Conservation Commission 45 



ated all by itself with slight regard to transportation as a national 

 and world system. Or there may be those who would like the 

 stagecoach even better, for they knew the driver long and well and 

 he was an agreeable man, and they felt a closeness of touch, a 

 communion of spirit, and a personal intimacy with him, not at- 

 tainable by travelers in our day. 



That the State of New York will ever " unscramble the eggs " 

 or go back to conservation piecemeal — forestry here, fish and 

 game there, water resources yonder, a course meal served at three 

 dining-rooms — is unthinkable. These great problems of con- 

 servation are indissolubly interrelated; the forest and the waters 

 interblend and depend the one upon the other, and the fish and 

 game upon both. 



What is needed is not a separation but a closer fusion; a com- 

 pleter oneness; a more thorough understanding of the finality of 

 the union; better relations, and better directed energy upon the 

 part of all conservationists, no matter which branch of the great 

 movement may claim their peculiar allegiance. 



One man may achieve much in administrative conservation. 

 Three men should bring to the task a threefold intelligence, cor- 

 recting each other's point of view, and minimizing the danger of 

 error, or worse. 



One man may unwittingly, through environment or from other 

 cause, become susceptible to influences inimical to the preserva- 

 tion of the forest ; may yield to its exploitation by private inter- 

 est, against the public weal. The chance that three men can be so 

 influenced is less than one-third as great. 



One Commissioner — a single head — might once again be 

 persuaded to stipulate away the State's right and title to its 

 forest lands. That three Commissioners could be so persuaded 

 is more than thrice as unlikely. 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 



GEORGE E. VAN KENTtTEN 

 JOHN D. MOORE 

 PATRICK E. McCABE 



Commissioners 



Albany, N. Y., January 15, 1915. 



