XATH >NAL C< >NSERVATI( )X C< >NGRESS 



that the net result of this national con- 

 conversation on conservation will be 

 beneficial. The committee on resolutions 

 was successful in constructing a very 

 good working platform. The unfortu- 

 nate and for the most part useless war 

 of words on the outworn state rights 

 issue probably convinced no one, but it 

 afforded a safety valve for certain pent 

 up feelings and ma}- help to clear the 

 air. Many of the speakers, beginning 

 with the President, had well thought 

 out messages which were good to hear 

 and will make useful reading. 



The first two days of the congress 

 were given chiefly to the President, the 

 ex-president, and the governors. The 

 first address at the opening session on 

 Monday morning was by Governor A. 

 O. Eberhart of Minnesota and it set a 



good keynote both in matter and man 

 ner. He spoke with comparative brev 

 ity, showed the significance of the con 

 servation movement in general, and es 

 pecially in its relation to agriculture 

 and reviewed particularly the resource: 

 and work of Minnesota. He urged tin 

 establishment by all the states of con 

 servation commissions, having power t< 

 deal with all the problems of natura 

 resources. 



There was an address of welcome b> 

 Mayor Keller, of St. Paul. 



Incidentally it may be noted that w< 

 learned at this congress that the Unioi 

 is made up of forty-six states, each om 

 of which is the finest and richest sectioi 

 of the earth. State pride was constantly 

 on tap throughout the sessions. 



THE ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT 



President Taft was received locally 

 and by the congress with all the respect 

 due to his great office and to his own 

 likable and dignified personality. His 

 address made a strong and favorable 

 impression. Many who came to criti- 

 cise remained to praise and there is no 

 doubt that the President made friends 

 by it. He did not minimize the impor- 

 tance of the occasion, or the greatness 

 of the opportunity. His enunciation of 

 his conservation policy was carefully 

 made and forcefully and judicially 

 stated. It showed a broad and impar- 

 tial study of the subject. There was in 

 it no play to the galleries. It was 

 plainly a great effort by a sincere man 

 to square himself before the country 

 upon one of its chief issues. It was a 

 weighty state paper addressed to the 

 people of the United States. 



''Conservation," the President said, 

 "as an economical and political term, has 

 come to mean the preservation of our 

 natural resources for economic use so 

 as to secure the greatest good to the 

 greatest number." He briefly reviewed 

 the development of the country which 

 has made the issue of conservation 

 acute and, referring to the need for 

 some one to arouse the country to a 

 sense of the conditions, he made a fine 



reference to his predecessor. "Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt," he said, "took up thi: 

 task in the last two years of his secom 

 administration and well did he perforn 

 it. As President of the United State: 

 I have, as it were, inherited this policy 

 and I rejoice in my heritage. I priz* 

 my high opportunity to do all that ar 

 executive can do to help a great peoplt 

 realize a great national ambition." Con 

 servation he declared to be a nationa 

 question and not one of politics, of fac- 

 tions, or of persons, and he added tha' 

 "a satisfactory conclusion can only hi 

 reached promptly if we avoid acrimony 

 imputations of bad faith and politica 

 controversy." 



The President summarized briefly tin 

 .statistics of the public domain and class- 

 ified his discussion under six heads, ( i ) 

 agricultural lands; (2) lands contain- 

 ing metalliferous minerals; (3) forest 

 lands; (4) coal lands; (5) oil and ga- 

 lands, and (6) phosphate lands. 



( hir land laws f;>r the entrv of agri- 

 cultural land, including the origina' 

 homestead law, the enlarged homestead 

 act, the desert land act, the donation 01 

 Carey act, and the national reclamation 

 homestead law he considered to havi 

 worked well and to need no radical re- 

 form. He reviewed favorablv tlu 



