Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/151

LEFT CONSERVATION 118 CONSERVATION private monopoly the mineralg, waters, land, and forests. The conservation movement was really started by Gifford Pinchot, head of the Forestry Depart- ment under President Roosevelt. Ob- serving the waste of natural resources that was daily taking place in the United States, he urged upon the President the necessity of action. President Roose- velt issued a call for the governors of all the States to meet ■with him at the White House on May 15, 1908, to devise measures to deal with the situation. The result of the conference was a declara- tion to the nation of the need of co-oper- ation between the States and the Na- tional Government to preserve for posterity the great natural wealth of the United States. Conservation commis- sions were appointed soon afterward by nearly all the States to make an in- ventory of their natural wealth and to suggfest means for preserving the same. On June 8, 1908, President Roosevelt appointed the National Conservation Commission, naming Pinchot as chairman for the purpose of drawing up au in- ventory of the natural resources of the nation. This report was made the fol- lowing year and contains some startling facts. The commission discovered that the waste in the extraction of minerals in the United States amounted to over three hundred millions of dollars a year, and that if present rate of use of the high grade iron ores was continued the supply would be exhausted within the century. Similarly the end of the sup- ply of petroleum was within sight, un- less unexpected sources should be dis- covered. The waste in natural gas was found to be appalling, enough being wasted to supply nearly half tr? people of the United States with fuel. Of the five tons of coal used per capita three tons per capita were wasted. While it was found that conservation of foreets was being practiced on njist of the land owr^ed by the public, four- fifths of the standing timber in the United States was privately owned and was being frightfully used up. Not counting fires which destroy $50,000,000 v.-orth of timber every year, the United States was taking from the forests every year nearly four times their na- tural growth. If this be continued, the commission estimated that long before the century was over the United States would be in want of timber. The waste in water power was found to be even more pronounced, less than 3 per cent, of it being used for munic- ipal supplies and for irrigation, where- as if used to the fullest extent available the power generated would be sufficient for the entire mechanical needs of the nation. Following this analysis of the condi- tion and use of our natural resources steps followed which were designed to deal adequately with it. The national forests which contain nearly one-fifth of the standing timber of the United States have been so administered in the past ten years as to put great quantities of timber to good use, while protecting the new growth and the headwaters of all the important Western rivers. The area of the national forests was greatly increased until in 1919 it had reached 153,933,700 acres and yielded an income of nearly five million dollars. Yet, not- withstanding the really excellent care our national forests have lately received, the available timber supplies have not kept pace with the demands. This is largely because 97 per cent, of the for- ests are in private hands and therefore difficult to regulate. Steps were being taken in 1919 and 1920 to educate the o^mers in the proper use of their for- ests and to encourage reafforestation. The airplane was used by the Forest Service in 1919 to guard the forests and to locate forest fires; it is hoped that this will lessen the enormous loss in- curred by these conflagrations. The conservation movement has like- wise operated to induce caution in the sale of mineral lands without proper compensation to the Government and strict regulations to insure their being efficiently exploited. President Roose- velt by his own authority withdrew from settlement many thousands of acres of public land until Congress should pass appropriate laws for their protection. During the following administration this was done. The attempt by Presi- dent Taft, through his Secretary of In- terior Ballinger, to open up the vast mineral deposits of Alaska for use, was unsuccessful largely because Gifford Pinchot, United States Forester, was not satisfied that the interests of the public were being protected. While Sec- retary of the Interior in the Wilson ad- ministration Franklin K. Lane saw the completion of a railroad in Alaska and also by direction of Congress insured that the great mineral resources of that country should be developed in conso- r.ance with sane conservation priiiciples. Perhaps in no field covered by the con- servation movement was waste more ap- parent than in the use of water power. Not only was waste iii evidence, but what use was being made of water power was centered in private monopoly. Due largely to the conservation movement, this tendency to center a large amount