Among the Conservation problems to be taken up next in Oregon are the protection of fisheries, good roads, improvement in technical methods in irrigation and dry-land farming, topographic surveys, and inventories of State resources. REPORT FROM RHODE ISLAND Chairman Rhode Island Conservation Commission This Conservation Congress has been so very generous with its invitations that it happens that about every organization in which I am interested has been asked to send Delegates. As a result, quite a good lot of them have been so kind as to bestow this honor upon me-most of them prudently waiting until they found out that I was coming anyhow. For that reason my desk in Providence is adorned with a nice little pile of beautifully engraved cards, each telling me that this City of Saint Paul takes pleasure in extending its hospitality, etc. Along with each of them came other cards to warn me that if I wanted hotel accommodations I had better speak quick. So I spoke with reasonable speed-and eminently satisfactory results; but I am glad I did not have to find accommodations for all of the Delegates that I seem to be. I want to say, also, that if it gives the cordial City of Saint Paul pleasure to extend this charming invitation, the pleasure is entirely mutual; I am delighted to accept the hospitality. I am glad that I need not report at this time for anything except the State of Rhode Island, and I am sure you will be. You may ask, "What has Rhode Island to conserve?" In reply I want to tell you that no State in the Union in proportion to its population has so much that needs conserving. Some of our friends from the Far West tell us heartbreaking things about how the Government has reserved or restricted so much of the western area that there isn't enough left to make farms and villages on. I think I heard day before yesterday that in the State where I attended the First Conservation Congress last year there were Government reservations as big as Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined-though I should say these wouldn't necessarily look so very big when painted on the map of Washington, or seriously hamper the operations of its people. And we have this sad condition contrasted with that of the happy East where the Government owns no reservations at all; but back in the East we do not realize that this is a good fortune. Never having had any land in our part of New England owned either by the State or by the Nation, we have been somewhat frantically endeavoring to have them secure some for the good of our people, even though it now has to be bought. Everybody knows how earnestly we wish that the Government might have done for us at the beginning of our settlement just what the Government is able to do, and is doing, for the West today. There isn't any talk of "State rights" in the East. It is a question of the States' necessities. The Eastern States are all working to their utmost to get the Government to undertake certain enterprises like the Appalachian White Mountain reservations, that are of an interstate character; but each State expects to cooperate for as much of the remaining work as it can. You will be glad to know that Little Rhody is trying to do its share. It always does its share. It always matches the Government, at least dollar for dollar, on any public improvement work. Just now it is spending a million dollars on the harbor of Providence to match another million that the Government appropriated last year. That is the kind of "State rights" the Government gives it. But not much compared with what the railroads are putting in. The formal establishment of a Conservation Commission was almost the very last act of the Rhode Island Legislature at its special session, only about two weeks ago. We didn't expect, of course, to be quite so much up to date, or so early in any new field, as our brethren in Montana for example, though we have had a Conservation Commission, rather informally appointed by the Governor, ever since that notable gathering of the Governors at Washington, and work that such a commission would naturally do has been going on, under other names, longer than I can remember. The aim of the new Commission is to secure the maximum of efficiency and the minimum of politics. I do not know what the political affiliations of its members are, or if they have any, and I do not believe the Legislature knows. It is made up of ex-officio members, to bring into efficient cooperation several well-established departments that have long dealt with some phase or other of Conservation. The head of the Bureau of Industrial Statistics, which is conducting a State survey of natural resources, including soil analysis; the Secretary of the State Board of t Agriculture; the Director of the Experiment Station of the State College; the State Forester; and the Secretary of the Metropolitan Park Commission-these_departments will now contribute their efforts to a common purpose. The State Forestry Department, with advice from the National Forest Service, has been getting some very up-to-date forest laws passed, and the Park Commission has made a visible beginning to secure for public use and preservation some necessary recreation places for the over-crowding population of the Providence "Metropolitan District," which has about four-fifths of the population within about four-fifths of the area of the Twin Cities combined. The State College, assisted by the U. S. Bureau of Soils, has been showing such farmers as care to take notice that southern New England is a very different sort of place agriculturally than it has been the habit to suppose, and that at least three ears of corn may be made to grow, where, previously, one went