Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-08-04
NATIONAL inventory.
WORK CUT OUT FOR NEWLY.
CREATED COMMISSION.

Body Of Men Under Direction Of Pin
chot to List Resources Of Entire
Land and viii Compare Re-
suits for Good Of All.
Washfngton.-Actual work on the
inventory of the natural resources of
the United States has begun. Under
the direction of the national conserva.
tion commission, 1t will be carried on
vigorously throughout the summer.
This Is necessary In order to enable
the commission to make the report
President Roosevelt has requested Of
It for January I, 1909.
A meeting of the chiefs Of bureaus
OF the executive department has been.
held, and the heads Of the various d.
visions concerned with the country's
natural resources have offered their
hearty cooperation in the task the
commission has undertaken. So now.
within only few days more than q
month from the date the national con-
servation commission was named by
the president. active work ID going ON
in every bureau Of the government
that can furnish material available for
the commissions report.
A great amount of this material al.
ready Is available In the government
department; other important parts OF
1t, however, will be collected through
special channels. Among these will
be the state conservation commits.
sions. which the governors are ap.
pointing; and some of the great ma.
tional organizations that were repre-.
sented at the White House conference.
and that have entered with spirit into
the general conservation movement.
In other words, the machinery for
making the first inventory of the re.
sources of the nation ever attempted
has been set In motion and is running
smoothly.
Clifford Pinchot, chairman of the
commission, has changed his plans
and will return to Washington shortly
to continue personal supervision of the
work. By early fall the commission
expects to have in hand sufficient
material to begin the study of the
stock of the country's resources. and
by the middle of October 1t hopes to
have the greatest part of this material
in hand. This will be necessary in
order that the full commission. which
holds its first melting Tuesday, Decem
hnw In chippfNn toll nj
once the study of the facts that the
summers work has brought together
One week later the commission will
hold joint meeting in Washington
with the governors of the states. OF
their representatives.. with view oil
bringing about further and closer CO
operation with the various state com
missions.
The commission has devised a new
and interesting method by which tc
collect this material. A schedule OF
inquiries, embracing the whole sub
ject Of conservation forests
lands and minerals-has been ar
ranged and sent to each bureau CHIEF
with a request for suggestions and
criticisms. This has resulted in OBJ
tanning the expert advice Of the mer
at the head Of the different bureaus
who will have immediate charge Of
the collection of the material.
President Roosevelt, who is keeping
in close touch with the commission
has approved this method, and has
written to each chief Of bureau 9
letter commencing the enthusiastic CO
operation shown by the bureau chiefs
and emphasizing his belief in the great
Importance of the work the national
conservation commission has in mind
Among the government bureaus that
will furnish large part of the i'm
portant information the commission
Is seeking are the bureau OF corpora
lions of-the department of commerce
and labor. under Commissioners Her
bert Knox Smith; the bureau of the
census. under Director North; the for
est service. under direct supervision
Of the chairman of the commission anG
Overton w. Price, secretary of the for
est section Of the commission; the
reclamation service. under Director
Newell; the geological survey, under
Director Smith; the corps of engineers
Of the army. under Its new chief, Gen
William L. Marshall. and almost every
bureau under the department OF agri
culture.
Cooperation among all the agencies
now engaged In this neutrality-suspicious.
is conspicuous feature. Taking the
membership Of the national commits
sion and the several memberships o.
the state commissions together, the
number of persons engaged and inter
ested in the work is large. One Of
the most important requirements Is
therefore, to make sure that every
step of the work is known to all who
are sharing in it, SO that there may be
the utmost amount of coordination
and concentration, no misdirected en-
ergy and no duplication.
Accordingly, bulletins of progress
and information are issued to the Off
GERS of the commissions. the state COM
missions and others, and q yolumin
Gus correspondence is kept up. II
this. way the work, complex and scat
tered as it is. is effectively centralized
and simplified.
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