WOODS 



- j\. >j ij 



WATERS 



: 



Vol. XV 



JANUARY, 1909 



No. i 



THE JOINT CONSERVATION CONFERENCE 



Second Gathering of the Governors in Washington Report of the 



Commission Is Received Notable Assembly 



and Noteworthy Addresses 



IN CONTINUANCE of the work so 

 ably inaugurated at the White 

 House, in Washington, last May, the 

 first gathering of the Joint Conservation 

 Conference being the Governors of 

 the various States, their advisers, mem- 

 bers of State Conservation Commis- 

 sions, representatives of State and Na- 

 tional organizations and others met in 

 Washington on December 8, 9, and 10. 

 The purpose of the conference was, pri- 

 marily, to receive the report of the 

 commission appointed last June by 

 President Roosevelt ; which commis- 

 sion has been at work since its ap- 

 pointment, preparing an inventory of 

 the Nation's natural resources. 



The sessions of the conference were 

 held in the Red Room of the New Wil- 

 lard Hotel, though the conference was 

 opened with a monster mass meeting 

 at the Belasco Theater. This opening 

 meeting, which was designed to give 

 the initial impetus to the later sessions, 

 was, in a measure, open to the general 

 public that is, admission tickets were 

 distributed to those who really wanted 



them. From the size of the audience, 

 its representative character, and the 

 hearty applause that was vouchsafed 

 every telling point made by the several 

 speakers, it is safe to say that very few 

 of .those holding tickets failed to use 

 them. 



The meeting at the Belasco was pre- 

 sided over by President-to-be William 

 Howard Taft, who was introduced by 

 Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, acting 

 as temporary chairman. Judge Taft, 

 with few preliminaries, introduced 

 President Roosevelt, the first speaker ; 

 and, following the President, Governor 

 Chamberlain, of Oregon, in a deeply 

 interesting paper, placed before the 

 members of the conference, and the in- 

 vited guests, the case for conservation 

 of natural resources. 



Occupying the stage with the chair- 

 man and the principal speakers were 

 members of the President's Cabinet, 

 members of the National Conservation 

 Commission, Governors and their asso- 

 ciates, and others particularly inter- 

 ested in or identified with the work of 



