556 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 640 



cipal; but action in this regard is left to the 

 discretion of the corporation. 



It is wished that the fund shall be ad- 

 ministered in accordance with the conditions 

 indicated above, so long as the objects there 

 stated shall be regarded as desirable by the 

 committee of the division of geology; but if 

 the time should come when such objects are 

 no longer held by them to be desirable, the 

 income may be applied to such other objects 

 as the corporation may determine; providing 

 only that it shall be administered as a me- 

 morial of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler. 

 Egbert Winsor, 

 W. M. Davis, 

 Edward W. Atkinson. 



Whereupon it was voted that the Shaler 

 Memorial Fund be gratefully accepted upon 

 the terms and for the uses stated in the fore- 

 going communication, and that the president 

 and fellows hereby record their satisfaction 

 in the possession of such an enduring and 

 fruitful memorial of Professor Shaler. 



THE INLAND WATERWAYS COMMISSION 



President Eoosevelt has appointed an In- 

 land Waterways Commission whose work will 

 not only be of great importance for public 

 welfare, but is also of considerable scientific 

 interest. The objects of the president in ap- 

 pointing the commission are clearly stated in 

 his letter to those whom he has asked to act 

 upon it. It is as follows : 



Numerous commercial organizations of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley have presented petitions asking 

 that I appoint a commission to prepare and report 

 a comprehensive plan for the improvement and 

 control of the river systems of the United States. 

 I have decided to comply with these requests by 

 appointing an Inland Waterways Commission, and 

 I have asked the following gentlemen to act upon 

 it. I shall be much gratified if you will consent 

 to serve. 



Hon. Theo. E. Burton, chairman, 



Senator Francis G. Newlands, 



Senator William Warner, 



Hon. John H. Bankhead, 



General Alexander Mackenzie, 



Dr. W J McGee, 



Mr. F. H. Newell, 



Mr. GifTord Pinchot, 



Hon. Herbert Knox Smith. 



In creating this commission I am influenced by 

 broad considerations of national policy. The con- 

 trol of our navigable waterways lies with the 

 federal government, and carries with it corre- 

 sponding responsibilities and obligations. The en- 

 ergy of our people has hitherto been largely di- 

 rected toward industrial development connected 

 with field and forest .and with coal and iron, and 

 some of these sources of material and power are 

 already largely depleted; while our inland water- 

 ways as a whole have thus far received scant at- 

 tention. It is becoming clear that our streams 

 should be considered and conserved as great nat- 

 ural resources. Works designed to control our 

 waterways have thus far usually been undertaken 

 for a single purpose, such as the improvement of 

 navigation, the development of power, the irriga- 

 tion of arid lands, the protection of lowlands from 

 floods, or to supply water for domestic and manu- 

 facturing purposes. While the rights of the people 

 to these and similar uses of water must be re- 

 spected, the time has come for merging local pro- 

 jects and uses of the inland waters in a compre- 

 hensive plan designed for the benefit of the entire 

 country. Such a plan should consider and include 

 all the uses to which streams may be put, and 

 should bring together and coordinate the points of 

 view of all users of water. The task involved in 

 the full and orderly development and control of 

 the river systems of the United States is a great 

 one, yet it is certainly not too great for us to 

 approach. The results which it seems to promise 

 are even greater. 



It is common knowledge that the railroads of 

 the United States are no longer able to move crops 

 and manufactures rapidly enough to secure the 

 prompt transaction of the business of the nation, 

 and there is small prospect of immediate relief. 

 Representative railroad men point out that the 

 products of the northern interior states have 

 doubled in ten years, while the railroad facilities 

 have increased but one eighth, and it is becoming 

 obvious that no development of the railroads pos- 

 sible in the near future will suffice to keep trans- 

 portation abreast of production. There appears to 

 be but one remedy — the development of a comple- 

 mentary system of transportation by water. The 

 present congestion affects chiefly the people of the 

 Mississippi Valley, and they demand relief. When 

 the eongfstion of which they complain is relieved, 

 the whole nation will share the good results. 



While rivers are natural resources of the first 

 rank, they are liable to become destructive agen- 

 cies as well, endangering life and property, and 



