Evening star., 1915-04-04
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

! ment have been trotted out of their
i winter quarters and told to get busy.
In order that they may be given a
| flying start In the alliterative. al1urtng,
adjective hunting game. the Secretary
some time ago instructed the superin-
! tendents of the national parks and
! other monuments to write to him
| graphic descriptions of these places,
and the result is that the Secretary
now has on hand a bushel or more of
| rose-tinted literature that would be
the envy even of circus manager.
| And the best of it. according to those
| who read the reports, is that. although
| 1t sounds much like the art of a press
agent, very much Of the information
| is not exaggeration. but the simple
| truth. 1t is evidence that Secretary
millions of Americans the most stu
| pendous, most wonderful, most gigan-
| tic spectacles that have ever been wit
| messed in the natural history Of the
world and beyond the dreams of the
| ina gination.
1t makes no difference how jaded the
| American traveller has become. Secre-
| tary Lane has something to show him
| that will be entirely new and novel and
something he will not be able to see in
| any other country in the world. For
instance, In Yellowstone National Park.
| the great national fairyland of 1000, 900
| acres in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
| your American traveller suffering from
| ennui would get considerable exhilara-
| tion, and, incidentally, ozone, II on
| one of his walks through the park he
| were to meet one of the several griz-
| zlies there. Lieut.. Col. Lloyd M. Brett
| of the 1st Cavalry. acting superintend-
| ent of the park, in his report sent to
| the Secretary does not have to do any
| word painting. Almost laconically he
| says:
| Both black and grizzly bears are
plentiful. Thirty-two grizzlies were
dumps at the canyon August 20. During
the summer it has been necessary to
| have five killed that had become dan
gerous to life and menace to prop
erty." In addition, the superintendent
| tells of herd of antelope that was
| ter; black-tailed and white-tailed deer:
| a herd of $4,000 elk, with several hun
| dred captured and shipped to zoos
| throughout the country: wild and a
| tame herd of buffalo. and such un-
pleasant animals as the coyote. 154 of
which were killed during the year be-
| cause they were destructive OF other
game.
The military superintendent remarks
that there being no race suicide among
the elk It would be easily possible to
spare 1000 head each year to restock
ZOOS in the country.
Maj William r. Litterbrant of the LIST
Cavalry, acting superintendent of the
| like his brother officer, neglects to go
! into ecstasies as to the wonderful
scenery in his park, but rather finds
serious interest in an attempt of De-
partment of Agriculture entomologists
to exterminate the needle borer and
bark beetle which are destroying the
| tamarack pine of the park. He mem
tions that IAN insect, believed to be the
'Dendroctonus monticolae' has attacked
a few of the sugar pines in the Mari
posa groves" He also says that 10000
visitors were at the park last year.
Ethan Allen, the superintendent OF
the Mount Rainier National Park.
Washington, grows more eloquent over
his charge than do the military men,
referring to Mount Rainier as "a most
imposing spectacular ice and snow
clad dome approximately 14,400 feet
high" He gives further touches of ma
ture as follows: "At an approximate
general elevation of $500 feet. the dem
sity of timber growth gradually di-
minishes until the extreme timber line
is reached. The intervening areas,
which are usually benches or plateaus
on the long. sloping ridges separating
tiful natural parks. in some of which
tent camps or hotels are established
and to which tourists resort in large
numbers for rest and recreation.
eaus. or natural parks are beautifully
adorned by nature with flowers and
shrubs of infinite variety and color,
and furnish to the most skilled bot
anist. not to speak of the amateur and
the mere lover of the beautiful, prob
lens in nature study never ending
Nearly 400 varieties Of plant life are
known to grow within the park"
Other descriptions of Uncle Sam s
Fairgrounds and scenic wonders con-
| interest
to the general reader are those of the
Glacier National Park. in Montana: the
Rainbow Bridge, in Utah: the Petrified
Forests, in Arizona: Crater Lake Ma
tional Park, in Oregon, and the Casa
Grand ruins, in Arizona.
II is believed in Washington that the
farmers in many parts of the United
states have little
Establishing idea of the extent
p:.lp to which the fed
oiAo neseAseo' eral government
goes to protect them and their inter-
ests from harm. Department Of Agri-
culture officials have often cried out
against the wanton slaughter of birds.
declaring that these birds were neces-
sary to keep down the insect pests
and thereby protect the farmers crops.
but they have not stopped at this.
Without much ado they have been Sc
lecting the quiet. isolated hooks of the
country as bird reserves, as places
where the birds could go and under the
protection of the authorities rear their
young in security and comfort.
AT the present time there are seven
ty-four such bird reserves scattered
throughout the entire country, and es-
pecially on the lonely islands that are
found along the different coasts. These
reserves have been created through
reference from the Interior Department
to the President, who signs executive
orders declaring the place to be a re-
serve. Immediately these places come
under the general law which makes it
unlawful to kill birds. take their eggs
or to willfully disturb the birds. A
maximum fine of $500 and a sentence
in jail for six months are provided for
violations of this law.
The bird reserves now existing are
being administered under the direc-
ton of the biological survey of the
United States Department of AgricuI-
ture. During the last year nine new
bird reserves were established, scat
tered between Alaska and Porto Rico:
two new ones in Alaska, one Of which.
in the Aleutian Islands. was established
I r,<,k xtv H@, Hl. - H.