members represent most of the States, so we are as deeply interested in the preservation of our natural resources as such great interests which we represent would naturally be. Ever since our organization we have worked with earnestness before Congressional Committees for River and Harbor improvements; we have voiced our approval, Mr President, of your wise and patriotic appointment of the Inland Waterways Commission, whose makeup of men of great experience, ability and telling work the whole country fully values; and we have urgently asked our Congressmen to make an adequate appropriation for its continuance, for we believe in our hearts that such a commission is the best instrument for a fair distribution of its fullest share of appropriations to every deserving project. A commission of this kind and quality we believe should always be in existence to hear the demands of the country and decide fairly upon their merits. Our organization has for years been outspoken before committees of Congress and at our own Conventions for forest preservation; and particularly have we desired action taken immediately for the forest reserves in the White Mountains and the Appalachians. As an earnest of our influential work we have met with Mr Pinchot before the last Congressional committees to give his splendid work all the help in our power.

Our most willing help was given to the Lakes-to-Gulf Deep Waterways Conventions, and to the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. We also sent our President to represent us at the National Drainage Association Congress in Washington, D. C., May 12 of this year.

The Committee on Forestry and Irrigation of the National Board, being headed by a man who has for many years made a serious study of this most important subject, and who is present and can give a better idea of what we have done, I ask the Chair for the pleasure of presenting Colonel William S. Harvey, Chairman of the Forestry and Irrigation Committee of the National Board of Trade.

The PRESIDING OFFICER: We will recognize him later on. Governor Davidson of Wisconsin now has the floor.

ADDRESS BY JAMES O. DAVIDSON

GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN

Mr President, Governors, and Gentlemen of the Conference:

One of the greatest problems with which the people of this country are confronted today is the preservation from destruction of our natural resources. Few countries possess natural wealth of so varied a nature

and of such immense value, yet nowhere has the use of this wealth been marked with less foresight and more indifference on the part of the public. For years scientists and students of our natural resources have sought to call attention to the early exhaustion of our forests, coal and mineral beds, and oil wells, to the great permanent injury of the People. But they, busily engaged in the pursuit of their various occupations, and, inspired by optimism, feeling that somehow matters would be corrected, have postponed their consideration to the time when the evil should have taken a more concrete and urgent form.

To no State in the Union is this question of more vital importance than to the State of Wisconsin. But a few decades ago, its northern and eastern parts represented a broad forest, broken only by occasional sections of prairie. Pine, hemlock, oak and maple grew in such abundance, it was the proud boast that Wisconsin alone could supply the entire country with timber for a century. Amid these great forests were large swamps and hundreds of small lakes from which deep, swift streams rushed to form rivers which gave their volume to the Mississippi. With its great forest wealth and its immense water power, Wisconsin, like its sister States, lived only in the immediate present.

Great lumber companies, inspired only by enthusiasm and too often greed which knew no bounds, attacked these forests, each in a mad race to strip its territory and market its timber first; then to move forward and continue the destruction. No tree was regarded too small to escape cutting. Trunks six inches in diameter were cut for market purposes. Millions of young trees and saplings which were too small for commercial value were crushed by falling timber, or were cut to make room for logging roads. What escaped the hand of the logging crew fell victim to forest fires, which counted their destruction by millions of dollars, in further evidence of the carelessness with which our forest tracts were guarded.

Today we are beginning to pay the penalty for this indifference. Our proud position as the greatest timber State of the Union has passed to others. Thousands of acres of land of no value for agriculture have been rendered bare and practically without a market; our swamps are becoming dry, and many of our streams are shrinking to but a small proportion of their former size. The destruction of our forests has taken from us that great regulator of the streams, for with no forest to protect the headwaters of rivers and to detain the water in the soil, we frequently have freshets and floods and are confronted with the problem of dealing with rapidly rising and falling stream-volume. Wisconsin has, however, now awakened to its duty to the public. Through liberal and wise policies of its Legislature it has dealt with this problem in a scientific and comprehensive manner. It created the first State Forest Commission ever

appointed by any of the States, which has already developed into a Board whose labor is characterized by a continuous, constant, and progressive policy of forestry administration. Adequate powers have been given by statute to this body, and ample appropriation has been made to insure their successful exercise.

Under these laws much progress in forestry work has been made. The damage which was ruthlessly committed will require more than a generation to mend, but it is believed that a thoughtful public interest has been aroused, and that the strong work of restoration will be generously aided. Vast tracts of public lands have been made forest reserves. Agriculturally profitable land has been sold, and the proceeds used to extend the reserves in less fertile soil. The United States Government has added a large tract, aimed to protect the headwaters of our large rivers; while lumber companies, recognizing the wise policy of the State, have dedicated to the forest reserve several thousand acres. Appropriations have been made to enable the State to preserve certain taxtitle lands to add to these reserves, while the tax laws have been so altered as to relieve the burden of tax upon lands planted with trees; and it is hoped that laws will be passed encouraging owners to cut timber conservatively under forestry regulation, rather than oblige them to cut quickly as possible to escape the injustice of taxation.

