Hon. R. M. Austin, Congressman from Tennessee—I wish to second this as a citizen of that progressive city, and I wish to join in the invitation extended by Mr. Ellis, not only to the delegates to this National Conservation Congress, but also to the citizens of this great capital city of Indiana. I hope this invitation will be accepted and this resolution just read will be passed. We will be happy to see you all when you come to sunny Tennessee, away up in the mountains, and this little city of ours of about eighty thousand people, which nestles at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountain. We will show you the richest mineral and timber section in all the Union. There are ten counties in this Congressional District. Five have coal, six iron, six marble, five zinc, two copper, and the largest amount of hardwood timber now existing on the American continent. It is an ideal location, not only for a Conservation Exposition, but an ideal place for a meeting of this great and useful organization, the National Conservation Congress of America, and we hope you will all come.
Mr. Chairman, we do not intend to open the doors of the Exposition until we know that Captain White, of Kansas City, answers “Present.” (Applause.)
I wish, while I am on my feet, to commend the very excellent report from the Committee on Resolutions submitted by the able editor of “The World’s Work,” Mr. Page, and to say that so long as I am a representative in Congress I shall, by my influence, do all that I can to carry out the principles set forth in these resolutions. (Applause.)
The motion on Mr. Ellis’ resolution was put and carried.
Mr. A. M. Loomis (New York)—I wish, very briefly, to read the action of the New York State delegation, adopted possibly before this matter of the Knoxville Exposition had become known.
The New York delegation at this, the Fourth National Conservation Congress, wishes to go on record in favor of asking the delegates to this great body to hold the next annual meeting in the East,—to be more explicit, in New York State. There is an urgent reason why the work of the Congress at a point nearer the great centers of the business and wealth of the country, and in the section of the more crowded population would have wider effectiveness, and greater force along lines of practical understanding of its work, and needed legislation in favor of the great reforms for which it stands.
One point in New York State stands out in particular as the ideal place for this Congress to gather, namely Chautauqua, the home of the great Chautauqua Institution, on the shores of beautiful Chautauqua Lake. At this point, in a little city in the woods, are ample accommodations both for meeting places, exhibits, and housing for a gathering of five thousand people. The Assembly houses more than double that number for ten weeks each summer and has an auditorium hardly excelled in America, seating more than eight thousand people, as well as many other halls and buildings for meeting places and exhibits.
This institution stands for all that the highest aims of this Congress point to, in education, morality, and direction of human effort. Its reputation is world wide, and its home offers an ideal meeting place for the Conservationists, ideal in that for which the two institutions stand, and ideal in location, accommodations, railroad facilities and the economy with which a great meeting of this kind could be conducted there.
The New York delegation unites in inviting the Congress to choose Chautauqua, New York, as the place of its next meeting.
Chairman White—The chair, in behalf of the delegates, wishes to thank the representatives from New York who have invited us to Chautauqua, as well as the representatives from Tennessee for inviting us to Knoxville. This subject will be referred to the Executive Committee, who will, in their wisdom, consider it all as it may relate to the best success of our cause.