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Show 395 nation primarily rests."38 Remarking upon the urgent need for prompt and decisive action, the President concluded that:3i the development of our waterways and the conserva- tion of our forests are the two most pressing physical needs of the country. They are interdependent and they should be met vigorously, together, and at once. National Conservation Commission.-Also of importance. to our review is the 1909 Report of the National Conservation Commission.35 This Commission observed that:36 Broad plans should be adopted providing for a system of waterway improvement extending to all uses of the waters and benefits to be derived from their control, in- cluding the clarification of the water and abatement of floods for the benefit of navigation; the extension of irrigation; the development and application of power ; the prevention of soil wash; the purification of streams for water supply; and the drainage and utilization of the waters of swamp and overflow lands. To promote and perfect these plans scientific investi- gations, surveys, and measurements should be con- tinued and extended, especially the more accurate de- termination of rainfall and evaporation, the investiga- tion and measurement of ground water, the gauging of streams and determination of sediment, and topographic surveys of catchment areas and sites available for con- trol of the waters for navigation and related purposes. a*Id. p. v. uId. p. vii. 85 Sen. Doc. No. 676, 60th Cong., 2d sess. (1909). The President called a conference of governors and later created the National Conservation Com- mission on June 8, 1908, to study and advise him respecting natural re- sources and to cooperate with state bodies created for similar purposes, pp. 1, 11. An outgrowth of the conference of governors, the Commission's report of December 7, 1908, is signed by Gifford Pinchot, Chairman; W. J. McGee, Secretary, Section of Waters; Overton W. Price, Secretary, Section of Forests; George W. Woodruff, Secretary, Section of Lands; and J. A. Holmes, Secretary, Section of Minerals. Pp. 1, 26. "Sen. Doc. No. 676, vol. 1, p. 24 (1909). See also Bulletin No. 4, The Report of the National Conservation Commission, issued by the Joint Committee on Conservation, pp. 18-19 (1909). |