Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Greater efficiency in state administration; short versus long ballot; conservation of natural resources and federal land leasing; penology; and national defense and the state

Points of Interest:

Reference was made to a 1910 platform adopted by Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast Governors which read in part: "that State Government, no less beneficently than National Government, is capable of devising and administering laws for the conservation of public property, and that the National and State Governments should legislatively co-ordinate to the end that within a reasonable period of time the State Government be conceded full and complete administration of such conservation laws as may be found adaptable to the varying conditions of the several states."

The Governors held an extensive discussion of capital punishment, which many spoke against. They expressed concern not only about its brutality but also its unequal application. As occurred in 1912, the issue of lynching and how to deal with lynch mobs was raised, to which former Governor Cole Blease of South Carolina responded in effect that outside criticism and interference would only retard efforts to solve the problem.

Governors discussed problems associated with the long ballot, under which state officials subordinate to the Governor were elected, as opposed to the short ballot, under which a Governor was elected and in turn appointed subordinates.

And in response to the 'startling suddenness' with which WWI was declared, Governors discussed the importance of having well-trained state militias to provide reserves for the active military so as to be well prepared for national defense.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor George W. P. Hunt of Arizona said with regard to capital punishment: "It is my unqualified belief that the average execution kindles the flame of brute passion in the human heart, sets up an example of organized violence for the great masses of people, and...when the trial is widely heralded...has the unanticipated effect of idealizing the criminal..."

Governor Edward F. Dunne of Illinois said "[Capital punishment] degrades and demoralizes, depresses with remorse and humiliation the community in which it takes place. It lowers the level of the finer instincts and is fraught with the ever present danger that a life is being sacrificed to the fallibilities of the human mind and conscience."

Former Governor Elias M. Ammons of Colorado said that: "...among the twenty-one states having the highest rates of homicide in this country, not one state has abolished capital punishment and conversely...among the twenty states having the lowest per capita rate of homicide is to be found every state but one that has abolished capital punishment."

Former Governor John A. Dix of New York said "Conservation is not the locking up of resources, but a sacred stewardship for which there must be an accountability to the generations yet to come..."

With respect to federal land leasing, former Governor Elias M. Ammons of Colorado said: "...if Uncle Sam is to come out West and take up a lot of land...we want him to fence that land the same as we fence ours. We want him to pay taxes on the land, the same as we pay on ours..."

And Governor Ernest Lister of Washington said: "...the federal government should accept and be governed by the correct definition of the term conservation. Conservation means 'preservation from loss, decay, or injury.' It does not, however, as applied to natural resources, properly mean withdrawal from use; it is simply a wise use with the avoidance of waste, and also the avoidance of ownership monopoly."