155 
checked, that is the essence of the present situation. Conserva- 
tion stands for remedying this condition before it becomes 
chronic. For unless the cure is applied and that speedily, it 
bodes ill for the future. 
HISTORY OF THE CONSERVATION MOVEMENT. 
Let US now trace briefly the history of the Conservation move- 
ment and the causes that have led ns to the widespread attention 
that the subject is receiving today. It has already been said that 
Conservation has to deal primarily with the four main classes 
of natural resources, lands, waters, forests and minerals. It fol-- 
lows naturally that the Conservation movement is but the logical 
outgrowth of the efforts that have been made of late years for the 
better management of our forests, the wiser use of our streams 
and the more intelligent exploitation of our minerals. These ef- 
forts have largely followed the lead, if they have not actually 
been under the direction of Bureaus of two of the Federal De- 
partments, the Geological Survey and the Reclamation Service of 
the Interior Department and the Forest Service of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. To the Geological Survey fell the task of 
mapping the lands, measuring the waters and studying the min- 
erals on the public domain. To the Reclamation. Service that of 
making available for homes, through the application of water, 
large areas of otherwise arid land. In all these lines of work 
able men have been busy for many years gathering the mass of 
information which paved the way to a better understanding of 
the problem before the Nation. Even more direct is the rela- 
tion of the Forest Service to Conservation. This is not the place 
to set forth the development of the Forest Service from the days 
twelve years ago when a handful of propagandists gathered 
statistics and worked to arouse a dormant public, to the situation 
today, when over 194,000,000 acres of National forests are under 
efficient administration and many branches of forest work are all 
in active operation for the benefit of the people. • In working out 
the problems of bringing the forested portion of the public do- 
main under the systematic care of trained men much has been 
learned of the inter-relation of forests, lands and waters, which 
has led naturally into the allied but still wider fields of Conserva- 
tion. 
Based then on the findings and recommendations of the offi- 
‘ cials of the Geological Survey, the Reclamation Service and the 
Forest Service, the Conservation movement had its beginning in 
the better appreciation of the resources of the Nation, of their 
inter-relation and of the effect of their exhaustion on National 
prosperity. The rise of Conservation as a popular movement, 
in which the principles above outlined have begun to be felt in 
tangible form, dates from the appointment of the Inland Water- 
ways Commission by President Roosevelt on March 14, 1907. 
