June 26, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



995 



experts, and citizens of tlie several sections of 

 the country. 



The instructions to the Commissioners are 

 as follows : 



The White House, 

 Washington, June 8, 1908. 



The recent Conference of Governors in the 

 White House confirmed and strengthened in the 

 minds of our people the conviction that our nat- 

 ural resources are being consumed, wasted and 

 ■destroyed at a rate which threatens them with 

 exhaustion. It was demonstrated that the in- 

 evitable result of our present course toward these 

 resources, if we should persist in following it, 

 would ultimately be the impoverishment of our 

 people. The Governors present adopted unan- 

 imously a Declaration reciting the necessity for 

 a more careful conservation of the foundations 

 of our national prosperity, and recommending a 

 more effective cooperation to this end among the 

 States and between the States and the Nation. 

 A copy of this Declaration is enclosed. 



One of the most useful among the many useful 

 recommendations in the admirable Declaration of 

 the Governors relates to the creation of State 

 commissions on the conservation of resources, to 

 cooperate with a Federal Commission. This ac- 

 tion of the Governors can not be disregarded. 

 It is obviously the duty of the Federal Govern- 

 ment to accept this invitation to cooperate with 

 the States in order to conserve the natural re- 

 sources of our whole country. It is no less 

 clearly the duty of the President to lay before 

 the Federal Congress information as to the state 

 of the Union in relation to the natural resources, 

 and to recommend to their consideration such 

 measures as he shall judge necessary and ex- 

 pedient. In order to make such recommendations 

 the President must procure the necessary infor- 

 mation. Accordingly, I have decided to appoint 

 a Commission to inquire into and advise me as to 

 the condition of our natural resources, and to 

 cooperate with other bodies created for a similar 

 purpose by the States. 



The Inland Waterways Commission, appointed 

 March 14, 1907, which suggested the Conference 

 of Governors, was asked to consider the other 

 natural resources related to our inland water- 

 ways, and it has done so. But the two subjects 

 together have grown too large to be dealt with 

 by the original body. The creation of a Commis- 

 sion on the Conservation of Natural Resources 

 will thus promote the special work for which the 

 Inland Waterways Commission was created, and 



for which it has just been continued and enlarged, 

 by enabling it to concentrate on its principal 

 task. 



The Commission on the Conservation of Nat- 

 ural Resources will be organized in four sections 

 to consider the four great classes of water re- 

 sources, forest resources, resources of the land 

 and mineral resources. I am asking the mem- 

 bers of the Inland Waterways Commission to 

 form the Section of Waters of the National Con- 

 servation Commission. In view of the lateness 

 of the season and the difficulty of assembling the 

 members of tne sections at this time, a Chairman 

 and a Secretary for each Section have been desig- 

 nated, and the Chairman and Secretaries of the 

 Sections will act as the Executive Committee, 

 with a Chairman who will also be Chairman of 

 the entire Commission. I earnestly hope that 

 you will consent to act as a member of the Com- 

 mission, in common with the following gentlemen: 



Waters 



Hon. Theodore E. Burton, Ohio, Chairman. 



Senator William B. Allison, Iowa. 



Senator Francis G. Newlands, Nevada. 



Senator William Warner, Missouri. 



Senator John H. Bankhead, Alabama. 



Mr. W J McGee, Bureau of Soils, Secretary. 



Mr. F. H. Newell, Reclamation Service. 



Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Forest Service. 



Mr. Herbert Knox Smith, Bureau of Corpora- 

 tions. 



Hon. Joseph E. Ransdell, Louisiana. 



Prof. George F. Swain, Institute of Technology, 

 Mass. 



The Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army. 



Forests 



Senator Reed Smoot, Utah, Chairman. 



Senator Albert J. Beveridge, Indiana. 



Senator Charles A. Culberson, Texas. 



Hon. Charles F. Scott, Kansas. 



Hon. Champ Clark, Missouri. 



Mr. J. B. White, Missouri. 



Prof. Henry S. Graves, Yale Forest School, 

 Connecticut. 



Mr. William Irvine, Wisconsin. 



Ex-Governor Newton C. Blanchard, Louisiana. 



Mr. Charles L. Pack, New Jersey. 



Mr. Gustav Schwab, National Council of Com- 

 merce, New York. 



Mr. Overton W. Price, Forest Service, Secretary. 



Lands 



Senator Knute Nelson, Minnesota, Chairman. 

 Senator Francis E. Warren, Wyoming. 

 Hon. John Sharp Williams, Mississippi. 

 Hon. Swager Sherley, Kentucky. 

 Hon. Herbert Parsons, New York. 

 Mr. James J. Hill, Minnesota. 

 Ex-Governor N. B. Broward, Florida. 

 Ex-Governor George C. Pardee, California. 



