The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1910-05-06

peared before the senate committee
on public lands, favoring u bill to au
thorize the president of the United
States to withdraw lands chiefly val
liable for coal, water power, mineral
phosphate, etc, so hat such lands
may be disposed of IN the interest Of
all the people, instead of in the in.
terest of "A few; and the committee
has made IA favorable report carrying
out the suggestions of the association,
us outlined 10y Mr.. Garfield. Mr..
Pinchot, as president of the associa
ton, has sent out n bulletin to all the
members of the association, calling
on them to write to their congress.
men. urging the immediate passage of
this bill.
At the beginning, the conservation
movement was criticised by it's mem.
bcrs for being too theoretical aud
academic. As the movement advanced
the principles which the governors
declared received wider and wider en-.
%dorscmcnt, until they had, with the
exception OF the open enemies of con
%servation, practically the unanimous
endorsement of the country. But
those who were active in the conserva
tion movement felt that too general
approval without specific, practical ap.
plication of those principles, was even
dangerous 10 success, aud that what
was needed to insure the principles
was n National Conservation associa.
zion.
The National Conservation commits.
sion, which, on the recommendation of
the governors, President Roosevelt had
created, was killed by the amendment
which Representative Tawney of Min
nesota succeeded in attaching to the
sundry civil bill of 1909. The work the
commission had been carrying on was
taken up Immediately by the joint com.
mittee on conservation, an unofficial
body supported by. private funds and
carried ON with marked success. There
are now forty.two states conservation
commissions and ffty.one conservation
committees OF national organizations.
The Joint committee accomplished nota.
bile results acting as a clearing house
for those commissions and committees.
But friends of conservation felt that
there should bee some national organ.
ization through which the individual
citizeE could join in the movement
SO last July, men who had taken
the lead in the conservation movement
in the different parts of the country,
met with DR.. Charles w. Eliot, prcsi.
dent emeritus of Harvard university.
and organized the National Conscrya
ton association. DIR. Eliot was made
president. Under his leadership, the
association at once met with n harty
response. Its first bulletin called the
attention of its MEMBERS and the pub.
lie to the situation with regard TO the
coal lands of Alaska, which have since
~ ohNh lOhllbtANN AAlbuEh INV
Ballinger. Pinchot controversy. In that
bulletin which was issued back in No.
vember, DIR. Eliot, speaking for the AS
ISOLATION, said, "The National Con.
~servation association is convinced of
the urgent need of immediate meas
ures TO prevent the control of the
.-a.N a,.,v.. - l..t n,l .,.lun,.I
power in the United States from be
ing seized by monopolistic Organiza.
tious, and TO secure the best develop.
ment of those sources in the interest
Of the whole people
The Alaska coal situation had not
then assumed the prominence and no.
t%oriety that it has since achieved. The
association appealed TO the people to
bring the urgent needs of the sit
uation TO the attention of their rep.
resentatives in congress-"
When Clifford Pinchot was dismissed
as United States forester by President
Taft, DIR. Eliot Immediately called his
executive committee together, present
cd his resignation, and nominated Mr.
Pinchot as his successor, saying Mr.
Pinchot was the recognized head OF
the conservation movement, and that
as, by President Taft = action he had
been relieved of his official connec
ton with the government, it was emin
enty fitting that he should take the
actual leadership of the National Con
~servation association. The committe,
elected Mr.. Pinchot president, and con
ferred On DIR. Eliot the honorary pres
idency which he still retains.
The National Conservation associa