The Governors’ Proclamation

We, the governors of the States and Territories of the United States of America, in conference assembled, do hereby declare the conviction that the great prosperity of our country rests upon the abundant resources of the land chosen by our forefathers for their homes, and where they laid the foundation of this great nation.

We look upon these resources as a heritage to be made use of in establishing and promoting the comfort, prosperity, and happiness of the American people, but not to be wasted, deteriorated, or needlessly destroyed.

We agree that our country’s future is involved in this; that the great natural resources supply the material basis upon which our civilization must continue to depend, and upon which the perpetuity of the nation itself rests.

We agree, in the light of facts brought to our knowledge and from information received from sources which we can not doubt, that this material basis is threatened with exhaustion. Even as each succeeding generation from the birth of the nation has performed its part in promoting the progress and development of the Republic, so do we in this generation recognize it as a high duty to perform our part; and this duty in large degree lies in the adoption of measures for the conservation of the natural wealth of the country.

We declare our firm conviction that this conservation of our natural resources is a subject of transcendent importance, which should engage unremittingly the attention of the nation, the States, and the people in earnest cooperation. These natural resources include the land on which we live and which yields our food; the living waters which fertilize the soil, supply power, and form great avenues of commerce; the forests which yield the materials for our homes, prevent erosion of the soil, and conserve the navigation and other uses of our streams; and the minerals which form the basis of our industrial life and supply us with heat, light, and power.

We agree that the land should be so used that erosion and soil wash shall cease; that there should be reclamation of arid and semi-arid regions by means of irrigation and of swamp and overflowed regions by means of drainage; that the waters should be so conserved and used as to promote navigation, to enable the arid regions to be reclaimed by irrigation, and to develop power in the interests of the people; that the forests, which regulate our rivers, support our industries, and promote the fertility and productiveness of the soil, should be preserved and perpetuated; that the minerals found so abundantly beneath the surface should be so used as to prolong their utility; that the beauty, healthfulness, and habitability of our country should be preserved and increased; that the sources of national wealth exist for the benefit of all the people, and that monopoly thereof should not be tolerated.

We commend the wise forethought of the President in sounding the note of warning as to the waste and exhaustion of the natural resources of the country, and signify our high appreciation of his action in calling this conference to consider the same and to seek remedies therefor through cooperation of the nation and the States.

We agree that this cooperation should find expression in suitable action by the Congress within the limits of, and co-extensive with, the national jurisdiction of the subject, and complementary thereto, by the legislatures of the several States within the limits of, and coextensive with, their jurisdiction.

We declare the conviction that in the use of the natural resources our independent States are interdependent and bound together by ties of mutual benefits, responsibilities, and duties.

We agree in the wisdom of future conferences between the President, members of Congress, and the governors of the States, regarding the conservation of our natural resources, with the view of continued cooperation and action on the lines suggested. And to this end we advise that from time to time, as in his judgment may seem wise, the President call the governors of the States, members of Congress, and others into conference.

We agree that further action is advisable to ascertain the present condition of our natural resources and to promote the conservation of the same. And to that end we recommend the appointment by each State of a commission on the conservation of natural resources, to cooperate with each other and with any similar commission on behalf of the Federal Government.

We urge the continuation and extension of forest policies adapted to secure the husbanding and renewal of our diminishing timber supply, the prevention of soil erosion, the protection of headwaters, and the maintenance of the purity and navigabillty of our streams. We recognize that the private ownership of forest lands entails responsibilities in the interests of all the people, and we favor the enactment of laws looking to the protection and replacement of privately owned forests.

We recognize in our waters a most valuable asset of the people of the United States, and we recommend the enactment of laws looking to the conservation of water resources for irrigation, water-supply, power, and navigation, to the end that navigable and source streams may be brought under complete control and fully utilized for every purpose. We especially urge on the Federal Congress the immediate adoption of a wise, active, and thorough waterway policy, providing for the prompt improvement of our streams and conservation of their watersheds required for the uses of commerce and the protection of the interests of our people.

We recommend the enactment of laws looking to the prevention of waste in the mining and extraction of coal, oil, gas, and other minerals with a view to their wise conservation for the use’ of the people and to the protection of human life in the mines.

Let us conserve the foundations of our prosperity.

It is more than a coincidence or a conceit that the form in which the governors of our States and Territories drew up and signed their declaration for the conservation of the country’s natural resources resembles that of the Declaration of Independence. It may prove to be as prophetic as the occasion was historic. They certainly began to make new history at that conference in the White House that May. As it is followed up, that occasion will be ranked with the victory for union in the Civil war, the adoption of the constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, in the historic significance of its grasp upon the destiny of the whole country. While the participants in the conference, then and ever since, have greatly impressed others with the profound impressions they themselves received of the momentous importance of the situation they faced and the duty it imposed, they did not attempt to do more than state it, and strike the note to arouse the legislatures and the people to action.