to the dogsor the hogs. The very fact that there are more ever-hungry mouths to feed and more manufactures to the square inch in southern New England than there are anywhere else makes this necessary. We must care for every drop of water that falls on our hillsides. The cities need it; the manufacturers need it (and can use it first); the great bleacheries-that furnish about all the textiles that all of you use and wear-need all they can have; and the people need the lakesides and the river banks for recreation as in the past. At present our markets get most of their "fine Rhode Island turkeys" from Vermont and their "new-laid eggs" from beyond the Mississippi. A large part of the Rhode Island greenings and Massachusetts Baldwin apples come from Oregon and Washington, though not because they refuse to grow in their native habitat. But much of the soil must have put back into it those elements which previous unscientific generations robbed it of. And here is an amusing paradox: With a population growing in density faster than in any other State of the Union, and with more markets just around the corner, there are, nevertheless, more acres of forest-covered lands and more acres of unutilized lands in Rhode Island than there were 50 years ago-and more in proportion than in almost any other State in the Union. Well, that's where Rhode Island comes in, in this Conservation movement; and it has come in none too soon. If it had only had a wise and paternal Government to help it administer and develop its natural resources a century ago, the cost of living would be less today for every one of its inhabitants. Rhode Island has awakened to vital things, but even if it had only an indirect interest in Conservation it would still feel that it owed its moral influence to the country as a whole, and that it is not a separate selfish little two-cent republic all by its lonesome, but a part of a great Nation that prefers to be governed from Washington rather than from Wall Street: a Nation whose prosperity and power and glory need the cooperation and loyalty of every one of its citizens. REPORT FROM SOUTH CAROLINA Commissioner of Agriculture Chairman State Conservation Commission South Carolina Commission's full report delayed, so report briefly by wire. Active work has been done. A preliminary forest survey has been made, and a complete measure for, conservation of forests and protection against forest fires has been introduced in the General Assembly and will be pushed during the coming session. Active steps have been taken toward drainage and reclamation of coastal lands, and a measure to provide for a complete system under the direction of the State Commission is now being prepared for introduction in the Legislature in January next. Conservation of human resources has been greatly advanced in the past two years, following the enactment of complete factory inspection laws. No State is giving more attention to conservation of all her resources at this time than is South Carolina. I am heartily in sympathy with everything making for Conservation, and greatly regret I cannot be with you at the Congress. REPORT FROM SOUTH DAKOTA Secretary Conservation Commission of South Dakota The South Dakota Conservation Commission, consisting of Senator Robert J. Gamble (Chairman), Eben W. Martin, Samuel H. Lea, O. C. Dokken, and Doane Robinson (Secretary), was appointed by Governor Coe I. Crawford in August, 1908, and has been continued by Governor Vessey. The Commission made a preliminary report on the resources of the State in December, 1908. It has been unprovided with funds, but the newspapers of the State and of the Northwest have been open to its use, and from the beginning the policy was adopted of furnishing a weekly letter, educational in its nature, pertaining to the State's resources and their Conservation. These articles have received very wide publicity, both within and without the State. The Commission acted as Executive Committee of the South Dakota Conservation and Development Congress called by Governor Vessey and held at Pierre June 29-July 1, 1910. This was an exceptionally successful Congress, in which nearly two thousand citizens participated. Every county was represented, and the interest was very marked. The program consisted of addresses and papers educational in character, many speakers of national reputation participating. An annual Congress is contemplated. REPORT FROM TEXAS WILL L. SARGENT Secretary Conservation Association of Texas The interests of Conservation in Texas are promoted largely by a voluntary organization of citizens, the Conservation Association of Texas. The Association held a Congress at Fort Worth in April last, at which much enthusiasm was manifested, and plans and policies were adopted, largely in the form of resolutions. The substance of these resolutions forms the body of this report. We lay especial stress on the dirt roads of our State. Considering our great farming interests and their numerous and increasing yearly output, and the impassable condition of roads during certain seasons, we urge upon our county and State authorities the immediate betterment of our Texas roads by drainage, split-log drag, top-gravel dressing, or other up-to-date methods. As the services of a large number of experts are necessary for the intelligent guidance and direction of all plans of Conservation in all lines, and as intelligent workers are necessary for the effective carrying out of such plans, we urge upon our legislative authorities. as the necessary foundation for all Conservation the better financial support of our great public school system, the introduction of agricultural and industrial studies into these schools, and the