NEWS AND NOTES 



309 



and the whole situation has been brought 

 under a workable legal system. 



"Say the Oregon commissioners signifi- 

 cantly in their report: 'We have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that if President Taft will 

 stand for conservation as unflinchingly as 

 President Roosevelt stood for it, and will 

 push it as persistently, the question will be 

 in a fair way to be solved within the next 

 four years.' 



"Iowa has made a start with legislation 

 establishing a Drainage, Waterways and 

 Conservation Commission, and appropriated 

 $2,500 for it. Rhode Islands reports that 

 she expects to do about the same. Several 

 other state commissions are working on re- 

 ports and inventories of their own. Wiscon- 

 sin, for instance, is taking official stock of 

 her land, water-powers, forests, phosphates 

 and soil resources. Gov. J. O. Davidson 

 writes: 'Our undeveloped water-powers are 

 the most valuable of our natural resources, 

 and are rapidly increasing in value. Capital 

 is fast seeking their control. In a few years 

 they will be utilized and it will be more 

 difficult then to secure their control than 

 now.' The governor believes that the power 

 of granting water franchises should be placed 

 in the hands of some state authority, and 

 that the powers of corporations receiving 

 these franchises should be very carefully de- 

 fined. The conditions on which franchises 

 should be granted should be determined, he 

 says, and a small privilege or franchise tax 

 be imposed upon each horsepower, payable 

 annually. This is the plan followed also in 

 Oregon. 



"In Louisiana, the state commission has 

 brought to the attention of the district at- 

 torney the great waste of natural gas in one 

 section, and an inquiry has been instituted to 

 see if there is not some way by which it can 

 be stopped by law. Some wells are said to 

 have been burning for months, the purpose 

 being to get rid of the gas so that promoters 

 may be able to reach the oil. 



"Indiana has had her bitter experience with 

 natural gas -waste. She now has a model 

 natural gas law, but unfortunately she has 

 lost her natural gas. The city of Anderson, 

 once known as the 'Pittsburg of White 

 River,' has called upon its citizens to con- 

 tribute a so-called factory fund, and is offer- 

 ing all kinds of inducements to keep manu- 

 facturing at home. Muncie. Marion and other 

 places, where the natural gas supply has 

 failed, are having the same woeful expe- 

 rience. The model Indiana gas law may yet 

 have its uses, however, for it is the purpose 

 of the joint committee on conservation to 

 send copies of it wherever legislation for 

 the protection of natural gas supplies is 

 needed.'' Boston Transcript (April 12). 



Engineers for Conservation 



On the evening of March 24 the four great 

 national engineering societies held a joint 

 meeting in New York City. The object of 

 the meeting was to consider questions in 

 connection with the conservation of natural 

 resources. The attendance numbered some 

 700. 



The meeting opened with the reading of 

 the following dispatch from President Taft: 

 "John Hays Hammond : 



"Please say to Joint Engineering Societies 

 that I am greatly grr tified to know of their 

 cooperation in the movement for the con- 

 servation of the natural resources of the 

 country. The members of these societies 

 with their technical knowledge are not only 

 better advised as to the necessity for such 

 conservation, but are more competent iO sug- 

 gest the methods by which such conserva- 

 tion can be carried out. I have already 

 pledged the administration to as full support 

 as possible to the policy, and I am glad to 

 renew my expression of sympathy with the 

 movement, and to state my high estimate of 

 the value of the aid which can be rendered 

 by the United Enginering Societies. 



(Signed) "Wn. H. TAFT. 

 "The White House, Washington, March 24." 



8? * Jg 



Conservation in Rhode Island 



The State Conservation Committee of 

 Rhode Island has recently presented its re- 

 port to the governor. The commission main- 

 tains that there is no state in the Union 

 which more than Rhode Island needs to con- 

 serve its resources. It advises new and bet- 

 ter fire laws similar to those in other states, 

 and the rehabilitation of the many abandoned 

 farms within the state's borders. 



"The state, has been indifferent to its nat- 

 ural resources," says the report. "It has 

 allowed them to be wasted to a serious 

 extent, and therefore there is great need of 

 taking account of stock, and finding out what 

 we have in the state, so we can conserve it." 



Among the recommendations of the com- 

 mittee are the following : Laws for the pro- 

 tection of forests from fires ; preparation of 

 charts showing for what lands are best 

 suited ; what areas are needed for water con- 

 servation ; public ownership of the banks of 

 certain streams ; trees to be placed along 

 highways ; laws regarding waterways ; and 

 the widest possible dissemination of intelli- 

 gence regarding results obtained by the 

 Rhode Island agricultural station in their 

 application to the farmers of the state. This 

 committee consists of Henry A. Barker, 

 chairman of the Metropolitan Park Commis- 

 sion, J. Herbert Shedd, and Jesse B. Mowry,. 

 state forester. 



