THE  CONFERENCE. 
The  conference  was  opened  by  a mass  meeting  at  Belasco 
theater  which  was  presided  over  by  President-elect  William 
Howard  Taft.  Occupying  the  stage  with  the  principal  speakers 
were  members  of  the  President’s  cabinet,  members  of  the  Na* 
tional  Conservation  Commission,  and  Governors  of  various 
States  and  their  associates. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Pinchot  as  temporary 
chairman,  who  introduced  the  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  the 
venerable  chaplain  of  the  United  States  Senate,  whose  invoca- 
tion was  especially  appropriate.  Mr.  Pinchot  than  introduced 
the  permanent  chairman  with  a brief  speech  of  explanation  in 
which  he  said,  in  part: 
“The  essence  of  conservation  is  the  application  of  common 
sense  to  the  common  problems  for  the  common  good. 
“Conservation  is  simply  obvious  and  right.  Therefore  of  all  the 
great  movements  of  our  recent  history,  not  one  has  gained  so 
rapidly  in  public  appreciation  and  support,  and  not  one  has 
promised  such  results  in  securing  the  greatest  good  to  the 
greatest  number  for  the  longest  time.  . . . The  history  of 
a nation  is  written  in  great  movements,  great  occasions  and  great 
men.  We  are  gathered  here  today  in  the  furtherance  of  a great 
movement,  on  a great  occasion  and  in  the  presence  of  great 
men.” 
Judge  Taft  then  presented  the  first  speaker  of  the  meeting, 
President  Roosevelt  whose  address  was  enthusiastically 
received.  His  declaration  in  favor  of  a bond  issue  for  internal 
improvements,  if  no  other  recourse  offered,  apparently  met  with 
the  fullest  and  most  hearty  approval  of  his  audience. 
ADDRESS  OF  PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT. 
Governors,  Representatives  of  the  States,  and  of  the  great 
national  organization,  member^  of  the  National  Conservation 
Commission,  and  you  men  and  women,  my  fellow-citizens,  I 
welcome  you  here,  our  guests,  to  Washington  and  to  the  work 
you  have  gathered  to  do.  No  service  to  the-  nation  in  time  of 
peace  could  be  of  greater  worth  than  the  work  which  has 
brought  you  together. 
In  its  essence  your  task  is  to  make  the  nation’s  future  as 
great  as  its  present.  That  is  what  the  conservation  of  our  re- 
sources means.  This  movement  means  that  we  shall  not  become 
great  in  the  present  at  the  expense  of  the  future,  but  we  shall 
provide  that  we  may  show  ourselves  truly  great  in  the  present 
by  providing  for  the  greatness  of  our  children’s  children  who 
are  to  inherit  the  land  after  us. 
It  is  the  greatest  national  task  of  today,  and  I thank  you  for 
making  ready  to  undertake  it. 
