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Riches and Wastes of the United States

Washington -

The Report which the national conservation commission will present to the President, representing six months’ activity, will show some remarkable facts.

The commission met today in the Library of Congress. During the past few months an inventory of the entire natural resources of the United States has been in progress and some astonishing facts have been developed, not only in the richness of the nation, but as well of the wastefulness.
The commission wants a national policy of conservative use of natural resources adopted by congress.
Today’s session, presided over by Chairman Gifford Pinchot, was occupied with discussion of minerals and the inventory submitted by the committee on this subject.
Summary for Governors

The commission expects to take up in turn various divisions of its work, one subject each day, to prepare for submission to the governors of states, who will meet with the commission next week, a brief summary of what has been done.

Chairman Pinchot last June decided that the first work should be the taking of stock of the country’s waters, forests, lands and minerals. That task has been completed. There has been brought together what is probably the most useful collection of facts about the mineral things in which national industry and progress are based that ever was assembled at one time. Reports resenting the facts and pointing out their significance have been prepared. The facts are there in dollars and cents, tons of coal, board feet of timber, power of water, and acres of land. The taking of the inventory was made comparatively easy because the United State Geological Survey already gathered practically all of the information sought.

Result of Hard Work

At this meeting the first steps will be taken toward putting into tangible shape the results of the six months hard work on taking stock of the country’s waters, forests, lands and minerals.

One week later, after the commission has gone over the inventory, it will hold a joint meeting in Washington with the governors of the States and Territories or their representatives. At this meeting the inventory will be further discussed and the report which the president has requested the commission to make to him by Jan. 1 will be formulated.

Possibly a plan may be worked out for cooperation between the state and the federal government for the improvement of inland waterways.

Every state wants its waterways improved first, and there are already indications that many commonwealths will, through their legislators at the sessions this coming January, take initial steps towards waterway improvement.

In the end Congress must make the waterways development program if the final decision is that the federal government shall bear the cost or that there shall be cooperation between the states. It is evident that states will be discouraged from pushing ahead with piecemeal improvements of their waterways.

While, as has been pointed out, no general scheme has yet been devised, the sentiment is clearly in favor of “beginning at the beginning” – that is to day, beginning with the large projects and eventually getting to the smaller streams.