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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 704 



Mr. Charles McDonald, American Society of 

 Civil Engineers, New York. 



Mr. Murdo Mackenzie, Colorado. 

 Mr. Frank C. Goudy, Colorado. 

 Mr. George W. Woodruff, Secretary. 



Minerals 



Hon. John Dalzell, Pennsylvania, Chairman. 

 Senator Joseph M. Dixon, Montana. 

 Senator Frank P. Flint, California. 

 Senator Lee S. Overman, North Carolina. 

 Hon. Philo Hall, South Dakota. 

 Hon. James L. Slayden, Texas. 

 Mr. Andrew Carnegie, New York. 

 Prof. Charles R. Van Hise, Wisconsin. 

 Mr. John Mitchell, Illinois. 

 Mr. John Hays Hammond, Massachusetts. 

 Dr. Irving Fisher, Yale University, Connecticut. 

 Mr. Joseph A. Holmes, Geological Survey, Sec- 

 retary. 



Executive Committee 



Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Chairman. 



Hon. Theodore E. Burton. 



Senator Eeed Smoot. 



Senator Knute Nelson. 



Hon. John Dalzell. 



Mr. W J McGee. 



Mr. Overton W. Price. 



Mr. G. W. Woodruff. 



Mr. Joseph A. Holmes. 



One of the principal objects of the Federal 

 Commission on the Conservation of Natural Ke- 

 sources will be to cooperate with corresponding 

 commissions or other agencies appointed on be- 

 half of the States, and it is hoped that the Gov- 

 ernors and their appointees will join with the 

 Federal Commission in working out and develop- 

 ing a plan whereby the needs of the Nation as a 

 whole and of each State and Territory may be 

 equitably met. 



The work of the Commission should be condi- 

 tioned upon keeping ever in mind the great fact 

 that the life of the Nation depends absolutely on 

 the material resources, which have already made 

 the Nation great. Our object is to conserve the 

 foundations of our prosperity. We intend to use 

 these resources; but to so use them as to conserve 

 them. No effort should be made to limit the 

 wise and proper development and application of 

 these resources; every effort should be made to 

 prevent destruction, to reduce waste, and to dis- 

 tribute the enjoyment of our natural wealth in 

 such a way as to promote the greatest good of 

 the greatest number for the longest time. 



The Commission must keep in mind the further 

 fact that all the natural resources are so related 

 that their use may be, and should be, coordinated. 

 Thus, the development of water transportation, 

 which requires less iron and less coal than rail 



transportation, will reduce the draft on mineral 

 resources; the judicious development of forests 

 will not only supply fuel and structural material, 

 but increase the navigability of streams, and so 

 promote water transportation; and the control 

 of streams will reduce soil erosion, and permit 

 American farms to increase in fertility and pro- 

 ductiveness and so continue to feed the country 

 and maintain a healthy and beneficial foreign 

 commerce. The proper coordination of the use 

 of our resources is a prime requisite for con- 

 tinued national prosperity. 



Tlie recent Conference of Governors, of the men 

 who are the direct sponsors for the well-being 

 of the States, was notable in many respects; in 

 none more than in this, that the dignity, the 

 autonomy, and yet the interdependence and mu- 

 tual dependence of the several States were all 

 emphasized and brought into clear relief, as rarely 

 before in our history. There is no break between 

 the interests of State and Nation, these interests 

 are essentially one. ' Hearty cooperation between 

 the State and the National agencies is essential 

 to the permanent welfare of the people. You, on 

 behalf of the Federal Government, will do your 

 part to bring about this cooperation. 



In order to make available to the National 

 Conservation Commission all the information and 

 assistance which it may desire from the Federal 

 Departments, I shall issue an Executive order, 

 directing them to give such help as the Commis- 

 sion may need. 



The next session of Congress will end on March 

 4, 1909. Accordingly, I should be glad to have 

 at least a preliminary report from the Commis- 

 sion not later than January 1 of next year. 

 Sincerely yours, 

 (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt 



THE INLAND WATERWAYS COMMISSION 

 On June 5, 1908, the President reappointed 

 the Inland Waterways Commission, with an 

 increase in number and such extension of func- 

 tion as to authorize the correlation of the ad- 

 ministrative Departments and Bureaus of the 

 Federal Government in so far as their work 

 is connected with waterways. The letter of 

 appointment, addressed to the Chairman, 

 Hon. Theodore E. Burton of Ohio, follows: 



June 5, 1908. 

 The Inland Waterways Commission was appoint- 

 ed on March 14, 1907. It was appointed to meet 

 the strongly expressed and reasonable demands of 



