THE NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS aoe 
federal government parts with title to a power site it can not control 
the action of the state in fulfilling the conditions of the deed, to which 
it is answered that in the grant from the government there may be easily 
inserted a condition specifying the terms upon which the state may part 
with the temporary control of the water-power sites, and, indeed, the 
water power, and providing for a forfeiture of the title to the water- 
power sites in case the condition is not performed; and giving to the 
president, in case of such violation of conditions, the power to declare 
forfeiture and to direct proceedings to restore the central government 
to the ownership of the power sites with all the improvements thereon, 
and that these conditions may be promptly enforced and the land and 
plants forfeited to the general government by suit of the United States 
against the state, which is permissible under the constitution. 
I do not express an opinion upon the controversy thus made or a 
preference as to the two methods of treating water-power sites. JI shall 
submit the matter to congress and urge that one or the other of the two 
plans be adopted. 
At the risk of wearying my audience I have attempted to state as 
succinctly as may be the questions of conservation as they apply to the 
public domain of the government, the conditions to which they apply, 
and the proposed solution of them. In the outset I alluded to the fact 
that conservation had been made to include a great deal more than what 
I have discussed here. Of course, as I have referred only to the public 
domain of the federal government I have left untouched the wide field 
of conservation with respect to which a heavy responsibility rests upon 
the states and individuals as well. But I think it of the utmost impor- 
tance that after the public attention has been roused to the necessity of 
a change in our general policy to prevent waste and a selfish appropria- 
tion to private and corporate purposes of what should be controlled for 
the public benfit, those who urge conservation shall feel the necessity of 
making clear how conservation can be practically carried out, and shall 
propose specific methods and legal provisions and regulations to remedy 
actual adverse conditions. 
I am bound to say that the time has come for a halt in general 
rhapsodies over conservation, making the word mean every known good 
in the world; for, after the public attention has been roused, such 
appeals are of doubtful utility, and do not direct the public to the 
specific course that the people should take, or have their legislators take, 
in order to promote the cause of conservation. The rousing of emo- 
tions on a subject like this, which has only dim outlines in the minds 
of the people affected, after a while ceases to be useful, and the whole 
movement will, if promoted on these lines, die for want of practical 
direction and of demonstration to the people that practical reforms are 
intended. 
