In response to appeals from the people of the interior, President
Roosevelt, March 14, 1907, appointed the Inland Waterways Commission. In
his letter which created the commission he said: "The time has come for
merging local projects and uses of the inland waters in a comprehensive
plan designed for the benefit of the entire country. . . . I ask that
the Inland Waterways Commission shall consider the relations of the
streams to the use of all the great permanent natural resources and
their conservation for the making and maintenance of prosperous homes."
This commission while carrying on its investigations discussed the
general policy of conservation and suggested to the President the