The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-03
Bureau of National Parks

Bureau of National Parks
 | I earnestly recommend the establishment | ot a bureau of national parks. Such leg 1 islation is essential to the proper man agement of those wondrous manifestations l of nature, so startling and so beautiful that everyone recognizes the obligations of the government to preserve them for the edification and recreation of the peo-
 pie. The Yellowstone park, the Yosemite, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Glacier National park, and the Mount Rainier National park and others furnish appropriate instances. In only one case
 have we made anything like adequate preparation for the use of a park by thc public. That case is the Yellowstone Ma
 tional park. Every consideration of pa- triotism and the love of nature and or beauty and of art requires us to eXpend money enough to bring all these natural
 wonders within easy reach of our people. The first step in that direction is the tablishment of q responsible bureau which shall take upon itself the burden of su- pervising the parks and of making recom- mendations as to the best method of i'm
 proving their accessibility and usefulness. Commission on the Cost of Living There has been strong movement among economists, business men, ana others interested in economic investiga
 
 | ternational commission to look into the
 cause for the high prices of the necessi-
 ties of life There is mo. doubt but that a | commission could be appointed of such t,n- | prejudiced and impartial persons, experts | in investigation of economic facts, that
 a great deal of very valuable light could | be shed upon the reasons for the high
 prices that have so distressed the people
 of the world and information given upon | lt,f f.Ia aftffa ffer1,f 1aa faIr ff a1ftrn
 the cost of living The very satisfactory
 report of the railway stock and bond commission indicates how useful an inves- | tigation of this kind can be when under | taken by men who have had adequate ex- | perience in economic inquiries and level | headedness and judgment correctly to ap- ply sound principles to the facts found. | For some years past the high and
 steadily increasing cost of living has been
 a matter of such grave public concern that I deem it of great public interest that
 an international conference be proposed | at this time for the purpose of preparing | plans, to be submitted to the various gov l ernments, for an international inquiry l into the high cost of living, Nits extent, causes, effects and possible remedies I | therefore recommend that, to enable the President to invite foreign governments to such a conference, to be held at Wash ington or elsewhere, the Congress pre- vide an appropriation, not to exceed 5000 | to defray expenses of preparation and of participation by the United States.
 The numerous investigations on the sub
 feet. official or other, already made in va rious countries (such as Austria, Belgium, Canada. Denmark, France. Germany. Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Statesl have themselves strongly demonstrated the need of further study of world wide scope. Those who have conducted these investigations have found that the phenomenon of rising prices is almost if not quite, general throughout the world; but they are bafflea in the attempt to trace the causes by the
 impossiblity of making any accurate ir- ternational comparisons. This is because. in spite of the number of investigations already made. we are still without ade- ouate data and because as yet no two countries estimate their price levels on the same basis or by the same methods.
 As already indicated the preliminary conference itself would entail compara4 lively small expense, and most of the subsecuent Investigations for which 1t would prepare the way could be carried | out by existing bureaus in this and other 1 governments as ratt of their regular work and would require little, if any additional appro3riations for such bureaus.