Part 11

At the conclusion of the President’s address, President Wallace declared the Congress adjourned until tomorrow morning, 9:30 o’clock.

_FOURTH SESSION._

President WALLACE—The Congress will come to order and be opened with prayer by the Rt. Rev. Dr. E. R. Hendrix, of Kansas City, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (South).

INVOCATION.

_Let us pray. Oh, God, our Heavenly Father, we bless Thee that Thou hast been made known unto us as a God that works, and that Thy Son coming into the world, declared, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” We know that the gods of the heathen do not work. They idle, they quarrel, they dishonor the very name of a god, and a decent man is better than any of the false gods. But our God is revealed to us as one ever employed, active mind, best and highest motives, noblest, most wide-reaching plans, and honors man greatly by making him a fellow worker. Grant unto us the wisdom to work together with God. Give breadth of view, give clearness of perception of what needs to be done. Give responsibility to the best motives, and give plans that are as wide-reaching as the great plans of God. Upon this Congress, upon all its methods and its plans, grant Thy richest blessing, our Father. We ask in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen._

Recording Secretary GIPE—A great number of states have not yet reported their members to the committee on resolutions. I ask for the names of the various states now, and let the chairman of the delegation kindly rise, and give me the name, as I call the state in order that the chairman of that committee may immediately assemble these gentlemen to get to work at once. Alabama; Arizona; Arkansas; Delaware; Florida——this is for the committee on resolutions. There is a delegate here from Florida. Georgia; Idaho; Indiana——

H. E. BARNARD of Lafayette—I have not the report from Kansas.

Delegate POTTER—Kansas is here in force, but her officers are out on committees. As they come in we will see that you have the names.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Do you know who was elected as a member of the resolution committee from Kansas?

Delegate POTTER—I was—Thos. W. Potter from Peabody.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Kentucky is here. Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts.

A DELEGATE—William P. Wharton, of Massachusetts.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Michigan—Is Michigan here? This is the committee on resolutions; we want your member from Michigan, please.

A DELEGATE—He has not turned up yet.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Will you not kindly see that the Michigan delegation meets at once and names its member for the committee on resolutions? The next is Minnesota.

A. W. Guthridge, Minnesota.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Missouri; Montana; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Jersey—New Jersey is represented. New Mexico; New York; North Carolina—they are represented. North Dakota; Oregon.

F. J. Kinney, Oregon.

Pennsylvania—Dr. Henry S. Drinker, president of the University of Pennsylvania, and delegate from Pennsylvania.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Rhode Island; South Carolina; South Dakota; Tennessee; Texas—J. B. Smith, of Texas. Utah; Vermont; Virginia; Washington—Everitt Gregg. West Virginia; Wisconsin; Wyoming.

President WALLACE—Mr. Fowler, the chairman of the committee on resolutions, would like to make an announcement.

Mr. FOWLER—Mr. President and Delegates: I hope you all realize what the work of the committee on resolutions may be. Many states have been called here this morning and no names have been given and no one has responded. This is a conservation congress. There are representatives here from these states, from every state I trust in the Union, and there is not a state in the Union that is not interested in the question of conservation. I hope then that the delegates from every state will see to it that a good man is upon this committee on resolutions. The committee is not near full. Many states are not represented, and you must remember, my friends, that the work of the committee on resolutions is the crystallization of the work of this Congress, and the resolutions speak for the Congress, and speak for all the states of this great Union; hence, we must have some one represent every state. I have had some experience with resolution committees in other congresses, and many of you have had the same, and you know that it is a working committee. It is the committee that is compelled to sacrifice about everything else after the work of the committee begins. Consequently, we want working men upon this committee on resolutions, men who are willing to give their time and make a few sacrifices of their own pleasures and own enjoyment during the rest of the sessions of the Congress until the work of the committee is done and the resolutions presented to the Congress. (Applause)

Recording Secretary GIPE—Is Prof. Condra of Nebraska here? If so, he will kindly come to the platform.

