THE NORTH AMERICAN CONSERVATION 



CONFERENCE 



By TREADWELL CLEVELAND, Jr. 



[This account of the open proceedings and the conclusions of the Conference 

 is introductory to an article by Mr. Cleveland on "The Conservation of World 

 Resources' 9 discussing the coming Hague Conference, which will appear in CON- 

 SERVATION for April J] 



THE INVITATION 



A REALIZATION that in Xorth 

 America the problems of con- 

 servation, like the resources 

 with which thev deal, are not con- 



j 



fined to any one of the three political 

 subdivisions of the continent, and a 

 conviction that these problems could be 

 solved most effectively and economic- 

 ally by Canada, Mexico and the United 

 States in cooperation, led the Presi- 

 dent, in December last, to invite Lord 

 Grey and President Diaz to participate 

 with the United States in a conference 

 at Washington on the conservation of 

 the resources of North America. 



The invitations were delivered in 

 person by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, the rep- 

 resentative of the President, and were 

 cordially accepted. 



The President's letter to Lord Grey 

 follows : 



THE WHITE HOUSE 



December 24, 1908. 

 My Dear Lord Grey: 



In May of the present year the governors 

 of the several states and territories of this 

 Union met in the White House to confer 

 with the President and with each other 

 concerning the amount and condition of the 

 natural resoufces of this country, and to 

 consider the most effective means for con- 

 serving them. This conference included also 

 the members of the Supreme Court, the 

 Cabinet, and members of both houses of 

 Congress, together with representatives of the 

 great associations of citizens concerned with 

 natural resources. The conference was fol- 

 lowed by the appointment of conservation 

 commissions on the part of the Nation and 

 of a majority of the states. 



A second conference of the National 

 Commission with the governors, the state 

 commissions, and the conservation commit- 

 tees of the great associations has recently 

 been held in this city. It was called to con- 

 sider an inventory of our natural resources 

 prepared by the National Conservation Com- 

 mission. Its most important result will 

 doubtless appear in cooperation on the part 

 of the Nation, the states, and the great as- 

 sociations of citizens for action upon this 

 great question, upon which the progress of 

 the people of the United States obviously 

 depends. 



It is evident that natural resources are 

 not limited by the boundary lines which sep- 

 arate nations, and that the need for conserv- 

 ing them upon this continent is as wide as 

 the area upon which they exist. In view, 

 therefore, of these considerations, and of 

 the close bonds of friendship and mutual 

 aims which exist between Canada and the 

 United States, I take especial pleasure in in- 

 viting you to designate representatives of 

 the government of Canada to meet and con- 

 sult with representatives of the State and 

 other departments of this Government, and 

 the National Conservation Commission, in 

 the city of Washington on February 18, 

 1909. The purpose of the conference I have 

 the honor to propose is to consider mutual 

 interests involved in the conservation of 

 natural resources., and in this great field de- 

 liberate upon the practicability of preparing 

 a general plan adapted to promote the wel- 

 fare of the nations concerned. 



I have this day addressed a similar invi- 

 tation to the Republic of Mexico, express- 

 ing my hope that representatives of that 

 government also will be present and par- 

 ticipate in the proposed conference on the 

 conservation of the natural resources of 

 North America. 



The conclusions of such a conference, 

 while wholly advisory in character, could 

 hardly fail to yield important beneficial re- 

 sults, both in a better knowledge of the 

 natural resources of each nation on the 



159 



