l resources, and to inquire how long they are
likely to last. We are prosperous now; we should not forget that it will
be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their time."

At the conclusion of the conference a declaration prepared by the
Governors of Louisiana, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Utah, and South Carolina,
was unanimously adopted. This Magna Charta of the conservation movement
declared "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," that "this material basis is
threatened with exhaustion," and 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." It set forth the practical implications of
Conservation in these words:

"We agree that the land should be so used that erosion and soil wash
shall cease; and 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 sources of national wealth exist for the benefit of the
people, and that monopoly thereof should not be tolerated."

The conference urged the continuation and extension of the forest
policies already established; the immediate adoption of a wise, active,
and thorough waterway policy for the prompt improvement of the streams,
and the conservation of water resources for irrigation, water supply,
power, and navigation; and the enactment of laws for 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. The
declaration closed with the timely adjuration, "Let us conserve the
foundations of our prosperity."

As a result of the conference Preside