Sergeant-at-arms—Ladies and Gentlemen: President Wallace desires me to make this announcement: “Cincinnati, Ohio, September 26, 1911. President Conservation Congress, Kansas City, Missouri. Will arrive on Alton, 7:45 tomorrow morning.—W. J. Bryan.” (Applause)

President WALLACE—I would like to make one suggestion. We are going to be very short of time. We are now coming to the call of states. We want every state to be heard from, but we want you to confine yourselves to five minutes, and to tell us, not what your resources are, not what you are going to do (applause), but tell us what you actually are doing in the way of conservation. If you have a conservation association, as you ought to have in every state, tell us about it, or anything that bears upon it. Boil it down to five minutes. We will ring the bell on you if you don’t stop at the end of five minutes.

Recording Secretary GIPE—I understand that some of the states reported last night while you were at the dinner given to the President, and I hope, that since I do not have the names of those states, that the gentlemen will advise me when I call the roll. We do not want any duplicates. The next state is Maine. The next is Mississippi. Is Dr. Lowe in the room to respond for Mississippi? Missouri?

President WALLACE—I now introduce to you Mr. George B. Logan, secretary of the Missouri Waterways Commission, who will speak for Missouri. We will hear from him for five minutes.

Mr. LOGAN—The Missouri Waterways Commission was created by an act of the General Assembly in 1909. This act provided for a commission of five members, who were to investigate “the various problems associated with the navigable waterways of the state and the reclamation of land subject to overflow; the construction of levees; the benefits to be derived from proposed navigable waterways, and the reclamation of lands subject to overflow or inundation.” The result of these investigations, together with all obtainable statistics, was to be reported to the succeeding General Assembly. The commission was allowed $5,000 as expenses. None of the members were to be compensated for their services.

At the time the Missouri Waterways Commission presented its statement to the Second Annual Conservation Congress, the report which was last January submitted to our legislature had been prepared. The commission was very successful in obtaining information of a detailed nature pertaining to conservation of the state’s resources, and from this information extremely valuable statistics have been compiled and were included in the report transmitted to the General Assembly.

Because of the small amount of funds, the commission was forced to do almost all of its investigating by correspondence, inasmuch as original research was not possible, and they were gratified to find a widespread interest in the state which caused its correspondents to answer promptly and fully. The investigations were conducted under four heads into which the subject of water conservation in this state seems to be naturally divided. The uses of the water being in the order of importance: First, water supply in which the water is consumed in maintaining life; second, agriculture in which the water is consumed in the growing of the crops yielding food and other necessaries of life; third, power in which the water is employed in aid of, or as a substitute for, human labor, and is not consumed; and fourth, navigation in which the water is used for commerce and is not consumed.

WATER SUPPLY.

Under the first head the commission delved deeply into the sources of the state’s water supply, consisting of rainfall and watershed drainage. From this point of beginning, the commission went into the question of water supply of the various municipalities, considering the character of the water used, the state in which it was used, and the available quantity.

In the conservation of human life, which is the ultimate end of all conservation, the commission felt that nothing was more important than the securing of a permanent and proper water supply for the inhabitants of the state. Sixty-five communities in the state have been investigated, and from the findings presented to the General Assembly the commission hopes that much needed and beneficial legislation will result. As was to be expected, the investigations of these communities showed conclusively that the community water supply is nearly everywhere closely involved with community sewage disposal. The legislature will be asked to pass such laws as will encourage or compel municipalities to dispose of their sewage as not to endanger the lives of their own inhabitants, or of those who by geographical location are forced to have the same source of water supply.

AGRICULTURE.

While the quantity of rainfall remains approximately the same from year to year, the effects on the soil, and the subsequent benefits resulting to the soil from the rainfall, change materially. By improper methods of agriculture, hillsides and slopes have been denuded of trees and pasturage with the result that the soil on the hillsides is no longer absorptive, and the rain falling thereon is lost to it. This is especially true in this climate where a very large percentage of the annual rainfall comes in hard or excessive rains, taxing the absorptive capacity of any soil to its fullest extent. By proper education and agitation it is hoped that this natural fact will be borne in mind by the agriculturists of the state who have it in their power to be leaders in this work of conservation.

The converse of the problem of too little water is found in Southeast Missouri, where a very great area is burdened with an excess of water. The solution of this problem has been drainage which is being accomplished by drainage districts organized either in the county or circuit courts. Already 1,271,470 acres have been thoroughly drained and will be valuable agricultural land as soon as the heavy timber is cleared off. The average cost of drainage has been approximately $5.00 per acre, which is paid in small annual installments. The increase of the value of the land thus drained has been many hundred per cent, while the benefit to the health conditions has been great. Drainage is being fostered and encouraged by the state authorities, and as fast as the necessity for working laws is shown, these laws are forthcoming from the General Assembly. There is need for further drainage, but the energy and enterprise of the people in the communities where it is needed will probably suffice for the solving of this problem in the future as it has in the past.

