Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Conservation

Points of Interest:

The first conference was called by President Theodore Roosevelt at the urging of the Inland Waterways Commission and held at the White House in May 1908, attended by all but twelve Governors as well as by federal officials, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, experts in the field of conservation, representatives of trade and professional organizations, and other dignitaries.
At the conference, a Governors' Resolutions Committee prepared a declaration of the Governors' view that (1) conservation of natural resources was a subject of transcendent importance; (2) the President was to be commended for calling the Conference to seek remedies for environmental degradation through the cooperation of the federal government and the states; (3) the President should call the Governors and members of Congress together from time to time in the future to continue their dialogue concerning natural resource protection; and (4) each state should appoint a Commission on the Conservation of Natural Resources.

During discussion of the declaration, Governor Newton Blanchard of Louisiana said that although he felt much good would come of Governors meeting on their own motion, the Committee on Resolutions had thought it best to omit any mention of such an idea in the declaration based on the conviction that it should be the President who initiated meetings regarding national matters. Governor Robert Glenn of North Carolina expressed concern that not every President would be inclined, as President Roosevelt had been, to call such a meeting, and he suggested amending the declaration to state that the President should call Governors together at his discretion or when requested to do so by one-third of the Governors. But Governor Blanchard commented that whatever the conviction of the Governors, they could not force a President to call them together, to which Governor Glenn responded that there ought to be provision in such an event for Governors to meet, independent of the President, for the purpose of taking joint action. Governor Edmond Noel of Mississippi then suggested, and Governor James Davidson of Wisconsin agreed with, a compromise under which-separate from the declaration-Governors could meet of their own volition. Last but not least, Governor Joseph Folk of Missouri emphasized that the declaration was conferring authority on the office of the Presidency rather than on any particular President, and he expressed concern that the power to call Governors together might be abused-for the purpose of coercing Congress, for example-in turn threatening the self-governing role of states. In the end, however, Governor Glenn withdrew his amendment, stating that "we may never have had, and probably never will have, a little man in the Presidency."

At the same time, a committee of Governors was appointed to look into holding future meetings at the Governors' own motion.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor Augustus E. Willson of Kentucky said: "...it might be possible, and all of us might get great use from an association of the Governors, not at all legal or constitutional or statutory, but merely an association of the Governors so that we can get to know each other. There are many matters in which a new Governor at least, like myself, feels he needs counsel and help about from other Governors-matters of extradition, matters of general public policy, matters to decide what one should do in certain emergencies that come to all of us."

Governor Newton Blanchard of Louisiana said: "Personally, I have long thought that, if the Governors of the States could themselves from time to time get together, exchanging ideas and views touching the governmental and other affairs of their States, much good would come out of it. Such meetings could be had by the Governors of their own motion, and some kind of an organization, looking to this, it might be well to initiate before the Governors who are in Washington now leave the Capital."

Governor W.M.O. Dawson of West Virginia noted: "We have heard...about how soon our coal and oil and gas will be exhausted; and although this is a very warm day I begin to shiver a little myself in anticipation of that prolonged cold spell which is going to strike us about a hundred years from now."

Governor John Franklin Fort of New Jersey said: "Railroad construction has been overtaken by the development of our industries, and the Nation as a whole has suffered by reason of the inability of our railroads to keep step with our rapid industrial growth...It is apparent to every student of the times that additional facilities for transportation must be provided if we are to maintain our commercial supremacy...we now recognize that in the great primal scope of things our waterways were meant to serve as highways for our commerce..."

Governor Robert B. Glenn of North Carolina said: "our forests are being denuded...the failure of the People throughout the States to protect the great forest industry of our country...is one of the chief sources if not the greatest source of all [natural resource waste]...Our People, regardless of the future, have been living only for the present, thinking of themselves and not of their children and their children's children."

Governor Frank R. Gooding of Idaho revealed the adversarial nature of state-federal relations during a speech in which he first spoke of his state's success "...in the reclamation of its desert lands, and the storage of its flood waters, under...the Carey Act, passed by Congress in 1894, giving to each State in the arid portion of America a million acres of land to be reclaimed under State supervision." He went on to say with respect to forestry: "...the work the [federal] Government is trying to do properly belongs to the States...the Chief Forester...is trying to do...work that must be done, but it never will be successful until the States are made interested parties in the development of their own resources...We desire the assistance of the general Government, not its guardianship."

Andrew Carnegie, in an address on the conservation of ores and related minerals, told President Roosevelt: "You have begun to make history today, for never before has the National Governor called all the State Governors into conference." And at the close of his remarks, he stated: "I plead for economy, that the next generation and the next may be saved from want-but especially I urge research into and mastery over Nature, in order that two blades may be made to grow where one grew before..."

Samuel Gompers argued: "Let us be true conservators of our natural resources...Let us make it impossible, by removing the germs that produce the disease, for any man in this Nation to control for his private benefit any portion of that natural increment which wealth attaches to itself and which belongs to the whole people, the workers...When there shall come to our people a better understanding of the husbanding of our natural resources, the readjustment of economic conditions will not leave out of the equation the men and women of labor who are so essential to our industrial, commercial, political, and social welfare."

And William Jennings Bryan said: "I am jealous of any encroachment upon the rights of the State, believing that the States are as indestructible as the Union is indissoluble. It is, however, entirely consistent with this theory to believe, as I do believe, that it is just as imperative that the general Government shall discharge the duties delegated to it, as it is that the States shall exercise the powers reserved to them. There is no twilight zone between the Nation and the State, in which exploiting interests can take refuge from both, and my observation is that most-not all, but most-of the contentions over the line between Nation and State are traceable to predatory corporations which are trying to shield themselves from deserved punishment, or endeavoring to prevent needed restraining legislation."

Resolutions:
On behalf of a Committee on Resolutions that the Governors had created, Governor Newton Blanchard of Louisiana presented the conference with a Declaration, which was adopted, reading in part: "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 thereof 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 coextensive 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 [regarding conservation]…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 and Members of Congress and others into conference."

Presidential Addresses: