HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



vention and fighting, for which purpose, he 

 said, lumbermen are spending more money 

 than the government. 



Pinchot's Address 



After a number of brief speeches at the 

 Thursday afternoon session the chair intro- 

 duced Gifford Pinchot, speaking of him as 

 ' ' the best friend of our forests. ' ' As Mr. 

 Pinchot is indeed the great friend of con- 

 servation, his speech should appeal to lum- 

 bermen particularly, and it is herewith re- 

 produced : 



The fundamental principles of conservation 

 are few and simple. One of the first is this — 

 that the natural resources and natural advan- 

 tages belong to all the people and should be 

 developed, protected aud perpetuated directly 

 for the benefit of all the people and not mainly 

 for the profit of a few. Another is that the 

 natural resources still owned by the people 

 which are necessaries of life, like coal and 

 water power, should remain in public owner- 

 ship and should be disposed of only under lease 

 lor limited periods and with fair compensation 

 to the public for the rights granted. Every 

 stream should be made useful for every pur- 

 pose in which it can be made to serve the pub- 

 lic. The preparation of a broad plan is needed 

 without delay for the development of our water- 

 ways for navigation, domestic supply, irrigation, 

 drainage and power. Every power site now in, 

 state or federal control should be held so, and 

 should be disposed of only under lease, for a 

 limited time, and with fair compensation to the 

 public. In the development of our waterways 

 the co-operation of the states with the nation Is 

 essential for the general welfare. 



All forests necessary for the public welfare 

 should be in the public ownership, such as the 

 national forests already in existence, the pro- 

 posed Appalachian and White Mountain national 

 forests, and the state forests of New York, 

 rennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states. The 

 protection of forests against fire is the first duty 

 in forestry of state and nation alike. The way 

 to stop fires is to get men to them as soon as 

 they begin. The maintenance and extension of 

 forest fire patrol by the nation, the states and 

 Iheir subdivisions, and by associations of pri- 

 vate citizens who own timber lands, is abso- 

 lutely necessary. The protection of existing 

 forests by wise use Is the first step in forestry. 

 Reforestation is the second. Land-bearing for- 

 ests should be taxed annually on the land 

 value alone, and the timber crop should be 

 taxed when it is cut, so that private forestry 

 may be encouraged. The private ownership of 

 forest land is a public trust and the people have 

 both the right and the duty to regulate the use 

 of such lands in the general interest. 



Every acre of land should be put to whatever 

 use will make it most useful to all the people. 

 The fundamental object of our land policy 

 should be the making and maintenance of per- 

 manent and prosperous homes. Land monopoly 

 and excessive holdings must not be tolerated. 

 Settlement must be encouraged by every legiti- 

 mate means, on all the land that will support 

 homes. Thus the tillable land in public owner- 

 ship within and without the national forests 

 should be disposed of in fee simple to actual 

 home makers, but not to speculators. 



The first and most needed thing to do for our 

 ■cultivated lands is to preserve their fertility by 

 preventing erosion. The nonirrigable arid public 

 grazing lands should be administered by the 

 government in the interest of small stockmen 

 and the home maker until they can pass di- 

 rectly into the bands of actual settlers. Rights 

 to the surface of the public land should be sepa- 

 rated from rights to the forests upon it, and the 

 minerals beneath it, and each should be held 

 subject to separate disposal. 



The timber and stone act should be repealed. 



As to our minerals, those still remaining in gov- 

 ernment ownership should not be sold, but 

 should be leased upon terms favorable for their 

 development up to the full requirements of our 

 people. Until legislation to this effect can be 

 enacted temporary withdrawals of land contain- 

 ing coal, oil, gas and phosphate rock are re- 

 (iulred in order to prevent speculation and 

 monopoly. It clearly is the duty of the federal 

 government, as well as that of the states in 

 their sphere, to provide through investigation, 

 legislation and regulation against loss of life 

 and waste of mineral resources in mining. The 

 recent creation of a national bureau of mines 

 makes a real advance in the right direction. 

 The maintenance of national aud state conserva- 

 tion commissions is necessary to ascertain and 

 make public the facts as to our natural re- 

 sources. Such commissions supply the funda- 

 mental basis for cooperation between the nation 

 and the states for the development and pro- 

 tection of the foundations of our prosperity. 

 A national health service is needed to act in co- 

 operation with similar agencies within the states 

 for the purpose of lengthening life, decreasing 

 sufiCering and promoting the vigor and efliciency 

 of our people. 



These are not all the things for which con- 

 servation stands, but they are some of the more 

 important. In the effort to conserve our natu- 

 ral resources we recognize that combinations 

 against the public welfare, which extend beyond 

 state lines, can be met effectively only by agen- 

 cies equally capable of operating across such 

 boundaries. It is clear that the control of the 

 interstate commercial power is possible only by 

 the use of interstate federal power. We are 

 opposed to the extension of state jurisdiction 

 at the expense of real control by the people over 

 monopoly, as in the case of water power. While 

 I do not believe that the state alone can carry 

 out the conservation program in the face of 

 interstate attacks upon it, I do not fail to recog- 

 nize the great and useful part which the states 

 must play in this great movement for the per- 

 manent welfare of all our people. Also I appre- 

 ciate now, as I always have, that in much of 

 the work ahead cooperation between the states 

 and the nation is an essential condition of suc- 

 cess. But when I see the special interests at- 

 tempting to take refuge behind the doctrine of 

 states' righls, I propose to speak out and say so. 



