268 



The New York Tribune in a recent editorial remarks that in 

 the enthusiasm for the policy of conserving natural resources 

 many of the " most ardent advocates appear to have lost sight of 

 the fact that,, apart from the preservation of the forests, the entire 

 movement lacks legal sanction, and that action by Congress is 

 essential to its prosecution. The President has indicated his pur- 

 pose to retain title to water rights, for instance, ' until the Con- 

 gress shall have had an opportunity to act.' That opportunity 

 will come with the approaching session, and there is grave ques- 

 tion if Mr. Taft, earnest advocate of the movement though he be, 

 will feel warranted in withholding from settlement lands con- 

 taining water power after the coming session unless Congress 

 acts affirmatively. Congress has never conferred on the Execu- 

 tive specific authority to withhold such lands, and it is only on 

 the ground that a new problem has arisen that the President is 

 now denying would-be settlers access and title to them." Though 

 conservationists have " a sympathetic President, there is hard 

 work for them to do in Congress. It is there that the test will 

 come. Practically all the work done thus far is preliminary. 

 No further step can be taken without definite legislative authority. 

 Can Congress be induced to grant it?" 



NEWS ITEMS 

 Mr. Charles E. Temple (A.B., Nebraska, 1906; A.M., 1909) 

 has been made instructor in botany at the University of Michigan. 



Mr. T. G. Bunting (B.S., Ontario, 1907) has been appointed 

 instructor in horticulture at the New Hampshire College of Agri- 

 culture and the Mechanic Arts. 



Professor Simon Schwendener, of the University of Berlin, will 

 retire from his university duties, including the directorship of the 

 University Gardens, this semester. 



Dr. and Mrs. Howe sailed November 27 on the S, S. " Tagus " 

 for Colon ; they will spend five or six weeks collecting and 

 studying the marine algae of the Panama region. 



Professor Josephine E. Tilden, of the University of Minnesota, 



