Vol. XIV. 



JUNE 1908. 



No. 6. 



THE GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE 



Historic Gathering at the White House Executives of Nearly 



All the States and Territories Present Steps Taken 



Toward Permanent Organization The 



Story of the Conference 



BY 



Frank Glover Heaton, Editor of Forestry and Irrigation. 



There is neither East or West-- 



Border, nor breed, nor birth 



When two strong men stand face to face, 



Though they come from the ends of the earth. 



IT was a gathering of strong men, 

 that White House Conference a 

 meeting of the strongest men in the 

 public life of America, called by one 

 of the strongest Chief Executives the 

 Nation has had ; and the questions con- 

 sidered were those upon the finding of 

 correct answers to which the abiding 

 prosperity of this, the greatest Nation 

 that has arisen in the world's history, 

 absolutely depends. 



"Conservation." That was the key- 

 note of the Conference from the open- 

 ing address to the close of the final 

 session. Not the miserly hoarding of 



tripling. 



the country's resources, but the wi-c 

 husbanding of timber and coal, of ores 

 and soil, of water> and all tin- natural 

 wealth which which the \Ve-tern 

 hemisphere is so richly endowed, an-.l 

 the fullest proper utilization of these 

 resources, that their benefits may be 

 shared equally among the whole peo- 

 ple, and that they may he passed on. a 

 practically undiminished capital, to 

 the generations to come. 



Crystallized into as brief a para- 

 graph as possible, the sentiment <>f the 

 Conference was that the work of con- 

 servation of all natural resources 



