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Show -15- But in other fields uniformity of legislation among the several States is equally necessary. Uniformity is being pursued with marked acliBvement through the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws by securing the independent enactment by the individual States of the some measure*57 In one instance, at least* the Compact Clause- had been relied upon for uniformity.5° Attaining this end through compact assures mainte- nance of uniformity during the life of the compact. But the scope of this type of law-making through rigid contracts between States is necessarily restricted. (5) The solution of the intricate problem of apportionment of a State indebtedness following division of a State gave rise, in part, to another application of the Compact Clause. By agreement West Virginia, upon its separation from Virginia, assumed its share of the old State debt. Even so, it required forty years of negotiation after the Civil War, followed by twelve years of litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States, to translate the general obligation into dollars and cents.59 The erection of new States does not appear on the horizon and, therefore., the particular form of interstate accounting in which compact played a part between Vir- ^p ginia and West Virginia is not likely to arise in the near future. But it is not difficult to foresee other interstate financial entanglements for ¦yrhioh a contract between States would be serviceable* (6) What is now called the conservation of natural resources makes its early appearance in the regulation of fishing rights on boundary waters. Even before the Constitution we find that the coimnon interest in natural resources, of a region embracing two States, was furthered by an agreement between such states. °0 As the frontier moved westward, as the free lands ¦** became absorbed and the Thirteen Colonies of three and a half million be- came a continent of a hundred and ten million no longer predominantly agriculture and, therefore, pressing more and more upon the food supply, habits of extravagance, and waste acquired in the earlier days of apparent- ly illimitable resources had to be supplanted by wise husbandry and system- atic development. Conservation of natural resources is thus making a major demand on American statesmanship. An exploration of the possibilities of the "compact idea furnishes a partial answer to one of the most intricate and comprehensive of all American problems. Tine protection of fish on boundary waters becomes increasingly urgent. Here is a field for regulation which constitutionally seems beyond the scope of the Federal government»6l Regional control is the practical ans- wer to wasteful non-action or wasteful conflict. Vigilance by one State, 57 See Supra note 16. 53See Appx. A, III, (i) infra. 59see Appx. A * HI* (9) infra. od see Appx. A, II (3) infra. '&-?*& doctrine of Missouri v. Holland (1920) 252 U« S* I4.I6* I4O Sup.. Ct. 332, opens up possible vistas of Federal regulation through the exercise of the treaty power. |