CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Report of the National Conservation Commission. Sen. Doc. 

 No. 676, 60th Congr. 2d Sess. Edited by Henry Gannett. Eebr., 

 1909. 3 vols. 276, 771, 793 pp. 



We have succeeded only just before going to print in secur- 

 ing a copy of this voluminous (1840 pp.) and most valuable 

 report, which brings out the most complete statements regarding 

 the natural resources of the United States. It is a pity and a 

 shortsighted policy to have limited the edition to such an extent 

 as to leave no copies for a liberal distribution by the Commission 

 itself. The limit is set so low as to suggest an attempt at sup- 

 pressing the information, but we hope and have no doubt that the 

 essential points will not fail to be propagated gradually among 

 the public, as we have begun in the present issue. 



We have now space and time only to refer to the structure of 

 the document. It consists not only of three volumes but of three 

 parts which do not correspond to the volumes. The first volume 

 containing two parts, namely summaries of different degrees of 

 condensation, and the third part being distributed through the 

 other two volumes, namely, the separate papers by experts on 

 which the summaries presumably are based or supported. 



The first volume contains, besides the President's message and 

 the brief summarized report of the Commission, and of the con- 

 servation conference, the summary statements by the secretaries 

 of the section of waters, of forests, of lands, and of minerals. 



These summaries are the part of the report which should be 

 widely distributed among the people. 



That on forests was prepared by Mr. Overton W. Price on 23 

 pages under the caption, What forests do ; what we have ; what 

 is produced (see article in this issue) ; what is used (differentiat- 

 ing by character of use, by States, and by species) ; what is 

 wasted; where we stand; what should be done; and where we 

 might stand. 



It is to be hoped that not all the statements are as inaccurate and 

 misleading as the one on which our eye fell accidentally : "For 

 ten years the Department of Agriculture has carried for- 



