578 



A M ER T C A X FOREST R Y 



laws and the federal executive. That is why 

 I so strongly oppose the demand to turn 

 these matters over to the states. It is funda 

 mentally a demand against the interests of 

 the plain people, of the people of small 

 means, against the interest of our children 

 and our children's children, and it is prima- 

 rily in the interest of the great corporations 

 which desire to escape all government con- 

 trol." 



On the question of coal, oil and phos- 

 phate lands Mr. Roosevelt in definite 

 terms endorsed the opinion expressed 

 by the President in his address the day 

 before. He also urged with emphasis, 

 as did the President, the point that con- 

 servation does not propose to withdraw 

 resources from use, summing this up 

 with the statement, "conservation is the 

 road to national efficiency and it stands 

 for ample and wide development." 



He warned the congress against tlm>c 

 who attend such gatherings ostensibly 

 as disinterested citizens, but actually as 

 paid agents of the special interests. 1 k 

 declared it to be our duty and desire to 

 make this land a better home for the 

 race and that we must also work for a 

 better nation to live in this better land. 

 "The homely virtues are the lasting 

 virtues, and the road which leads to 

 them is the road to genuine and lasting 



Herbert Knox Smith, Commissioner of Corporations 



success." His closing sentence was a 

 challenge : "The supreme political task 

 of our day, the indispensible condition 

 of national efficiency and national wel- 

 fare, is to drive the special interests out 

 of our public life." 



THE CONTROL OF MONOPOLY 



Tuesday afternoon the Hon. John 

 Barrett, of the Bureau of American Re- 

 publics, presided. The first speaker 

 was Miss Mabel Boardman, on the 

 work of the Red Cross in the conserva- 

 tion of human life. 



Herbert Knox Smith, commissioner of 

 corporations, discussed the prevention 

 of power monopoly, the chief conclu- 

 sions of which in regard to the present 

 condition of the hydro-electric industry 

 he summed up as follows : 



"First It deals with a basic necessity and 

 its importance inevitably increases as the 

 fixed supply of other sources of power de- 

 creases. 



"Second Substantial control of mechani- 

 cal power means the exercise of a function 

 that is governmental in its effect on the 

 public. 



"Third Driven by underlying economic 

 and financial forces, concentration of control 

 of water powers in private hands has pro- 

 ceeded very rapidly. It is doubtful if any- 

 thing can arrest this process, and a swift 

 advance to a far higher degree of concen- 

 tration is entirely possible. 



"Fourth Any chance, then, of restraint 

 by competition is rapidly disappearing, cer- 

 tainly over given sections, and public regu- 

 lation is therefore an imminent nrcessity. 



Arguing that the water power prob- 

 lem is a national one and that the scope 

 of the federal jurisdiction is therefore of 

 first importance, but that there must be 

 co-operation between the nation and the 

 state, each using their full powers, he 

 said : 



"Let there be no unnecessary hampering 

 of hydro-electric development, but let the 



