The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1908-11-20
THE SECOND
CONFERENCE.
OF STATES AND TER
RlTORIEs WILL AGAIN MEET
IN WASHINGTON.
INVENTORY OF CoUNTRY's RE-
SOURCES HAS BEEN MADE IN
slX MONTHS.

Washington, Nov. 17.-The much
alket.-of inventory of the nations 5
ssolr2es is now practically COM
listed. To consider the material 1t
as brought together the National
IONS walton Commission has lust
niounced its first full meeting for
desiay, December l, at Washing
"a. AL that meeting the first steps
al be taken toward putting into
Bic sAape the results of the six
.sontns la.d work on taking stock
+ L. e oounlry's waters, forests, lands
snt; minerals.
One week later, after the commits
sion has gone over the inventory, 1t
will hold a joint meeting in Wash
lngton with the governors of the
states and territories, Or their repre-
sentatives. AT this meeting the in
.entory will be further discussed
ana the report which the president
as requested the commission ito
aske to him by January /, will be
formulated.
With less than six months in
which to make the inventory, the
iour branches into which the COM
mission is divided, aided by the CO.
operation of the government DEPART
ments, have brought together what
S probably the most useful collec-
lion of facts about the material
things on which national industry
an! progress are based that has ever
been assembled at one time. Re-
ports presenting those facts and
pointing out their. significance have
been prepared. These reports, sum
married. and indexed will be sub
mitted to the commission at its COM
ing meeting.
All through the summer general
interest in the work and object of xhe
Conservation commission has been
growing. The public is now well
posted on subject of which only a
few specialists had knowledge at the
time Of the conference of governors
and experts at the White House, in
May.
The governors CARED the spirit of
the conference home with them to
their own people, and have kept
things moving ever since by appoint
ing state commissions to study prob
lens, by writing and speaking upon
the subject of conservation and by
keeping in close and helpful touch
with the national commission. They
are ready to take part in the ap-
preaching joint meeting. The bare
announcement that it had been set
for December s resulted in a num-
Der Of acceptances before the formal
invitation of the commission had ev-
en- got into the mails.
When the conservation movement
u'1s started, specific information
about the actual state of our re-
sources was partly wanting, partly
inaccessible. Certain facts were
broadly known. 1t was at least un-
questionable that our resources had
been wastefully used, and that some
of them, notably the mines, were
sure, in time to be completely ex-
hausted, while others, for example
the forests, could still be kept per-
petually useful by right manage
ment. The first work was to get
the facts, to show exactly what the
situation was and how it could be im-
proved bysmeasures that would work.
Without AN inventory of the re-
sources which should show the pres
ent condition of the resources and
the way to develop them to the best
advantage. conservatism was in dan
ger of staying up in the air. III II
But the work is now practically
done. The facts are there, in dol
lars and cents, tons of coal, board
feet of timber, acre-foot and horse
power Of water, acres of land. And
the possible measure reforms have
been weighed. The final report to
the president will be the necessary
supplement to the addresses at the
White House conference. The note
of these addresses was a note of
warning. The report is expected to
show that the warning must be heed
ed if the exhaustion Of natural re-
sources is not, one day, to impover-
ish the nation, and it will also un-
doubtedly bring out how the coun-
try's resources can be developed so as
to last the longest possible time and
serve the greatest good of the peo-
pie.
May BE Sioux City Bank President.
Sioux City, Nov. ia president
Of the Iowa State National bank, to
succeed the late George Weare will