The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-09
SAVE THE MATTERHORN.
A Protest Against the Further Desc
Grafton of the Alps.

The news that the Matterhorn was
! threatened with a railroad, the same
as Mount PLATE or the Jungfrau, has
| produced a genuine uprising in Switz-
| erland. Everywhere petitions are be-
| ing circulated asking the federal
| authorities to oppose such an outrage;
| and they are being covered with sig
| natures. Led with energy and talent
| by NJ. F. Bovet, the movement is
gathering a great number of adher-
ents. All the writers, all the artists,
| the whole public are giving it their
support. 1t is a wind of revolt which
| rises at last against the vandalism of
speculation. 1t was high time!
1 will even say that it is already
| late. Fer some thirty years past, we
have witnessed the methodical mas
| sacre, in an admirable country of
| beauties which because of their nature
| and their quality should have pre-
served. Truly speaking. this question
| is a more complicated one than the
| aesthetics and the Alpine climbers be-
| iieve. for there are perfectly legitimate
| interests which must be considered and
cannot be sacrificed. 1t is necessary
to bring about a compromise; the ne
cessity is all the more urgent since If
one is not brought about we shall
see repeated once again the eternal
fable of the hen that lays the golden
eggs; one of these days the "strang-
ers'' for whom we are now cutting
away, tearing down and building up
with such zeal will come to realize
that, boulevard for boulevard, it is
just as we'll to loiter upon those of the
great cities as upon those of the fash
ionable stopping places-sInce the lat
ter will soon no longer have either air
or light and will only have scraps of
views to offer to the privileged guests
of the best chambers of the palaces"
That the beauty of the land and its
power of production is for man an OBJ
ject of gain is to be regretted If you
will, but such it is. We live in a
time where everything must be turned
into profit at any price, if only to sat
isfy the exigencies of politics. From
the very fact that it occupies country
with pleasant surroundings, or invigor-
ating air, or fresh water, or minerals,
a population which believes itself poor
at once perceives itself rich. Let her
resources be utilized, the country well
managed and its prosperity increase,
they become capitalists and acquire
ease and fortune. 1t is boon, and
you cannot blame the people who
make the most OF it. If they possess
spirit If initiative in a small degree
they will content themselves with the
needful. like the Italians and the
RaSques: but If energetic, they will in
crease their efforts. will see everything
magnif1ed. will risk great sums to con-
struct and speculate. as has been done
In the highlands of Berne. If they
have TOO much-there are the qualities
the abuse of which is a mistake--they
will turn everything topsy turvy, like
those poachers who destroy with dyna-
mite all the trout in a river, or those
gluttOnS who destroy the limb to
gather the fruit too quickly. That's
what occurred in certain parts of
Switzerland. 10y
That hotels had to be built, admit;
the old chalets whose lovely brown
melted so we'll in the landscape, were
no longer sufficient for the compli
Gated wants of the too numerous WISH
tors, accustomed to opulent tastes, but
these caricatures called Palaces"
could have been avoided, with their
pretentious banality, garnished with
stucco, with their binding colors so