Evening star., 1914-12-27
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT Is D0ING|

Secretary Franklin K. Lane is be-
Of the Depart
Preparing for ment of the Inte-
Tourist Travel. 1savs. 70 his h,s a. a..
sociates in the cabinet, Secretaries
Garrison and Daniels, the study OF
preparedness related to war equip
ment. What he is interested in is the
preparedness on the part OF the gov
ernpent to handle properly the tre.
mendous tourist travel in America.
which is expected to be one Of the re-
suits Of the great war.
In the opinion Of the Interior Depart
ment officials and others who are IA
miliar with conditions in the national
parks of the west these great natural
show places have never been visited
by as many American people as should
have toured them, because there have
not been the same kind of facilities to
care for travellers which are found in
Europe. where the tourist trade has
been catered to for hundreds of years.
and where in many places it is the
chief source of income of the people.
thousands of Americans will travel
In this country during the coming sea-
son and following years who have
heretofore spent their money in Eu-
rope, and that the national parks OF
the west and points in Alaska, with
their scenic wonders, will be the places
sought out by large numbers of Amer
lean tourists. The work of reorganiz-
Ing the system of caring for and de-
orlr -
going on. and tn the near future it is
believed that most of the American
parks will have facilities which will
rival Europe for completeness in pro-
vlding for tourists.
Mark Daniels, the California land
scape engineer. whom Secretary Lane
has secured as the new general super
intendent of the national parks, is now
working on plans for reorganizing the
system of management and lettering
conditions generally in all of the great
government reservations which are un
der the Department of the Interior
Mr.. Daniels is now planning along two
lines, one to develop an economic policy
Tor the parks and system of admin
istration to provide for the constant
increase of visitors. an increase OF
revenue of the parks. and, secondly, to
develop system to care for the physi-
cal features Of the parks, such as the
construction of roads. trails and build
ings used by the hotel men and others
who have concessions.
AT the present time the government
appropriates slightly more than S3O0, ,oOG
to care for the national parks of the
country. Canada appropriated 100000
this year for her parks. The amount
OF revenue collected from national
parks in the United States is approx
mately 100000 year. Revenue comes
from three sources. rental and leasing
OF concessions. the operation of public
utilities, and from natural resources
such as dead and down timber and
waterpower.
Supt. Daniels believes that the rev.
enues OF the parks can be increased
very materially without any great In
crease in the cost of operation, and
that the national parks of the country
In time can be made entirely self-sus-
tanning. This condition will be brought
about not by commercializing the
parks any more than they ever have
been in the past. but by increasing
and perfecttng facilities and conditions
for caring for the tourists and en-
couraging a greatly increased tourist
travel throughout all the reservations.
The new general superintendent of
the parks thinks that the American
people have been too slow to look upon
scenery as an asset which is just as
valuable in its way as is coal, timber,
waterpower or any other natural re-
estimated to be worth more than $780,
100000 year to the people of that lit
tie country. 1t has also been estimated
that the Americans who go abroad each
year carry to the various European
countries more than 100000. 900.
One of the features in increasing ac-
commodations for the parks Is the pro-
posed establishment in each park Of a
bureau of information and transporta-
ton. At the present time visitors have
fallen into the habit of going to the
nearest concession stand to ask for in
formation, and, naturally, the advice is
governed by the financial interest of
the concessionaire.
Another feature in the development
Of the park system will be the organi-
zation of a national park ranger serv-
ice. This will include the building up
Of a force of able men who will be uni
formed, and, as representatives of the
government, will set new standard
Of service in America in providing for
every care of tourists who are Uncle
Sam's guests in the parks. The plans
for organization Of the ranger service
are now being developed by Col. L. NJ.
Brett, the United States Army officer
who is superintendent of the Yellow
stone National Park, and who has Just
been detailed to Washington especially
to cooperate with Supt. Daniels in per-
fecting plans for the organization of
this service.