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federation some 37 years ago; but while we are the youngest, we look upon ourselves, and I think it is conceded pretty generally, as probably the wealthiest in natural resources of any part of that vast Dominion. While we are so placed with natural resources, we realize that we have not gone very far in this matter of conservation, and the reason is that while we are young we are also comparatively small in population and, of course, our natural resources are not attacked to any great extent. You will understand this when I tell you that at present the population of British Columbia is probably not any greater than the population of the city of Seattle. But I may say that we are waking up to this great problem, very largely because of the movement which has for some years past been taking place in le United States.

I have often heard it said, when this subject is broached, "What has posterity ever done for us?" But if our forefathers had looked upon it in that way, where should we have been today? We have countless millions to follow us who have to make their living from this earth, and if we are to waste natural resources they will find very little to live upon when they follow us.

As I have said, we have tremendous natural resources in British Columbia, principally in the north. We have mineral resources which most of you know. We have great wealth in the way of water, as you will understand when I say that very recently an engineer estimated that within 60 miles of Vancouver there is 500,000 horsepower available from natural water power. We have land brought under cultivation equal in value to any you have in your State, and I may say we have already begun to consider this question of conservation in the matter of water. Two years ago I sat on a commission and had with me one of your wellknown experts on irrigation, Professor Carpenter. As a

result of that commission, the Legislature at its last session passed a Water Act which has only just come into force, and is therefore untried, but from which we hope great things. We have very valuable fisheries. and as a proof that we are not blind to the need of conservating them, I may say that some eight years ago we engaged the services of a well-known expert, Mr. Babcock, of California, who has been deputy-commissioner since that time and has advised as to the conservation of our fisheries. This is greatly needed, because we have found in the salmon fishing industry that the recent years have not been so good, and the problem is to make the industry permanent. In this matter I would say that we must look for the co-operation of the State of Washington.

We have also immense timber resources; how much you may realize when I tell you that probably fourteen or fifteen million acres are already held by private individuals. We have taken up the matter of conserving these resources. We started a little over eighteen months ago by placing a reserve on all forests not then appropriated. We have followed that up by appointing a commission the members of which have been invited to attend this Congress and who are present today. How long it will take I do not know, because it is a big subject that will broaden the further we go into the matter, but we hope as a result that we shall be able in the province of British Columbia to adopt a policy benefited by the experience of your great nation and to conserve for generations to come the immense timber reserves we have in that province.

We hope, and intend, to benefit by the experience of your nation and also by the papers which are read at this Congress and the discussions which take place. We shall follow with the greatest interest the work of this Congress and, in conclusion, I can only say that I hope that the result will justify

the movement and that success will follow upon your efforts. (Great applause.)

HON. R. E. PEARSON, NEW YORK.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It gives me great pleasure to bring to this Congress the greeting of Governor Hughes and the people of New York State. We are in hearty sympathy with the idea of conservation of our nation's resources, for which we understand this Congress is to stand. Governor Hughes has

appointed a State Conservation Commission. James S. Whipple and other members are heads of the proper State departments. That the people of New York State are interested in the conservation of natural resources is well shown by the many acts of the State Legislature whereby the State has set aside large tracts of forest land in the Adirondacks and the Catskills and elsewhere. These are being handled in an up-to-date manner and by acts of the Legislature of last winter we have now put into operation a method of controlling forest fires which we believe to be most highly effective. That the people of New York believe in the utilization of natural resources is shown by the fact that we have recently established a Water Supply Commission which is making an extensive investigation by surveys and otherwise to ascertain the water powers of the State that are now in use, that may be used and to ascertain where storage reservoirs might be provided.

That the people of New York State believe in the restoration of natural resources is shown also in various other ways. Let me say that the natural resources of New York State are not exhausted. We have been amused to learn the feeling in some parts of our great country that New

Yet the State has occasion Under the Forest, Fish and

York is a worn-out State. We stand with you in the development of the great West and are glad to hear that those in the West are doing so well, and we are desirous of helping them all we can. Those in the West also wish to do justice and to know the truth about New York, so when we read in the papers that there is no profit in fruit growing in New York State we are glad to be able to say we do raise fruit and other agricultural crops and the profits run into hundreds of dollars per acre. to restore natural resources. Game Commission hundreds of thousands of trees are being set out and private individuals are being encouraged to plant forests. The State is contracting to build a canal, at a cost of $101,000,000, from Buffalo to the East. This is now well under way. Smaller canals are being provided for, and there is an increasing agitation for this kind of improvement. Better methods of agriculture are being promoted in various ways. We have a State College of Agriculture where there were enrolled last winter nearly a thousand students studying agriculture exclusively. We have two experiment stations, with over fifty scientific men on their staffs; we have three lower grade agricultural schools just opened, or about to open, and the State is conducting Farmers' Institutes which have held more than a thousand sessions in the past season.

In New York and throughout the East it is appreciated that agricultural conditions will greatly change in the near future. It is stated by some experts that our population will double by the middle of this century, and the fact that it is no longer possible to open up highly productive and very cheap lands is going to throw upon the Eastern farmers the responsibility of producing a larger quantity of products without increasing the area on which these are raised. The East is rapidly coming to recognize that this is true. (Ap

HON. W. A. FLEMING JONES, NEW MEXICO.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

When I left my home in New Mexico more than three weeks ago for the purpose of attending the National Irrigation Congress at Spokane, I had no idea of being called upon to address, even briefly, this distinguished body, or I might with data before me have been able to prepare something of interest to say.

The natural resources of the Territory of New Mexico, largely undeveloped it is true, are so vast in their extent that the question of their conservation is one of the utmost importance to us, not only for ourselves, but for the generations to come who will probably share in them to a far greater extent than we of today.

There is probably no section of the United States that is less known in the East and in other sections of the country than New Mexico. For example, on my return from my last trip to the East, I made the acquaintance on the train of a physician, a very intelligent gentleman, actively engaged in the practice of his profession in New York City, who was travelling with his family to California. Shortly after leaving Trinidad, Colo., and as we approached the Raton Tunnel, I heard him sagely inform his family that they would shortly be for the first time in their lives outside of the United States. He went on to advise them that Sante Fe was the capital of the Republic of Mexico; that it was the home of President Diaz and the seat of government with sundry other and various statements of an equally startling nature. It was with some difficulty that I set him right. When such ignorance as this is met with in citizens of the type of this physician what can be expected of the general public?

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