i < i< >S 



THE GOYKKNOKS 1 CONFERENCE 



343 



committee and empowered to ap- 

 point five other Governors to act on 

 the same committee ; and this execu- 

 tive committee will hold a meeting 

 during the early summer to elaborate 

 further the plans for the first gather- 

 ing of the new "House of Governors.'' 

 In commenting on this organization, 

 Governor Folk, who stands as the 

 father of the movement, said : 



"One hundred years from now the House 

 of Governors will be looked upon as one 

 of the greatest factors in the Government 

 and development of the United States. It 

 will cement the states of the Union as they 

 have never been cemented before. The 

 value of the work that such an organization 

 can do cannot be over-estimated. While 

 the body will have no legal standing, and 

 will, therefore, be in no position to dictate 

 what laws shall, or shall not, be passed by 

 the various legislatures, it is, nevertheless, 

 true that recommendations made by the 

 Governors would undoubtedly be enacted 

 into law. In this way, many problems 

 which now prove troublesome, would be 

 solved. \Ye could easily deal with uni- 

 form divorce laws, railroad legislation, and 

 other such matters of interest outside the 

 borders of any .one state. There will be 

 no conflict between the action of the Con- 

 ference, in placing the power in the hands 

 of the President to call the next meeting of 



irernors 



natural n that of tl 



tee which p 



GOVLT! 



mon h \\ e \\-.\\ 



and our ol,j. cl i- simplj ; br 



scope of the work of the p 



As has been stated, < ..< nr 

 really stands as the sponsor n>r the 

 ne\v movement. He, and others 

 among the Governors, felt that tin- 

 proposition for assembling a confer- 

 ence of the Governors on call of the 

 President left matters too indefinite; 

 and it was also felt that such confer- 

 ences as might be called by the Presi- 

 dent, while they might work efficiently 

 toward handling problems of general 

 conservation, would not feel like deal- 

 ing with other problems, such as an 

 organization like the House of Gov- 

 ernors might wish to take up. 



The matter of temporary organiza- 

 tion was left in the hands of Govern- 

 ors Willson and Swanson, though it 

 was regarded as practically settled 

 that Governor Folk would be made a 

 members of the permanent executive 

 committee. 



THIRD DAY'S SESSION 



At the opening of the session of 

 Friday, May I5th, Governor Blan- 

 chard read the report of the Commit- 

 tee on Resolutions. He stated that 

 this report is not really in the form of 

 a set of resolutions, but rather was 

 designated to express the views and 

 recommendations of the Conference. 



"\Ye, the Governors of the states and 

 territories of the United States of Amer- 

 ica, in conference assembled, do hereby de- 

 clare the conviction that the great prosper- 

 ity of our country rots np"ii tin- abundant 

 resources of the land cho-m In our fore- 

 fathers for their homes and where they 

 laid the foundation for this great Xation. 



"\\'e look upon tin -e ; a her- 



itage to make use of in establishing ;md 

 promoting the comfort, pros| K -rity, and hap- 

 piness of the \iiieric;Mi penp!,- Imt nor to 

 wasted, deteriorated, or needlessly de- 

 stroyed. 



"We agree that "iir country's future is in- 

 volved in tliis; that the great natural 

 sources supply the material basis upon 

 which our civilization must continue to de- 



pend, and upon which the perpetuity of the 

 Xation itself rests. 



"\\c agree, in the light ><i facts brought 

 to our knowledge and from information re- 

 ceived from sources which we cannot doubt, 

 that this material -basis is threatened with 

 exhaustii 'ii. F.vci . - <-n- 



ition, from tin- birth of r has 



-ned its part in promoting the pr 

 - and diYclopmcnt of the Republic, SO 

 do we in thi- 



high duty to perform our part, and this 

 duty, in la- ' ion ! 



measui nat- 



ural wealth of tin 



"\\ e declare our linn c. mien | this 



alii MI of our nalur.il 



subject of 11. i ut imp- which 



s|n>ul<i unremittingly the attention 



of the Nation, th in 



.itnral 



include i' 'ii which we 1: 



and which yields our food; the luing wat 

 which -"pply i .mil 







which yi< Id tl 'iir 



homes. pr< 



ud other us,-s of our 

 Is which form the 



