The Washington herald., 1911-12-14

that the national parks. like Topsy, have
just growed.'"
Secretary Fishers View.
There is now no consistent legislation
concerning the parks" he continued; 'fn
fact, there is a wide divergence in the
statutes under which they are admin
istered. In the Interior Department we
have no machinery for the conduct Of the
affairs of the parks, and no authority 10
develop machinery by which coordination
may be secured 1t has been possible to
secure some publicity, because we have
found the public is greedy for informa-
ton about the parks. We have been able
to say that the chief clerk of the depart
ment may act as the court of last resort
in determining questions of policy, but
\ that is as far as we can go.
We oAght to have some sort of CEN
! trail authority-a bureau which might act
not for one OF the parks alone. but for
all of them" and at this point Secretary
! Fisher quoted from the annual message
sent to Congress a year ago by President
| Taft, in which the Chief Executive said:
Our national parks have become so ex-
tensive and involve so much detail OF &C
! ton in their control that it seems there
| ought to be legislation creating a bureau
for their care and control
Mr.
President Taft said in part:
We have in the United States a great
many natural wonders, and in that lazy
way that We have in our government of
first taking up one thing and then an
other, We have set aside a number of
national parks, of forest reservations
covering what ought to be national parks
and what are called national monuments;
and We have said ourselves, Those can
not get away. We have surrounded
them by law which makes them neces-
sarily government property forever, and
We will wait in our own good time to
make them useful as parks to the peo-
pie of the country and, as the Interior
Department is the lumber room of the
government, into which We put every
thing that We don't know how to classify
and don't know what to do with, We will
just put them under the Secretary of
the Interior, and that is the condition of
the national parks to-day.
Those of you who have first been in
the Yellowstone Park and admired its
beauties, and thought of the ability of
the army engineers to construct such
roads as there are there, and then have
gone on to the Yosemite and have seen
its beauties, and found the roads not
quite SO good, and then have gone to the
Grand Canyon, and found a place where
you could bury the Yellowstone Park and
tho Yosemite, and never know that they
were there, and have found no roads at
all, except a railroad that was built
at great expense, and probably at great
loss to the side of the canyon, and only
trail called the Bright Angel TRAIL
down into the canyon, down which they
would not let me go, because they were
afraid the mules could not carry me-you
will understand that something needs to
be done in respect to those parks, L
We all are to enjoy them.
In Favor of Equality.
Il am in favor of equality of opportu-
nifty, and resent exclusion from the
enjoyment of the wonders of the world
that 1t only needs a little money to re-
move.
Now, the course that was taken in
respect to the Yellowstone Park ought
to be taken in respect to all our parks.
II. We are going to have national parks,
we ought to make them available to all
the people, and we ought to build the
roads, expensive as they may be, in or
der that those parks may become what
they, are intended to be when Congress
creates them. And we cannot do that,
We cannot carry them on effectively, I'M
less we have a bureau which is itself
for their management and for their build
ing up"
The difficulties which are now ex-
perienced in administering the affairs
of the National Parks and in developing
them after any given plan were en-
phasized by Senator Reed Smoot, OF
Utah. Separate appropriations are
now made for each park, making It i'm
possible for the Secretary of the Interior
to concentrate the efforts of his depart
ment in their behalf" the Senator said,
and in this connection he referred to the
subject matter of bill, which he had
introduced in Congress, which, he said,
would correct this evil and would also
result in a saving.
]. Horace Mcfarland, Of Harrisburg.
Pa, president of the association, intro
duced the subject Of national parks,
when, in offering his annual address, he
predicated it on the question: Are ma
tional parks worth while?"
Speaking as an exponent of the idea
that all Americans should "see America
first" Herbert w. Gleason, OF Boston,
Mass, took one of the feature parts in
the first evening session of the conven-
ton when he presented an illustrated
lecture entitled Some picturesque fea-
lures of our national PARKS"
Enos A. Mills, Of Estes Park, Colo,
who told q story OF wild life in a ma
tional park" commenced his address by
recounting personal experience in the
mountains. The characteristics of the
grizzly bear were discussed by Mr. Mills. |
who proclaimed them the noblest IL
America.