Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-05-22
WASHINGTON LETTER
tRseuhAa CORRESPONDENCE


May 10, l90S.@Thefe are faFtY
four governors of states in WASH
ington this week. Such an assem-
blage is unique in the history OF
the country. The States for the
moment are without their heads.
These heads are centered in the
East Room of the White House,
and Capitalization, for the moment
at least, is a fact. And by the way,
Capitalization is beginning to be
looked upon as a necessity. For a
years the Government has
been integrating and for seventy
years of that period, this integra-
ton has been accelerated by steam
and electricity until now it is bound
east, west, north, and south by
wires and railroads, to say nothing
of waterways and interdependent
business interests of such stupen-
dous proportions as to make imper-
alive action of all in the interest OF
the largest number, a necessity
Never before in the history OF the
nation has the President conferred
with the Governors of the States in
body. Only FIVE Governors,
those of Texas, Massachusetts,,
Georgia, Oregon and California, are
absent. Each Governor has ap,
pointed three conferees, represent
| ing universities and large business
associations interested in the sub.
ject of the preservation of the nat
ural resources of the country. The
historic East Room of the White
House is transformed into confer,
ence chamber. Two mammoth
maps of the country have been
| provided to assist the variousspeak-
ers in NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. Hand paint,
ed transparencies' are also to be
used for stereoptican effects. The
White House for the time is closed
| to the public, and attendance al
the sessions is restricted to those
invited. This was indispensable
on account of the limited capacity
| of the East Room.
The conference is in line with the
policy of President Roosevelt with
reference to safeguarding and econ.
omizing the natural resources Of
the country. There is no doubt
that this nation began it's career
with the most splendid patrimony
ever enjoyed by people-a patri-
mony so rich and so extensive as
to stagger, like time and space, the
imagination. But it was by nc
means infinite. For years careful
and prudent statesmen and writers
have seen the necessity of preser-
walton and economy. Poachers
and marauders Of various sorts have
appropriated these natural resour-
ces and have taken billions of dol
| lars of the nations wealth. Some
thing must be done promptly to
stop this practice and if possible
recover the stolen property.
This conference owes its origin
in part to the Inland Waterways
Commission. This commission, APP
pointed by the President, found
that one of the most efficient meth
DDS of securing satisfactory sup
ply of water and avoid-devastating
foods, was to provide, as it were,
extensive sponges at the head wa
tiers of the streams, also to preserve
the sponges already in existance
These sponges are of course, for
ests. Where the water sheds have
been denuded of trees, the tor
rental rains, instead of being abb
sorbed, rush down the valleys and
gulches in destroying floods, leav-
ing the watersheds arid and unpro-
ductive. The problem was too
great for the commission appointed
by the Government to solve, and
because of this fact and because OF
constitutional limitations, this re-
markable convention has been as
sembled.