NAVIGATION.

Missouri is blessed with magnificent opportunities for vast conservation of transportation cost, by reason of the presence on and within her borders, of the two greatest rivers of this country. Accepting the figures of unofficial investigators, the commission has estimated that the demand for water traffic indicates that the through freight movements between St. Louis and Kansas City alone would amount to four hundred and sixty-eight thousand tons annually, while that through the Mississippi in and out of St. Louis would reach a million or more tons. The surplus products of the soil and mines of this state aggregate fully ten million tons. If even forty per cent of these products could be moved by water at the large water cost of one-quarter that of rail transportation, the aggregate saving to the producers would amount to $11,250,000.00. This saving, or the adding to the wealth of the state, is too important to be disregarded.

The commission feels that the sentiment among this state’s law-makers is already strongly in favor of coöperating with the National Government in any systematic effort to permanently improve our waterways.

WATER POWER.

From the investigations conducted under this head the commission believes that herein lies one of the greatest and least understood of the state’s natural resources. Only ninety-nine water power sites are in use, and one hundred and twenty-three formerly in use have been abandoned. The abandonment is due chiefly to two causes: First, economic conditions in agriculture have so changed that there is no longer need of a manufacturing or consuming point at the place of production. It is more profitable to ship the products of the soil and buy whatever flour, meal and sugar is necessary than to have these small quantities ground at local mills. Hence, grist mills and sugar cane mills have disappeared. The second cause for abandonment of water power sites is the failure of the streams, due, as mentioned above, to the changed soil conditions. However, the advance in electro-mechanical appliances has created new uses and put a new value on water power sites. The point of application of the power may now be many miles from its point of generation. Sites abandoned years ago have “come back” and have greatly enhanced in value. Properly exploited, the value of resources in this state is incalculable. One of the chiefest aims of the commission in its present work is to sufficiently impress upon the people and upon the General Assembly the great value of this natural resource. While more expensive to produce, undoubtedly the greatest latent power in the state is in the Missouri River. The commission has planned to investigate in detail some site on the river which has the most natural advantages and using this as an illustration to demonstrate what can be done in this state.

At the recent session of our Legislature the report of the commission covering these topics, giving in detail the information meagerly outlined above, was presented to the General Assembly and copies of this report were widely distributed throughout the state. The $5,000 appropriation for four years has increased to $17,000 for two years. The resignation of members and political differences arising outside of the commission have temporarily impaired and hindered the work of the commission.

However, since the presenting of its last report the commission has put in the time of its executives in bringing up to date and supplementing the statistics gathered the preceding year. Practically nothing is now lacking in the figures concerning community water supply, water works and sewage disposal. Pending the beginning of actual engineering investigation of a water power site, the commission has studied the water power laws of all the states of the Union to the end that accurate information may be presented to the General Assembly when legislation in this state on these subjects is asked for. The delays and petty hindrances touched upon are undoubtedly temporary, and with the very recent completion of the personnel of the commission we have great hopes and expectations for the work which may be done in the cause of conservation during the coming year.

During the reading of a list of telegrams, Mr. W. A. Beard of Sacramento, California, assumed the Chair as temporary chairman.

Temporary Chairman BEARD—The secretary will continue the call of the roll of states.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Montana; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Ohio.

President WALLACE—I now introduce to you Mr. C. P. Dyar of Marietta, Ohio, who will speak for Ohio.

Mr. DYAR—I have no speech to make. Ohio simply sends greetings to this Congress, and wishes it Godspeed and a large measure of success in the work before it. Ohio has always been a great conservation state throughout its entire history; it has had presidential, gubernatorial and senatorial timber, and other minor political timber, sufficient for the entire consumption of the United States. Ohio felicitates her sister states on the scope and energy of this movement and she voices the hope that has been expressed in this meeting, that the lesson of the parable of the talents shall not be forgotten, that conservation shall not be interpreted to mean simply to save, but development through wise use, which creates wealth, not only for the present, but future generations.

Recording Secretary GIPE—Oklahoma.

President WALLACE—I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Milton Brown, who will speak for Oklahoma.

