From TR's opening address, the Governors' Conference (on conservation) May, 1908. The printed program had the title: Conservation as a National Duty
You have come hither at my request, so that we may join together to consider the question of the conservation and use of the great fundamental sources of wealth of this Nation. So vital is this question, that for the first time in our history the chief executive officers of the states separately, and of the states together forming the Nation, have met to consider it. It is the chief material question that confronts us, second only-and second always-to the great fundamental question of morality.
As a result of this Conference, Roosevelt:
1. Created a National Conservation commission chaired by Gifford Pinchot with commissions on; public lands, inland waterways, and national conservation.
2. Called a North American Conservation conference to enlist the aid of Canada and Mexico
3. Created five more National Parks
4. Proclaimed 16 National Monuments, including the Grand Canyon, Muir Woods, and the Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico
5. Declared 13 new National Forests
6. Created 16 Federal Bird Refuges, starting with Pelican Island, FL
7. Established the first Federal Game Preserve at Wichita Forest, OK
Some private property was appropriated by the government in the process and I don't think that was a bad thing. The (God given) brilliance of our Constitution is the system of checks and balances, and in TR's day the congress was controlled by the 'malefactors of great wealth' and the little guy had no chance for a 'square deal'. Sadly, today the balance is weighted in favor of the intellectual and moral superiority of the progressives who control the courts. The 9th Circuit just decided that the first amendment right to wear a flag on one's shirt ends on Cinco de Mayo. And very soon some court is going to decide that sharing God's word is 'hate speech'.
TR was a wounded spirit with plenty of faults, but he was a man for the times. We could use someone now with his vision of greatness and a willingness to use his power to do good. And it was a good thing to have the govt. insure 'patent medicines' and meat are clean and safe.
