President Wilson, a staunch believer in using natural resources for economic benefit, authorized the Raker Act. He was a conservationist and recieved many letters asking him to form his opinion based on their letter. He recieved lettters from conservationist William Kent, and visits from Robert Underwood Johnson and Kent. Preservationists begged him for a Presidential veto on the damming but he approved the bill stating that "the bill was opposed by so many public-spirited men...that I have naturally sought to scrutinize it very closely. I take the libery of thinking that their fears and objections were not well founded." - Congressional Record of the 63rd Congress
President Woodrow Wilson source: The Independent Online News