[Mr. Brown’s paper will be found in Supplementary Proceedings.]

Chairman BEARD—We are getting down to business this morning, and I think we are getting the meat out of the cocoanut. These addresses have been directly to the point. I now have the pleasure of introducing a representative of the State of Pennsylvania, Mr. A. B. Farquhar.

Mr. FARQUHAR—Pennsylvania is a state of such gigantic resources it would take all the rest of our session to begin to describe them, a good portion of it, and tell what we are trying to do to conserve them. It is only within the last month or two we created a state branch of the National Conservation Association, and they wanted me to be its president, I suppose because I have been interested in conservation for about twenty years past, and was a director in the National Association.

[Mr. Farquhar’s paper is in the Supplementary Proceedings.]

Chairman BEARD—We will now listen to Dr. Henry S. Drinker, president of Lehigh University.

Dr. DRINKER—It would seem that this third National Conservation Congress in ordering its deliberations cannot do so more wisely than in giving heed to the closing words of President Taft’s luminous address at St. Paul last year, when he said:

“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 aroused, 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 emotions 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.... I beg of you, therefore, in your deliberations and in your informal discussions, when men come forward to suggest evils that the promotion of conservation is to remedy that you invite them to point out the specific evils and the specific remedies; that you invite them to come down to details in order that their discussions may flow into channels that shall be useful rather than into periods that shall be eloquent and entertaining without shedding real light on the subject. The people should be shown exactly what is needed in order that they make their representatives in Congress and the State Legislatures do their intelligent bidding.”

It would seem well for us here to take account of stock of what has been done, of the agencies that have been utilized and of those that have been neglected, as well as to exchange views as to what we think that others, or the interests we individually represent, should do.

I have the honor of representing Pennsylvania as a state, and the Lehigh University as an educational organization deeply interested in the promotion of the cause of forestry and of conservation in general. We have an efficient and active forestry association. Pennsylvania, as we all know, has been, and is, famed for her deposits of iron and coal, and for her pre-eminence in the iron and steel industries. The resources in these directions are so great that it would be wearying to attempt even to inflict on you a summary of them in these short talks, but what the state has learned in conservation of mineral resources is of direct and pregnant interest. Forty years ago the movement for stopping the waste in coal was begun at the organization at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1871, of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, an institution whose membership now runs into the thousands and whose influence for good is world-wide. As a young engineer I had the privilege of attending that meeting. Among the things done a committee was appointed to study the question of waste in the mining, preparation and transportation of coal. This committee was followed by, and, in fact, incited the appointment by the Pennsylvania Legislature of a coal waste commission, which made a valuable and exhaustive report, and we thus see that in one phase of conservation, and a very important one, that of mining, our engineers have been doing their duty, and that forty years ago work in conservation was being done to which the public is only just awakening. Our government officials are doing most intelligent and good work in pointing out the way.

Perhaps one of the best summaries of this great conservation question now before our people, and in which the engineering profession is so interested, and in regard to which our mining profession has so great a duty to perform, was given by Dr. C. W. Hayes, Chief Geologist of the United States Geological Survey, in an address some time ago at the University of Chicago, when he defined conservation as “Utilization with a maximum efficiency and a minimum waste,” and said:

The reform that is needed throughout the country as a whole must gain its motive power not from sporadic instances where true business methods prevail, or from the well-intentioned enthusiasm of the few, but from the well-informed intelligence of the many. The campaign for conservation must be one of education.

There appears to be an unfortunate confusion in the minds of certain advocates of conservation. They have apparently confused conservation of natural resources with destruction of the trusts, and the mixture has resulted in pure demagoguery.... Anyone who has studied conditions attending the development of mineral deposits must have been impressed by the fact that those deposits held by large companies are being developed and utilized with a view to prevention of waste, in accordance with the principles of conservation, to a much greater extent than are the deposits held by small companies or by individuals.

I was much struck, as I think we all were yesterday, by the statement of our President followed by that of the chairman of the executive committee, that at this Congress we were to discuss conservation without any infusion of politics, and I take it that we use the word “politics” in its broadest sense, and are to see how we can best use capital and labor, and intelligently directed industry, all to the common end of the promotion of conservation; and that we can and will recognize what I have quoted above from the Chief Geologist of the United States Geological Survey in regard to the proper recognition and utilization of capital in conservation as highly important.