New-York tribune., 1908-07-04
PRESIDENT URGES WORK
conservation Commission Taking In
rentory of Resources.
TBy relegraph % T-,e 74i,,,,e !


oyster Bay. July 3.-The President to-day received
report from Thomas r Shipp secretary of the
-'a-oral Conservation Commission to the effect
tsat the commission has got down 10 actual work
e '1at the task % taking stock of the country s
material resources has begun From now until
January l. when the commission is to make a
written report to the President the work of taking
'f'e inventory will be vigorously prosecuted by
i-"cucaiiy every branch of the government. To
INSPIRE the various bureau chiefs, who are inter
eesteo with all possible enthusiasm the President
to-day dictated to them personal letters in which
ne urged them TO go ahead with the work
rapIoly as Is consistent with thoroughness. and TO
neglect no opportunity to cooperate with other
orancnes Of the government wherever and when
ever feasible. Mr. Shipp will take these letters to
Washington and deliver them to the bureau chiefs
Secretary Shipp reported the President that
the commission has agreed a schedule OF in
quirfes to the various natural resources, which
will be presented TO the bureau chiefs In Wash
ington Monday The schedule will ask for the
present extent of the resources, how they have
been and are now being used how they have been
wasted. if at all and what steps are being taken
TO preserve them
The National Conservation Commission will hold
its next full meeting in Washington on December
week later by a joint meeting with the Governors
of the states or their representatives. The meet
ing viii probably be held in the new House
office building. Forester Clifford Pfnchot, who
cut short his vacation in California for the purpose
of returning to hurry the work forward with all
possible speed. He will star. East in day or
two. and will have interview with the Presi-
dent Oyster Bay before he goes to Washington.
The fact that the President urged Mr Pinchot TO
keep him informed of every step in the work proves
his interest in the matter did not end either
with the White House conference Of Governors,
when the movement formally started. or with
the appointment Of the various members of the
commission. He is resolved to see the task pushed
far toward completion possible before his ad-
rninistration ends, and the members Of the COM
mission believe that when they report TO him at
the beginning of the calendar year they
will have tangible results to show him
The commission held a meeting at Chicago on
June 19 at which the work mapped out. We
have received word from nearly twenty different
Governors that as the result of the White House
conference they had appointed to cooperate
with the national commission in every way posi-
BILE The work of the commission will be presented
under four general heads: Waters, the sub-commit-
tee on which is headed by Representative Theodore
E Burton of Ohio; forests. headed by Senator
Reed Sr1oot, of Utah; lands, directed by Senator
Knu1e Nelson OF Minnesota, and minerals under
the supervision of Representative Dalze, Of Penn
svIvauia There are over twenty Senators and Rep
resentatives the commission. and among the
members selected from private life are such men
as James J. Hill, Andrew Carnegie and John
Mitchell
The work OF taking inventory of the country
natural resources is of the biggest jobs ever un-
dertaken by TIE government Henry Gannett- now
assistant director of the Cuban census, VIII be IN
charge Of the compilation of the records when they
are collected"