The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-22
SECRETARY MOBILES PRO TEST.

Success to Secretary Noble. There
is not a citizen in the length and breadth
of TINS great state Of Montana who is
not with him to the finish i'll his vigor-
Gus and outspoken protest against the
outrageous monopoly that wants to be
known rs the Yellowstone Park COM
pany. There is not a visitor to the most
magnificent national pleasure ground in
the world whose sympathy and good
will the secretary OF the interior has not
earned and we'll earned by his timely ex-
posture Of a gross attempt at whole
handed extortion from the popular
purse.
1t was a very pretty little scheme that
was being quietly engineered through
the senate committee on territories,
when the secretary bounced upon it and
rent it %piecemeal. They were not at all
modest, these would be incorporators OF
the Yellowstone Park company. True
enough, they did not want the earth.
Their audaclty seems to have recog-
nized the existence Of some limit to their
demands. But if they did not want the
whole terrestrial bali, as one of the
hymn books Of our childhood put it,
they meant to control & very consider
able portion Of its surface, and they had
every intention Of surrounding their
particular share with a ring fence too.
These precious incorporators and their
successors, according to our Geographic
reports, simply asked from the
senate committee perpetual sue
cession and authority to acquire and
operate hotels and secure other priv
ileges. Observe the complacency of
these worthless. Other privileges! The
phrase admits Of the very widest lat
itude Of construction. They wanted a
grant to the company for twenty years
Of the use of ten acres of ground at each
OF the most valuable halting places in
the park. In return for this valuable
concession, the enterprising gentlemen
from Missouri and Minnesota were will
ing to pay to the national government
the magnificent sum of three hundred
and fifty dollars per annum in lieu of
taxes, rent and all other possible
charges, and to conduct in each locality
Il first-class hotel.
What a gilded, philanthropic, noble
hearted consideration-for-the public
scheme it is! Seventy acres Of land in
the choicest portions Of the national
park! License to conduct hotels and
secure as many other valuable privileges
as they can lay their grabbing hands on!
All for a beggarly sum that would pay
the rent for a month for a good sized
store in Helena! A fine national park
the public would have in truth under
such conditions, with a monopoly run
ming things entirely to suit themselves
and their own pockets. Who was to decide
whether the hotels we're run on a first
class basis Or not? Presumably the
company thinks it IS the best judge of
such matters, and whether visitors agree
or disagree with them in their verdict,
the tourist would have at least the sat
isfaction Of paying first-class prices and
probably a little more. 1t won't do.
The act of congress that set aside the
Yellowstone National park, did so to
secure for the people of this country a
noble extent Of country for recreation.
To entrust to any monopoly the practi-
cal privilege of debarring all but the
Very wealthy from tho privilege of the
parks enjoyment would be an act pre-
eminently fitted to stultify the very OBJ
jects Of the parks existence. The secre-
tary Of the interior may rely on solid
backing from the citizens OF Montana.
Opposed to public good, for private
interests only, and in every way PERM
cious." A bill that is fifty characterized
in these words cannot have the ghost OF
a show of passing.