Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-05-21
THIS CONFERENCE
MARKS AN EPOCH
GOVERNORS OF 44 STATES MEET
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AT
THE WHITE HOUSE.
TO SAVE NATION SRES0URCES
Lawmakers, Jurists, Cabinet officers
and Captains of Industry Were
Present at the Conference,
First of Its Kind.

Washington, d. C.-Two ideas
| destined to mark material progress
| in Americas future resulted from the
| first of the three days conference at
| the White House in which President
| Roosevelt, the governors of A states,
| cabinet officers, supreme court
| judges, senators, representatives and
| experts are participating in efforts to
reach conclusions on the best meth
DDS of conserving the natural re-
| sources of the United States.
| The first is that a permanent or
| ganization between the states and the
nation is necessary and will likely re-
| suit from the present conference, to
accomplish the end sought The sec
ond-suggested by Secretary Root
| is that there is no limitation by the
constitution to the agreements that
may be made by the states subject to
! the approval of congress. The two
| ideas, fully developed, it is predicted,
would result in the conservation of
| the energies and resources of the ma
ton through uniform laws, both ma
tional and state.
President Roosevelt's speech was
many times interrupted by applause
and when he finally reached his point
| of praise for the inland waterways
commission and declared that should
congress neglect to perpetuate the
commission Il will do it myself" he
Captured" the assembly.
1t was from the utterances of Mr..
Carnegie and those who followed him
that the gravity of the problems to be
considered were given weight. Two
hundred years of coal supply and half
that of iron was the prediction of the
| iron master.
DR.. |. c. White of West Virginia
added expert knowledge and predic-
tions on the subject of coal and iron.
| He predicted the exhaustion of the
! Pittsburg coal supply in SO years and
the West Virginia fields in practically
| the same time.
John Mitchell, former head of the
United Mine Workers, said that fully
% per cent of the coal in the mines
already developed had been wasted
in mining and much greater percent.
age in use.
Washington, D. C. Startling was
the warning sounded Thursday at
the conference of governors at the
White House of the danger the ma.
ton confronts in soil waste and forest
depletion.
James J. Hill of the Great Northern
railroad, who led long list of speak,
ers, treated the depletion of the ma.
tion's resources in very impressive
way. He presented conditions re.
specting mineral, soil and forest,
| showing wanton waste in each in.
stance, and drew a picture of politi.
cal chaos when all were gone, where.
in the people would tear down the
very pillars of government.
Soil waste and forest conservation
received expert treatment by Prof. r.
C. Chamberlain of Chicago and r. A.
Lang of Kansas City, after which was
! evidenced the desire of the conven.
ton to engage in general discussion
Issue was squarely Joined as to
some of the methods pursued by the
| government in the regulation of for.
est reserves by the governors of Wy.
oming, Utah, Idaho and Montana
James A. Garfield, secretary of the
interior, replied to these criticisms.
Washington, D. c. The first con.
ference of the governors of the
states of the American Union ended
Friday. Like many important events
| of history, time is needed to reveal
the epoch which the president and
| governors believe has been made
The accomplishment of the confer.
ence cannot be set forth with pre-
cision. That its immediate results
| are more than ample is the express,
sion of President Roosevelt and of
| the governors.
Besides the compilation of facts by
| the experts and the freely expressed
opinion of the governors, the con.
ference leaves as it's permanent rec.
ord a thousand words of "declara.
ton" Not a declaration of indie.
| pendence," but a declaration of co.
operation"
Perhaps greater in Importance
| than all else was the determination
of the governors of the states to per.
feet permanent organization where
by an intimacy may be developed
among the executives of the 4e
states, made strong by a common
purpose and made potent by pro
nouncements which may not lightly
be disregarded.