2—An act to provide for the piling and burning of white Norway and jack pine slash.
3—An act to provide for the employment of an efficient fire patrol by the State board of forestry.
In accordance with the recommendations of the Conservation Commission, the Legislature in 1909 passed an Act providing for a soil survey of the State, and this work is being done by the Geological Survey and College of Agriculture, for the purpose of ascertaining the character and fertility of the developed and undeveloped soils of the State, the extent and practicability of drainage of the swamp and wet lands of the State, and the means for properly conserving and increasing the fertility of the soil of the State.
It will be seen from the above that the work of the State Conservation Commission has already shown important results, and it is believed that the Legislature and people of Wisconsin have now begun to realize clearly the urgent need and also the means which should be taken to conserve the great natural resources.
REPORT OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
The Conservation of natural resources is a subject in which an American academy of political and social science must necessarily have a keen interest. The primary purpose of the American Academy being to assist in the right solution of the political and economic problems confronting the people of the United States, it has actively cooperated with those individuals and organizations that have done most to give impetus to the Conservation movement.
At the White House Conference called by President Roosevelt in May, 1908, the American Academy was one of the National organizations represented. The following November, the Academy devoted one of its regular scientific sessions to Conservation, the chief address of the session being delivered by Mr Gifford Pinchot, the Chairman of the National Conservation Commission. The Academy was also represented at the Conference which met in Washington in December, 1908, upon the invitation of the National Conservation Commission.
The most valuable aid the American Academy has given the Conservation movement was rendered by the publication, in May, 1909, of a comprehensive volume containing eighteen papers especially prepared by men prominent in the Conservation movement. The scope and character of this volume are indicated by the following list of papers and contributors:
Forestry on Private Lands—Honorable Gifford Pinchot, U. S. Forester, and Chairman National Conservation Commission.
Public Regulation of Private Forests—Professor Henry Solon Graves, Director Forest School, Yale University.
Can the States Regulate Private Forests?—F. C. Zacharie, Esq., of the Louisiana Bar, New Orleans.
Water as a Resource—W J McGee, LL.D., U. S. Inland Waterways Commission; Member National Conservation Commission.
Water Power in the United States—M. O. Leighton, Chief Hydrographer, U. S. Geological Survey.
The Scope of State and Federal Legislation Concerning the Use of Waters—Charles Edward Wright, Assistant Attorney to the Secretary of the Interior.
The Necessity for State or Federal Regulation of Water-power Development—Charles Whiting Baker, C. E., Editor-in-Chief Engineering News, New York.
Federal Control of Water Power in Switzerland—Treadwell Cleveland, Jr., U. S. Forest Service.
Classification of Public Lands—George W. Woodruff, Assistant Attorney-General for the Department of the Interior.
A Summary of our Most Important Land Laws—Honorable Knute Nelson, U. S. Senator from Minnesota; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Lands, and Chairman of Committee on Lands, National Conservation Commission.
Indian Lands: Their Administration with Reference to Present and Future Use—Honorable Francis E. Leupp, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
The Conservation and Preservation of Soil Fertility—Cyril G. Hopkins, Chief in Agronomy and Chemistry, University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Urbana.
Farm Tenure in the United States—Henry Gannett, Geographer U. S. Geological Survey.
What may be Accomplished by Reclamation—Honorable Frederick H. Newell, Director U. S. Reclamation Service.
The Legal Problems of Reclamation of Lands by Means of Irrigation—Morris Bien, Supervising Engineer, U. S. Reclamation Service.
Our Mineral Resources—Honorable George Otis Smith, Director U. S. Geological Survey.
The Production and Waste of Mineral Resources and their Bearing on Conservation—J. A. Holmes, Chief, Technologic Branch U. S. Geological Survey; Member National Conservation Commission.
Preservation of the Phosphates and the Conservation of the Soil—Charles Richard Van Hise, President of the University of Wisconsin.
There were 5500 copies of this volume published, and its wide distribution at a most opportune time caused it to have an exceptionally effective influence. By the end of 1909 the edition was practically exhausted, and a new edition became necessary. The Canadian members of the American Academy, it is interesting to note, were particularly pleased to receive this publication.