Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-07-20
COUNT OF TREES AND RIVERS
Conservation Commission Gets Busy
and is Now Taking Inventory.
ITS FIRST REPORT
Natural Resources 10 BE TabuIRted
and CLASSIFIED for Report which
Must BE Submitted to Presi-
dent in January.
CFrom a staff Correspondent)


WASHINGTON, July 19.-(Special. )-Ac-
tual work on the first inventory Of the
natural resources Of the United States has
begun Under the direction of the National
Conservation commission 1t will be carried
on vigorously throughout the summer. This
is necessary in order to enable the commls-
sion to make the report which President
Roosevelt has requested of It for January
next.
clifford Pinchot, chairman OF the commits
sion, has changed his plans and will shortly
return to Washington to continue personal
supervision of the work By early fall the
commission expects to have in hand sur
ficient material to begin the study of the
stock of the country's resources, and by
the middle of October 1t hopes to have the
greater part Of this material in hand. This
will be necessary in order that the full
commission, which holds its first meeting
Tuesday, December l. in Washington may
at once take up the study of the facts
which the summers work has brought to-
gether. One week later the commission will
hold a Joint meeting in Washington with
the governors of the states, or their repre-
sentatives with a view to securing further
and closer cooperation with the various
state commissions.
Among the government bureau which will
furnishes a large part of the important in
formation the commission is seeking are
the bureau of corporations of the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor under Com
missioner Herbert Knox Smith; the bureau
of the census. under Director North; the
forest service. under the direct supervision
of the chairman of the commission, and
Overton w Price, secretary of the forest
section of the commission; the reclamation
ralls hn eran
logical survey under Director Smith; the
corps of engineers of the army. under its
new chief, General william L. Marshall,
and almost every bureau under the Depart
! ment OF Agriculture.
New System in Army Supplies.
Quartermaster General ]. B. Aleshire is
) one of the busiest men in the War depart
ment these days, because OF the beginning
5 of a new fiscal year and the letting Of
E hundreds of contracts for army supplies
involving the widest possible range of ma
, terias.
Shortly after General Aleshire succeeded
Major General c. F. Humphrey the
head OF the quartermaster's department he
{ gave his force to understand that an effort
Y would be made to decentralze the depart
= ment at Washington and put much of the
purchasing of materials in the hands OF
{ department quartermasters instead OF max
r ing the department at the nationR capital
responsible. And with this in mind Ger
e eraI AleshIre has gone ahead with his re-
forms until the doubling Thomases' have
5 all reached the conclusion that the scheme
e of decentralization is working splendidly.
Heretofore much of the material needed
Y at army posts has been purchased or
requisition through the quartermaster gen
erals office. Aleshire saw that better
business methods would result II the chief
quartermasters of the several departments
= should make their own purchases after
proper notice to the quartermaster general
and he had hardly got comfortably settled
r in his seat when orders were issued look.
n Ing to the general policy of decentralza.
. tion on the following grounds:
: Reasons for New Policy.
1. 1t will place upon the department com.
3 manders and their chief quartermasters the
/ duty and responsibility for the proper ant
econom cal supply OF their commands
therefore insuring a proper equipment OF
( troops for field service at all times.
2. 1t win give the chief quartermasters
and other quartermasters the experience
: limited independenceJ and bring to thelI
offices duties and responsibilities in time
Of peace they would be required to meet If
a 8. 1t has given elasticity to the entir,
quartermaster's department and relieved
!
Q many details which General Aleshire be
4 heves more properly pertain to the offices
OF the chief and post quartermasters.
Having got this scheme working
satisfactorily, General Aleshire has sprung
: another reform In his department which
: cannot fail to be appreciated, not only by
- the secretary of war, but by "all others In
y authority" who desire to know instantly
the condition of a department as to SUP.
:, plies on hand. This new order provides
= for a minimum and maximum statement
: of supplies in each of the departments into
- which the United States and our foreign
, possessions are divided.
Chief quartermasters knowing the allot
ment made in his department for clothing
etc, can, under the new order, provide foI
" eventualities by having as nearly as posi-
BILE the maximum of clothing on hand, and
u should demand reduce such clothing to the
n minimum, then under the former order Of
the quartermaster general immediate pur
chase of additional clothing can be made.
Inventory at a Glance.
By reason OF the maximum and mini
= mum" order OF the quartermaster genera
the authorities in Washington can know a
a glance just how each of the several de
s partments stand as to clothing, horses
I wagons, etc. because the chief quarter
e master makes return TO Washington a
stated periods
= General Aleshire has organized a splendid
I" working force in his department men wht
e ! haya Iarga In the sov,yic.