Under these laws Wisconsin has acquired over 300,000 acres, which is constantly being extended. It has been the policy to concentrate these holdings in those counties having the greatest number of lakes feeding into large streams, and in some counties the State now so holds 10% of the entire land area. These large reserves are maintaining a timber supply, will provide great parks for pleasure seekers, and most important of all, will protect the many water powers, and with them the greatest manufacturing interests of the State.

For the further protection of its water powers the legislature has authorized corporations to erect a series of storage reservoirs on certain streams, thus producing a uniform flow of water through the season. The State Board of Forestry determines where dams shall be built, their height, the amount of land which shall be overflowed, and the time and manner in which the water shall be drawn from the reservoirs. Upon certain storage capacity being realized, the holders are permitted to charge reasonable tolls for the water used, which tolls shall not exceed a net annual return of 6% on the cash capital paid in. The capital of these companies and the rates charged are under the strict regulation of the State Railroad Commission. In all these provisions the rights of the public are strongly safeguarded, and in addition there has been reserved to the State the right to take over all such reservoir property at a fair valuation. No other State has such a comprehensive code of laws

for the regulation of private corporations owning reservoirs and water powers, and therefore this point is especially called to the attention of this Conference.

Forestry is a new science in America. No country has greater need for the adoption of its teachings. Nowhere are the conditions for a broad forestry policy more favorable. The National and State governments still possess millions of acres of rich forests, a part of which should be preserved for the benefit of future generations. When it is once thoroughly understood that scientific forestry does not mean the withholding of valuable agricultural soil, but only the retention for timber of such lands as are less profitable for other purposes, it is difficult to conceive of any sound arguments against it. The public forests are public reserves, and should be protected for the benefit of the public and enlarged as conditions permit. When timber shall have ceased to be available for fuel purposes, when coal beds shall have approached exhaustion, it is in the great forest tracts that we will find the conservators of the substitute for fuel-water power; and in addition, this will rank as a prolific source of public revenue.

Governor FOLK: Mr President, I move that the Conference do now adjourn.

The motion was seconded by several voices.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Governor JOHNSON): Before taking action on that motion: the Committee on Resolutions requests that all resolutions to be presented be handed to the Committee this morning, in order that a proper report may be made.

Acting Secretary NEWELL: I have been requested to ask all speakers whose names appear on the program, whether they have already spoken or not, to present themselves in front of the White House immediately on adjournment, for the purpose of having their photographs taken; and in addition to what the Presiding Officer announced this morning with regard to Mr Pinchot's reception, I wish to say that Mr Pinchot authorizes me to say that the reception is open to the Conferees in general, and whether or not he has an invitation any member of the Conference will be welcome.

Thereupon, at 1:10 oclock p. m., the Conference took a recess until 2:30 oclock p. m.

寫

FOURTH SESSION

The Fourth Session of the Conference was called to order at 2:45 p. m., May 14, 1908, in the East Room of the White House by the President of the United States.

The PRESIDENT: This afternoon, when I leave, Governor Deneen of Illinois will take the chair.

We will listen first to ex-Governor Pardee of California.

Governor FORT: Mr President, before we start the regular exercises, may I make a motion? I am compelled to leave, and would like the privilege of having put in the Proceedings the short address I have prepared on the waterway question touching my own State, and which is now in the hands of the stenographers.

The PRESIDENT: Governor Fort is obliged to leave this afternoon, and asks that the address which he has prepared upon the waterways of New Jersey shall be put in the Proceedings. I assume that there will be no objection. Is there objection? [After a pause] There being no objection, it will be so put.

[The address appears in the Proceedings of the Third Session]

Mr BRYAN: Is it not probable that a number of these gentlemen may have addresses that can not be delivered in full, and would it not be wise to extend that privilege?

Governor FORT: I should like to have that done.

Mr BRYAN: The same privilege should be extended to all who have addresses that they do not have an opportunity of delivering. I make that motion.

The PRESIDENT: That is, I think, a most admirable suggestion. Mr Bryan moves that any of the gentlemen who have been invited here who, either on account of being called away or for any other reason, are not able to deliver their addresses, shall have the privilege of submitting them in writing to be included in the Proceedings. Is there any objection?

Governor NOEL: I move that the privilege be further extended to those who may have made addresses and have not had a chance to deliver them in full.

Is

The PRESIDENT: I think that would be included in the motion. there any objection? [After a pause] There seems to be no objection, and it will be so ordered.

Mr LONG: Mr President, having had the experience I had this morning, and knowing something of the amount of time required to prepare an