355 
SEATTLE  CONSERVATION  CONGRESS. 
The  following  paper  by  Mrs . Augustus  F.  Knudsen,  Delegate 
of  the  Womans  National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress , was  read 
before  the  First  National  Conservation  Congress  at  Seattle , 
Washington , on  August  28,  1909: 
It  is  with  a deep  appreciation  of  the  honor  conferred  upon  me 
that  I heartily  thank  this  dignified  body  for  the  invitation  ex- 
tended to  me  to  tell  something  of  the  active  interest  the  women 
of  America  are  taking  in  this  great,  far-reaching  movement — the 
conservation  of  the  Nation’s  natural  resources. 
It  has  been  said  that  this  is  a woman’s  age,  and  surely  the 
signs  of  that  fact  are  not  wanting,  for  within  these  beautiful 
grounds  are  still  echoing,  one  might  say,  the  stirring  words  of 
eloquence  and  power  of  some  of  the  foremost  women  of  the 
world — who  in  the  last  few  weeks,  have  stood  upon  this  platform, 
women  who  have  journeyed  not  only  from  distant  states  of  our 
own  nation,  but  from  capitals  of  Europe,  to  discuss  the  great  ques- 
tions of  the  day,  and  to  contribute  by  combined  effort  to  the  up- 
lifting of  humanity. 
It  is  woman's  place  in  nature  to  stimulate  man  to  his  best  ef- 
forts. She  has  ever  led  him  on  to  higher  things.  For  her  sake — 
for  home  and  happiness,  he  undertook  to  subdue  the  wilderness, 
and  so  for  generation  after  generation,  our  civilization  has  grown 
out  of  the  Teutonic  forests,  to  our  splendid  great  attainment. 
Just  as  the  wives  and  mothers  in  this  great  western  march  of 
civilization  have  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  men  in  their 
struggle  for  material  conquest  in  their  advance  through  Europe 
and  England,  just  so  have  the  women  stood  the  physical  hard- 
ships, privations,  and  dangers  with  the  men  as  they  have  jour- 
neyed on  with  the  spread  of  that  same  civilization  through  America 
and  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  As  the  women  in  the  west- 
ern advance  have  by  their  loyalty  and  devotion  made  it  possible 
for  the  men  to  subdue  nature  and  make  a mighty  nation,  just 
so  shall  the  women  stand  as  companions  and  helpmates  in  the 
great  questions  that  demand  their  most  earnest  thought  and  con- 
siderations— questions  that  will  affect  not  only  the  present  but  the 
future  prosperity  of  our  fair  land. 
Without  taking  into  consideration,  in  these  councils  of  the  na- 
tions, the  result  of  women’s  influence,  man  will  be  as  far  from 
the  final  solution  as  was  the  frontier  man  far  from  home,  before 
woman  came  to  help  him  in  his  struggles. 
The  march  of  civilization  westward  was  the  arrival  of  woman 
on  the  scene.  The  mark  of  our  highest  civilization  along  mental 
and  spiritual  lines  is  when  the  women  of  the  land  are  able  to 
grasp  the  conditions  confronting  the  nation,  and  by  their  co- 
operation with  men,  give  them  sympathy  and  help  in  their  under- 
takings, never  doubting  men’s  ability  to  achieve. 