The principles enunciated in this short state- 

 ment have all been repeatedly presented to Con- 

 gress in the form of concrete bills, or embodied 

 in action taken directly by the chief executive 

 for the public welfare. Some of them have 

 been enacted iulo law. Others remain to be 

 embodied in legislation, both state and na- 

 tional. There is much hard fisbting ahead, but 

 the progress already made is certainly encourag- 

 ing. It is not possible in a speech like this to 

 give the details of propositions covering so wide 

 a field as the conservation questions to which I 

 have referred. To carry out this program in 

 the coming aud future sessions of Congress, and 

 of state legislatures, the friends of conservation 

 will devote themselves with ever increasing en- 

 ergy and ever increasing prospects of success, 

 as conservation more and more generally wins 

 not only the belief, which it has already, but 

 the determined fighting support of our people. 



Resolutions Adopted 



The following resolutions were adopted by 

 the second National Conservation Congress: 



Heartily accepting the spirit and intent of 

 the constitution and adhering to the principles 

 laid down by Washington and Lincoln, we de- 

 clare our conviction that we live under a govern- 

 ment of the people, by the people, for the 

 people ; and we repudiate any and all special or 

 local interests or platforms or policies in con- 

 flict with the inherent rights and sovereign will 

 of our people. 



Recognizing the natural resources of the coun- 

 try as the prime basis of property and oppor- 



tunity, we hold the rights of the people In these 

 resources to be natural and inherent, and justly 

 inalienable and indefeasible and we insist that 

 the resources should and shall be developed, used 

 and conserved in ways consistent both with cur- 

 rent welfare and with the perpetuity of our 

 people. 



Recognizing the waters of the country as a 

 great national resource, we approve and indorse 

 the opinion of Theodore Roosevelt that all the 

 waters belong to all the people, and hold that 

 they should be administered in the interests of 

 all the people. 



Realizing that all parts of each drainage basin 

 are related and interdependeot, we hold that 

 each stream should be regarded and treated as 

 a unit from its source to its mouth ; and since 

 the waters are essentially mobile and transitory 

 and are generally interstate, we hold that In 

 all cases of divided or doubtful jurisdiction the 

 waters should be administered by cooperation 

 between state and federal agencies. 



Recognizing the interdependence of the vari- 

 ous uses of the waters of the country, we hold 

 that the primary uses are for domestic supply 

 and for agriculture through irrigation or other- 

 wise aud that the uses for navigation and for 

 power, in which water is not consumed, are 

 secondary ; and we recommend the modern view 

 that each use of the waters should be made 

 with reference to all other uses for the public 

 welfare in accordance with the principle of the 

 greatest good to the greatest number for the 

 longest time. 



Viewing purity of water supply as essential 

 to the public health and general welfare, we 

 urge upon all municipal, state and federal au- 

 thorities and on individuals and corporations, 

 requisite action toward purifying and prevent- 

 ing contamination of the waters. 



Reclamation Indoksed 



-ippfoving the successful efforts of the United 

 States to provide homes on arid lands through 

 irrigation, we indorse and commend the recla- 

 mation service and urge its continuance and 

 the extension of the same policy to the drain- 

 age of swamp and overflow lands, to be carried 

 forward so far as appropriate through coopera- 

 tion between states and federal agencies. 



Viewing adequate and economical transporta- 

 tion facilities as among the means of conserva- 

 tion, and realizing that the growth of the coun- 

 try has exceeded the development of transpor- 

 tation facilities, we approve the prompt adop- 

 tion of a comprehensive plan for developing 

 navigation throughout the rivers and lakes of 

 the United States, proceeding in the order of 

 their magnitude and commercial importance. 



Recognizing the vast economic benefit to the 

 people of water power derived largely from in- 

 terstate and source streams no less than from 

 navigable rivers, we favor federal control of 

 water power development ; we deny the right of 

 states or federal government to continue alien- 

 ating or conveying water by granting franchises 

 for the use thereof in perpetuity, and we de- 

 mand that the use of water rights be permitted 

 only for limited periods with just compensation 

 in the interests of the people. 



We demand the maintenance of the federal 

 commission empowered to deal with all users 

 of the waters, and to coordinate these uses for 

 the public welfare in cooperation with similar 

 commissions or other agencies maintained by 

 the state. 



Public Land and Water Rights 



.\pproving the withdrawal of public lands 

 pending classification, and the separation of sur- 

 face rights from mineral, forest and water rights, 

 including water power, we commend legislation 

 for the classification and leasing for grazing 

 purposes on unreserved public lands suitable 

 <hiefly for this purpose, subject to the right of 

 homesteaders and settlers, or the acquisition 

 thereof under the laws of the United States ; 

 and we hold that arid and nonirrigable public 

 grazing lauds should be administered by the 