better equipment and maintenance of our higher educational institutions, and that more substantial financial support be accorded to the Agricultural and Mechanical College, and the Department of Agriculture, and that adequate appropriation be made for those institutions and for farmers' institutes to the end that the supply of experts and leaders may be made more nearly adequate to the needs of our rapidly grow ing State. We know from past experiences that the overflow of our rivers and streams have resulted in washing away not only a great deal of rich and fertile soil, thereby injuring the lands of our farmers, but that these floods have destroyed crops running into millions of dollars in value and brought destruction and ruin to hundreds of our most worthy citizens. We earnestly recommend that the Legislature shall pass such laws as will constitutionally and in practical and adequate way prevent or curtail such losses in the future, the details of which can be worked out at the proper time and in an appropriate way by the legislative body itself. We deplore the wasteful methods of lumbering practiced in Texas and look with dismay at the early day (say fifteen years) when all our best timber will be cut and unobtainable except at great cost, when the cut-over land, littered with dead branches and decayed treetops, will be annually burned over, the humus destroyed and the soil become unfit for cultivation and washed into the streams. We also apprehend with dismay the direful effects resultant upon our Texas climate when the timber is gone and the forest area has become a grassy, burned-over waste. We urgently recommend to the people of Texas that they call upon the Legislature for the establishment of a forestry department, under charge of a trained forester, and under control of the State Agricultural Department; and it shall be the duty of said forester also to lecture in both the University and the Agricultural and Mechanical College. and take charge of all forestry work in the State, and his work shall be in connection with the Forest Service of the United States Government, for the saving of the forest remnant in our State and the replanting of the cut-over area on lands not suitable for agricultural purposes We believe in a strict conservation and preservation of the public domain of Texas in a way that will best encourage homesteaders, and that all laws made for the protection of the State and the people against fraudulent entries or the illegal acquisition of the public domain on the part of private citizens or corporations should be strictly enforced, and we recommend to the next Legislature the passage of a law making it a felony against all persons knowingly and fraudulently entering into conspiracy to acquire any portion of the public domain in violation of the laws of Texas made for the benefit of actual settlers. Recognizing the importance of fish as a food supply for our people, we indorse such laws as have already been enacted for the purifying of our rivers and lakes and such further legislation along that line as conditions demand, and recommend that hatcheries for the propagation and protection of fish be established and maintained by the State. We indorse the work of the Texas Audubon Society in behalf of the wild birds of Texas, and urge that the next Legislature shall enact laws for the better protection of the birds, to the end that their extermination be prevented, so that they may be allowed to increase in numbers, delighting the world with their beauty and song, and also serving the economic purpose for which they were created, namely, the protection of crops by the extermination of insect enemies. We congratulate the farmers of Texas for adopting modern methods in tilling the soil and in a diversification of crops. The great and beneficial results that have come to them through this system have clearly demonstrated its practicality. The Legislature is asked to pass a law covering the features_now partially covered by several independent laws and providing for a State Department of Engineering, which department shall be authorized to make surveys, maps, and estimates looking to the reclamation of overflow and wet lands anywhere within the State, and further being authorized to examine and approve all the plans and estimates of such improvements before said improvements can be accomplished, by this means being empowered to mutually protect all interests involved, whether these interests are at present active or in the future probable. In order to carry out most economically the Conservation of the wealth latent in the soil and water supply of Texas, we recommend the enactment of legislation which will provide means and instrumentalities for a soil and water survey of the State as a basis for the earliest possible development of such wealth for the common good. We recognize in the reclamation of our arid lands one of the greatest factors in the future development of the State, because of the million acres of fertile lands that can and should be reclaimed by irrigation. Recognizing all vested rights, we encourage the conservation, storage, and equitable distribution of natural and flood waters of streams, artesian wells, springs, rainfall, and other sources of water supply. We favor a uniform system of irrigation laws that will give security for the investment of capital in the development of irrigation projects, and at the same time fully protect and safeguard the users of water and define the rights as well as the obligations of the enterprises delivering the water to them. We favor the State never parting with title to her water-power and the control of her streams to corporations or private individuals; we favor