Mrs. G. H. Robertson.
Columbus, Ga., October 2, 1912.
Mr. J. B. White, President Fourth National Conservation Congress, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Please greet the officers and members of the Fourth National Conservation Congress for me and tell them that illness prevents my attendance, and say for me the disappointment is great, for my heart is in the work.
Anna Caroline Benning.
President White—We also have a report from Col. M. H. Crump of Bowling Green, Ky., which will now be read:
Report from Col. M. H. Crump
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL PARK TO INCLUDE MAMMOTH CAVE.
Immediately on notification of appointment by President J. B. White, the committee (Dr. Henry S. Drinker, Hon. William P. Borland, Mr. Gifford Pinchot and Col. M. H. Crump, with Dr. W. J. McGee as Chairman) organized by correspondence and proceeded to work through both individual and collective action. Largely at the instance of Col. Crump, Hon. Robert Y. Thomas, Jr., a Representative from Kentucky, introduced a bill (H. R. 1666) providing for the establishment of a National Park to include Mammoth Cave, and this was duly referred to the House Committee on Military Affairs. Before this body your committee appeared at formal hearings on February 1, February 5 and May 3. Early in February a similar bill was introduced in the Senate by Hon. William O. Bradley and referred to the Senate Committee on Public Lands; before this body also your committee (through Col. Crump and the Chairman) appeared at a formal hearing on February 6. Both before and after these hearings members of the committee personally presented the matter before members of both branches of the Federal Congress; Dr. Drinker by correspondence, since he was out of the country until too late to attend the early hearings.
Your committee have to report, with regret, that while the requisite early steps looking toward the desired legislation were taken, the bills have not yet been reported from the Congressional Committees and probably will not be during the present session. Accordingly, we recommend that this be considered a report of progress; that the National Conservation Congress be requested through its Resolutions Committee to once more urge on the Federal Congress the eminent desirability of creating a National Park to include the Mammoth Cave, and that an appropriate committee be created through the National Conservation Congress of 1912 to continue action in the premises.