The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book (32 page)

The Boone and Crockett Club is still in existence—and still working at the same goals as when TR and his group established it. Part of its mission statement sums up TR’s philosophy about hunting and conservation in general: to “support the use and enjoyment of our wildlife heritage to the fullest extent by this and future generations.”

The founders of the Boone and Crockett Club included approximately twenty to twenty-five scientists, military leaders, politicians, explorers, writers, and industrialists. The group was typical of Roosevelt’s alliances: eclectic and action-oriented.

Governor and Conservationist

It wasn’t until TR became governor of New York state that he found the perfect “bully pulpit” he needed to push for conservation. He admitted in his autobiography:

All that later I strove for in the Nation in connection with Conservation was foreshadowed by what I strove to obtain for New York State when I was Governor; and I was already working in connection with Gifford Pinchot and Newell
.

As governor, he worked closely with prominent New Yorkers and New Jerseyites to create the Palisades Interstate Park to conserve a significant historic and national landscape. He urged the legislature, among other things, to push forest conservation, outlaw the use of feathers as adornments, and set aside land for public use.

On November 28, 1899, TR wrote:

The State should not permit within its limits factories to make bird skins or bird feathers into articles of ornament or wearing apparel. Ordinary birds, and especially song birds, should be rigidly protected. Game birds should never be shot to a greater extent than will offset the natural rate of increase
.

TR learned from the creation of the PIP that when government officials and members of the public worked together they could accomplish significant milestones in the area of conservation despite heavy opposition. He also learned more about the power of women.

The PIP

In the late 1890s, large companies were destroying the Palisades Cliffs along the New Jersey side of the Hudson River to acquire gravel for roadbeds and broken stone for concrete. The quarries were not only eyesores but were creating irreparable damage to the environment. People living across the river in New York were upset about the destruction, too. Folks sought ways to stop the quarrying activities before the Palisades fell into the river.

The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, incorporated in 1895, was one of the leading opponents of the quarrying in the Palisades. The group was composed of many prominent socialites in the New York area who were determined to stop the destruction and save the Palisades and the Hudson River. TR knew many of them, since he traveled in the same social circles.

Clubs, newspapers, lawmakers, and other individuals and organizations joined the battle against the quarrying companies. They tried everything they could think of to shut them down. They even tried to get the army to establish a military base along the cliffs. The army was not interested. The businesses were too strong and withstood the lobbying—until women’s suffrage stepped in.

Palisades quarries employed hundreds of workers. They shipped the stone as far away as New Orleans for $1 a ton. Workers blasted the stone, crushed it, loaded it onto barges, and shipped it. Not using expensive overland transportation made possible huge profits. It is no wonder the quarries did not want to close without a fight.

Astute politicians such as TR could see the handwriting on the wall. He had always promoted women’s suffrage. The Palisades situation gave him a chance to work with them to accomplish something meaningful.

Members of the Englewood (New Jersey) Women’s Club accepted the responsibility for ending the quarrying. They banded together with similar women’s groups across the state to save the Palisades. They generated enough pressure and negative public opinion to attract the attention of lawmakers in New Jersey and New York.

Legislators in New York and New Jersey passed laws to form an Interstate Commission to purchase and manage land along the Palisades. Private individuals added money to facilitate the buying process. One of them was J. P. Morgan, who would later lock horns with TR during his antitrust campaign.

Finally, in 1900, TR and his counterpart in New Jersey, Governor Foster Vorhees, signed legislation that made possible the solution to the problem. The Interstate Commission bought out the quarries and the Palisades were saved. The efforts enhanced TR’s reputation as a conservation-minded politician, which he used as leverage when he reached the White House. That was where he truly stood out as a conservationist.

A Slow Start

TR was not particularly active in pursuing conservation efforts in his first term as president. He appointed only one commission during those years, the Public Lands Commission. Its charge was to study public land policy and laws. He became more aggressive in his second term, much to Congress’s chagrin.

TR waited two years to appoint his first conservation commission. He established the Public Lands Commission on October 22, 1903, to study public land policy and laws. The commission’s findings contributed to new government regulations overseeing the use of open range and federal lands. It was almost four years until he appointed his next one.

For a while, world events such as seeking re-election, finding a solution to the Russo-Japanese War, and overseeing the building of the Panama Canal pushed conservation issues into a corner.

But they were always foremost in his mind. When TR pushed conservation into the forefront, he did it with a vengeance.

Too Many Commissions

Starting in 1907, TR appointed five more commissions. The first was the Inland Waterways Commission, which he appointed on March 14 to study the river systems of the United States, the development of water power, flood control, and land reclamation.

TR believed that the country’s inland waterways had to be developed. The process involved many other important water problems, and he wanted them all considered before the development began. The Inland Waterways Commission began a flood of similar appointments. Before the flood began, TR issued a call to the governors of the nation’s states and territories to gather in Washington, D.C., to determine what conservation issues had to be addressed. The crowd expanded beyond the governors. The attendees also included the members of the Supreme Court and the Cabinet and a collection of scientists and national leaders.

TR appointed so many conservation commissions between March 1907 and August 1908 that Congress ordered him to cease and desist. In 1909, it ordered him to stop appointing additional commissions without its authorization, even though he only had a couple more months to serve as president. Altogether, he appointed six commissions while he was president.

TR and his friend Gifford Pinchot set up the May 13–15, 1908, Governor’s Conference to promote a national effort to create agencies responsible for conserving the country’s natural resources. The governors adopted a declaration supporting conservation. The conference led to the appointment of thirty-eight state conservation commissions. The meeting was the forerunner of the annual governor’s conference in Washington, D.C.

Originally, the conference was intended to cover only water issues. But conservationist William John (“WJ”) McGee convinced TR to expand it to cover more topics. Based on McGee’s credentials, TR could not turn him down. The conference went on as planned—with a widely expanded agenda.

A New Commission

TR did not wait long to act on the results of the conference. On June 8, 1908, he appointed the National Conservation Commission to prepare the first inventory of the natural resources of the United States.

The commission was composed of four sections: water, forests, lands, and minerals. Each section had a chairman. Gifford Pinchot, who was the chairman of the executive committee, declared that the conference was the turning point in the conservation movement in American history.

TR was proud of the fact that his commissions were all volunteer in nature. The members were not paid, and the government did not contribute to their funding. That was a throwback to his years as governor of New York state, when he created the commission to resolve the Palisades situation.

Pinchot wrote in his autobiography,
Breaking New Ground
, that the conference “Spread far and wide the new proposition that the purpose of Conservation is the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time. It asserted that the conservation of natural resources is the one most fundamentally important material problem of all.” Moreover, he asserted, it “put Conservation in a firm place in the knowledge and thinking of the people. From that moment it became an inseparable part of the national policy of the United States.”

Congress Balks