NEWS AND NOTES 



President Roosevelt's Acknowledgments to 

 Mr. Gifford Pinchot 



Recent developments make the following, 

 published in Conservation for September 

 last, worth rereading: 



"We have been doing everything m our 

 power to prevent fraud upon the public 

 land. * * * So much for what we are trying 

 to do in utilizing our public lands for the 

 public; in securing the use of the water, 

 the forage, the coal, and the timber for the 

 public. In all four movements my chief 

 adviser, and the man first to suggest to 

 me the courses which have actually proved 

 so beneficial, was Mr. Gifford Pinchot, the 

 Chief of the National Forest Service. Mr. 

 Pinchot also suggested to me a movement 

 supplementary to all of these movements; 

 one which will itself lead the way in the 

 general movement which he represents and 

 with which he is actively identified, for the 

 conservation of all our natural resources. 

 This was the appointment of the Inland 

 Waterways Commission." Address of Pres- 

 ident Roosevelt before the National Editorial 

 Association, at Jamestown, Va., June 10, 

 1907. 



"All these various uses of our natural re- 

 sources are so closely connected that they 

 should be coordinated, and should be treated 

 as part of one coherent plan and not in 

 haphazard and piecemeal fashion. It is 

 largely because of this that I appointed the 

 Waterways Commission last year. * * * The 

 reason this meeting takes place is because we 

 had that Waterways Commission last year. 

 Especial credit is due to the initia- 

 tive, the energy, the devotion to duty, and 

 the farsightedness of Gifford Pinchot [Great 

 applause], to whom we owe so much of the 

 progress we have already made in handling 

 this matter of the coordination and conserva- 

 tion of natural resources. If it had not been 

 for him, this Convention neither would nor 

 could have been called." President Roose- 

 velt in his opening address to the Confer- 

 ence of the Governors of the United States, 

 White House, May 13, 1908. 



Mr, Pinchot's Public Statement 



Following his removal from office, Mr. 

 Gifford Pinchot said: 



'At this time I have no comment to make 

 on recent events. Whether in or out of the 

 Go\ ( service I propose to stay in the 



120 



fight for conservation and equal opportunity. 

 Every movement and measure from what- 

 ever source that tends to advance conserva- 

 tion and promote government by men for 

 human welfare I shall try to help. Every 

 movement and measure from whatever 

 source that hinders conservation and pro- 

 motes government by money for profit I 

 shall endeavor to oppose. The supreme test 

 of movements and measures is the welfare 

 of the plain people. I am as ready to sup- 

 port the administration when it moves to- 

 ward this paramount end as I am to op- 

 pose it when it moves away. 



"I leave the Forest Service with profound 

 regret. Its growth, its stability, and its suc- 

 cess are due to the character, capacity, and 

 hard work of a remarkably devoted, able, 

 and high-minded body of men. I bear eager 

 testimony to the service they have rendered 

 this Nation. They are well prepared to 

 carry on the work. Out of this work of the 

 Forest Service grew the conservation move- 

 ment, which has taken so remarkable a hold 

 on the Nation. Less than three years ago 

 the word itself, in its present meaning, was 

 substantially unknown and the movement for 

 which it stands had not been born. To-day 

 it expresses one of our deepest National 

 convictions and the principles for which it 

 stands are received as axiomatic. It is only 

 the execution of them which remains in 

 doubt. 



"The great Conference of Governors in 

 the White House in May, 1908, led to the 

 appointment of the National Conservation 

 Commission, whose report gave us a new 

 conception of the value of our natural re- 

 sources. It told us what is needed for their 

 prompt and orderly development and for 

 their safety and perpetuation. Together with 

 President Roosevelt's message transmitting 

 its report, the recommendations of the com- 

 mission furnished a complete statement of 

 the conservation policy, met our needs 

 squarely and prescribed the remedy. They 

 included definite practical recommendations 

 for the protection of forests against fire and 

 for_ equitable forest taxation. The classifi- 

 cation of the public domain was strongly 

 urged and principles for its use and dis- 

 position were laid down. The necessity for 

 preserving the fertility of our soils and de- 

 veloping their agricultural value by drainage 

 and otherwise was covered, and particular 

 attention drawn to the need of retaining our 

 phosphate lands, then in danger of absorption 

 by a foreign syndicate. The separation of 

 mineral rights from rights to the surface 



