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zeal  are  strong  factors  in  bringing  about  desired  results,  urged 
the  women  of  Shreveport  to  form  a Woman’s  National  Rivers 
and  Harbors  Congress,  to  work  in  cooperation  with  the  Men’s 
Congress.  A ready  response  was  found  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  women  of  Shreveport,  who  know  only  too  well 
the  waste  and  desolation  caused  by  the  Mississippi.  An  or- 
ganization was  formed.  The  presiding  officer  chosen  is  Mrs. 
Hoyle  Tomkies,  a refined  and  cultivated  woman,  whose  en- 
thusiasm has  set  aglow  the  hearts  of  many  women  from 
Maine  to  Hawaii,  to  work  in  this  great,  comprehensive  cause. 
At  the  first  convention  of  the  Woman’s  National  Rivers 
and  Harbors  Congress,  held  December  9,  10,  11,  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  there  were  about  twenty  states  represented,  and 
after  the  interesting  sessions,  each  woman  delegate  returned 
to  her  respective  state  with  the  intense  desire  to  arouse  the 
women  to  be  up  and  doing  in  this  splendid  work,  by  talking 
conservation,  by  coming  into  the  organization,  by  educating 
the  children  to  the  responsibility  that  will  soon  be  theirs  in 
saving  and  conserving  their  country’s  natural  resources. 
At  this  convention  some  of  the  strongest  members  of 
Women’s  National  and  State  Clubs  lent  their  influence.  Among 
them  were  Mrs.  Donald  McLean,  President  of  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution;  Mrs.  Lovell  White  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, the  leading  club  woman  of  California ; Mrs.  N.  C.  Story, 
President  of  the  Woman’s  Federation  of  Clubs  in  New  York 
State,  and  Miss  Janet  Richards,  one  of  the  most  progressive 
and  brilliant  women  in  the  United  States,  whose  lectures  on 
current  topics  are  attended,  twice  a month  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Richmond  and  Washington  by  hun- 
dreds of  the  most  cultured  and  ieading  women  of  each  city. 
In  her  lecture  on  conservation  she  spoke  particularly  of  the  splen- 
did part  the  women  are  taking  in  thus  cooperating  with  the 
men  in  the  conservation  movement.  She  drew  the  attention 
of  her  audience,  consisting  of  about  four  hundred  women,  to 
the  interest  that  far  away  Hawaii  takes  in  national  affairs,  of 
the  progressive  spirit  among  the  women  of  this  beautiful  land, 
and  closed  her  tribute  to  the  Islands  by  saying  that  she  pre- 
dicted that  at  the  next  biennial  convention,  in  1910,  at  Wash- 
ington, Hawaii  would  show  a larger  membership  in  the 
Women’s  National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress,  in  propor- 
tion to  its  population,  than  any  other  state  or  territory  in  the 
Union.  Let  us  do  our  best  to  fulfil  her  prophesy. 
At  this  initial  session  the  pioneer  women  in  this  conserva- 
tion movement,  had  the  honor  of  being  addressed  by  the  Hon. 
Gifford  Pinchot,  who  emphasized  the  necessity  of  educating 
the  children  in  the  public  schools  along  this  line,  “so  that  the 
duties  and  obligations  of  true  conservation  be  bedrock  prin- 
ciples in  their  lives.”  The  Hon.  F.  H.  Newell  also  addressed 
