Vol. XIV 



WOODS 

 WATERS 



soilTs 



ORES 



i-.tCtBHtCtS' 



DECEMBER, 1908 



No. 12 



"CONSERVATION WEEK" 



The Second Meeting of the Governors in Washington, to Receive 

 the Report of the National Conservation Commission 



DURING the period from Decem- 

 I to December 12, in Washing- 

 ton, occurs the second meeting 

 of the Governors, pursuant to the action 

 taken at the memorable White House 

 Conference held last. May. The first 

 full meeting of the National Conserva- 

 tion Commission occurs on December 

 I, and at this meeting the reports of 

 the four branches of the Commission 

 — Water, Forests, Lands, and Miner- 

 als — will be received. During the time 

 which has elapsed since the White 

 House Conference, these four branches 

 have been making an inventory — tak- 

 ing stock, as it were — of the natural 

 resources of the country — their extent 

 value, present condition, promise for 

 future use and development, etc. — and 

 the meetings which begin on December 

 I will receive these reports. The re- 

 ports will be put into shape by the 

 Commission, sitting as a body, and the 

 results of the six months' work will 

 be ready to submit, in proper form, 

 to the Governors, their advisors, and 

 the representatives of the State Conser- 

 vation Commissions and the commis- 



sions selected by the various national 

 associations, at the meetings which be- 

 gin on December 7. 



With less than six months in vi^hich to 

 make the inventory, the four branches into 

 which the Commission is divided, aided by 

 the cooperation of the Government depart- 

 ments, have brought together what is prob- 

 ably the most useful collection of facts about 

 the material things on which national indus- 

 try and progress are based that has ever been 

 assembled at one time. 



Reports presenting these facts and point- 

 ing out their significance have been prepared. 

 These reports, summarized and indexed, will 

 be submitted to the Commission at its com- 

 ing meeting. 



All through the summer general interest in 

 the work and object of the Conservation 

 Commission has been growing. The public 

 is now well posted on a subject of which 

 only a few specialists had knowledge at the 

 time of the Conference of Governors and 

 experts at the White House, in May. 



The Governors carried the spirit of the 

 conference home with them to their own 

 people, and have kept things moving ever 

 since by appointing state commissions _ to 

 study local problems, by writing and speaking 

 upon the subject of conservation, and by 

 keeping in close and helpful touch with the 

 National Commission. They are ready_ to 

 take part in the approaching joint meeting. 



641 