legistion that will secure the aid of the State in its conservation and reclamation work, such as the construction of reservoirs to be used for power, for irrigation, as well as for domestic and other purposes. The State is requested to enact a law creating an irrigation commission, acting under the direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture, whose duties shall be fully defined by statute. We heartily endorse the purposes and objects of the National Conservation Association, and urge all the friends of Conservation in Texas to cooperate by becoming members of the National Conservation Association. Recognizing that the prosperity and the happiness of our people depend on the utmost protection of their health and the protection of their domestic animals from disease, we recommend that the Legislature appropriate sufficient funds for the maintenance of the State Board of Health and the State Sanitary Board. Recognizing the great value of the experiment stations and demonstration farms located in the various agricultural sections of our State, we indorse the work of the stations already established, and recommend that a law be passed authorizing the County Commissioners of each county to provide, at their discretion, for such stations and demonstration farms, in order that the most approved methods of agriculture may be exemplified and new facts may be determined. We believe it would be advisable for the Congress of the United States to pass a law repealing all laws authorizing the sale of any of the public domain in the United States and its Territories, including the Philippine Islands and other possessions, and in the future only sell the surface for agriculture and stock raising purposes, and forever retain title in the people of the United States of the timber and of all minerals and all coal, oil, gases, phosphates, water and waterpowers, to be worked under control of laws passed by Congress by paying a reasonable royalty to the people for the same. REPORT FROM UTAH O. J. SALISBURY Vice-President Utah State Conservation Commission The Utah State Conservation Commission was authorized by an Act of the State Legislature approved March 22, 1909. The Act prescribed the powers and duties of the Commission, and appropriated a certain sum annually to be expended for the purposes thereof. Pursuant to the said Act the Governor of the State duly appointed a Commission, consisting of seven members, who organized and began active operations about the first day of October, 1909. Such legislation was called for and enacted on account of the pressing necessity of devising ways and means of preserving and protecting the abundant, varied, and valuable natural resources of our young and growing State; and it was a source of gratification to this Commission to find that such resources had suffered comparatively little waste in the years past, and that the duties required of the Commission were to ascertain the character and extent of the State's resources, and to work along lines of Conservation and protection rather than those of restoration. The Commission prepared and issued a preliminary report on the resources of the State late in the year 1909, and 2000 copies were distributed to our State legislators, to Government departments, Conservation associations, public libraries, etc. Owing to the short time in which the Commission had to collect data and prepare the report, it was somewhat limited in its scope and general in its character. The Commission has now in course of preparation a complete map of the State, showing the National Forests, ownership of public lands (whether Federal or State), character of the soils with analyses thereof, with other information to enable it to make an intelligent and accurate report to the Governor and State Legislature at the coming session in 1911, suggesting and recommending such legislation as will best conserve and protect the State's natural resources to the benefit and advantage of our citizens of present and future generations. The amount of the annual appropriation for the purposes of the Commission is $3,000.00. There was expended during the year 1909 the sum of $211.55, and during the year 1910 the sum of $2,767.62. It is the intention and purpose of the Commission to continue along the lines upon which it has started, to ascertain the extent and character and point out the location of the agricultural, mineral, power, and other natural resources of the State, and to place before the public such information concerning these resources as will enable the home-seeker, the investor, the manufacturer and all those secking industrial pursuits adapted to our State, to secure for themselves some of the advantages which the development of such resources offers. SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT FROM UTAH E. T. MERRITT The State of Utah has not yet undertaken any great work in the matter of Conservation of public resources, although a Commission has been created with the Governor as chairman. An office is maintained and the gentlemen of the Commission are giving earnest thought and study to the issues involved, feeling that they want to be sure they are right before they go ahead. However, the General Government has been very liberal in the attention it has given us, and we find our phosphate lands, the public coal lands, lands adjoining streams suitable for power sites, and practically every acre of our forest lands have been withdrawn from entry. And yet we feel that we have no quarrel with the Government in these matters. We believe that just as soon as equitable and reasonable methods have been devised for the sale or lease of the first three named they will be placed |