directing them to give such help 

 as the Commission may need. 



The next session of Congress will end on 

 March 4, 1909. Accordingly, I should be 

 glad to have at least a preliminary report 

 from the Commission not later than January 

 I, of next year. 



(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt. 



Commenting on the appointment of 

 this Commission, the Washington Post 

 says, editorially, in its isstte of Jttne 9: 



The President has found a way to carry 

 on the conservation movement without wait- 

 ing for an indifferent, if not a hostile. Con- 

 gress to make an appropriation. He has 

 reorganized the Inland Waterways Commis- 

 sion and added to it several important men, 

 including Senator Allison and Representa- 

 tive Ransdell, of Louisiana. He has also 

 appointed a Conservation Commission, con- 

 sisting of the Waterways Commission and 

 three other bodies, having jurisdiction over 

 forestry, land, and mineral questions. The 

 chairman of this combined commission is 

 GiflFord Pinchot, the leading spirit of the 

 conservation movement — the right man in 

 the right place. 



It is now in order for the Governors of 

 the states to appoint commissions, which, in 

 their respective spheres, will cooperate with 

 the national commission. The latter will 

 doubtless hold sessions during the summer 

 in various sections of the country, preparing 

 for the long campaign of education that must 

 be conducted if the conservation plan in its 

 fullness is to become a settled policy of the 

 people and of Congress. This campaign can 

 be strongly aided by the state commissions, 

 with their intimate knowledge of local con- 

 ditions. 



One of the first practical obstacles to con- 

 front the conservation commission, probably, 

 will be the tendency of Congress to cling to 

 tne old manner of doling out appropriations 

 for internal improvements and the old 

 method of making them. At the next ses- 

 sion a river and harbor bill will be de- 

 manded. The biennial distribution of this 

 peculiarly juicy pork will be the cause of 

 special solicitude on the part of Congress- 

 men anxious to be reelected. It has been 

 proved clearly enough to honest men that 

 the huge expenditures on rivers and har- 

 bors are not wisely placed or efficiently 

 used. The money does not go where com- 

 merce calls it, nor is it used with thrift and 

 foresight. The army engineers,, under whose 

 jurisdiction the money is dumped into the 

 creeks and bayous of the country, do not 

 take a real interest in this part of their 

 work. They perform it honestly, but in too 

 many cases they are only too well aware of 

 the fact that log-rolling in Congress secured 

 the appropriation for projects that should 

 not be undertaken. Many of the projects 

 are reluctantly approved by them, or actually 

 disapproved. They know that these projects 

 are not designed for the public welfare, but 

 merely to obtain money from the Treasury 

 for a certain locality, in competition with 

 other localities. It is not surprising that 

 the engineers take little interest in this 

 country-wide game of grab. 



If the Conservation Commission can im- 

 press upon the minds of the people that the 

 river and harbor bill is a costly extravagance, 

 it will have laid the foundation for the 

 greater work of internal improvements which 

 will be of actual benefit. When the voters 

 of a Congressional district forego the tempta- 

 tion to secure a big river and harbor appro- 

 priation for the sake of contributing to 

 bigger and broader plans for utilizing all 

 the water, land, forest, and mineral re- 

 sources of their region, the work of the con- 

 servation commission will be more than half 

 done. 