The forces of the nation have already begun to respond to the summons of their final appeal, "Let us conserve the foundations of our prosperity." To give definite form, legal basis, and practical effect to the policy thus impressively originated, the President of the United States appointed a National Conservation Commission, composed of representative congressmen with Gifford Pinchot appropriately at its head. They are divided into four sections devoted respectively to the conservation of our land, water, forest, and mineral resources. In view of the facts brought to their knowledge, from sources that can not be doubted, they were so convinced that the material basis upon which not only the prosperity but the perpetuity of the nation depend is threatened with exhaustion that their first attempt is to ascertain the present condition of our national resources. This fundamentally important service they plan to render not only by their own central agencies, but by having conservation commissions officially appointed in every State and Territory, and by the reclamation and forest service, and the Inland Waterways Commission already established by the Federal Government.

Thus they hope to furnish the basis for national and State legislation to preserve and reclaim land from soil-wash, erosion, and waste by drought or overflow; to conserve water resources for irrigation and power, and by bringing navigable and source streams under public control; to protect and replace forests, whether publicly or privately owned; to prevent the waste of material and life in the mines; and to "increase the beauty, healthfulness, and habitability of our country" to all its people and their posterity. "In the use of the natural resources, our independent States" are declared to be "inter-dependent and bound together by ties of mutual benefits, responsibilities, and duties." There the official obligation and action end, but not the people’s. For the promoters of the future independence of American citizens fortunately realize the limits of governmental agencies in a movement which must be country-wide and perpetual to be effective. The governors clearly saw and stated the necessity for "the unremitting attention of the nation."

The availability of the associated and personal cooperation from private citizens was not depended upon in vain. The National Rivers and Harbors Congress was the first to seize the opportunity to rally, aline, and bring to bear the volunteer cooperation of all the organizations and individuals who could be made to see that their own interests, as well as their country’s welfare, are involved in this movement. This they did in session at Cincinnati by organizing the Conservation League of America, based on the declaration that "it is of the utmost importance that the natural resources of the nation shall be comprehensively and vigorously developed and utilized for the promotion of the public welfare without waste, destruction, or needless impairment, and subject always to their intelligent conservation, and the effective perservation of the rights and interests of the future generations of our people." Informal assurances of cooperation have already been received from associations as diverse, and yet with a community of interests in this movement, as the National Electric Light Association and the American Federation of Labor, the National Council of Commerce and the United Mine Workers of America, the National Farmers’ Congress and the American Civic Association, the Interstate Inland Waterway Association and the National Fire Protection Association. The long list of such organizations is steadily being augmented by others whose members complain of having been unintentionally omitted from the roll as originally published. Their independent prosecution of their own initiative and interest will be in no way superseded or diminished by belonging to the league, but will rather be stimulated to greater vigilance and efficiency thereby. The non-partizanship of the league is declared and assured in the acceptance of the honorary presidency by Mr. Roosevelt and of the honorary vice-presidencies by Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft. Representatives of both organized labor and capital will serve as active vice presidents.

No man better fitted by natural ability, forcefulness of personality, and successful experience with the methods to be employed could have been chosen to lead the league as its active president than Walter L. Fisher, of Chicago. A’lawyer of high professional standing and success, he has rendered efficient and distinguished service to his city as secretary and president of the Municipal Voters’ League and now as president of the City Club. In his initial statement, following his acceptance of the leadership of the Conservation League, which was urged upon him by President Roosevelt, he proves that he has seen and seized the two agencies by which alone it can fulfil the purpose of its organization and cooperate with the government, namely, publicity and the ballot. Its propaganda of the conservation policy through the exhaustive lists and huge memberships of the voluntary associations already being enlisted in the new crusade, will go far toward informing and inspiring our whole people for the effort to conserve and develop their natural heritage. But still more effective, both as a medium of publicity and a means of practical achievement, is Mr. Fisher’s appeal for the citizens’ use of the ballot in their own common interests after the fashion of the Chicago Municipal Voters’ League. Every candidate for the legislature in every State, and all candidates for Congress, will be asked to indorse the league’s declaration of principles, and their response will be published to their constituencies during the pending campaign. Thus, as in Chicago, not only will the legislators’ vote and influence be secured for legislation in line with the purposes declared by the governors at the White House, but the people’s vote will surely be educated and united so as to send such men to their legislatures and to Congress as will conserve the heritage of their children.

In the success of the President’s Commission and this National Conservation League lies the hope of pleading not guilty at last to the arraignment of our insane improvidence which Sir Boyle Roche satirically impersonated by asking a hundred years ago: "Why should I do anything for posterity? Posterity has never done anything for me."