Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-17
AMERICA SEEN FIRST
NOW, LANE REPORTS
s,oO.00O, Spent by Tourists
in U. S. in Past Year,
Secretary Says

.,-,st,tyGToN, Dec. 17.-More than a
ssoa million dollars, usually spent by
,.,erican tourists in Europe, was divided
,se last year among railroads, hotels
allied enterprises in the United
..s according to section of the an
.ooort of Secretary of the Interior
no' .,,,,n X. Lane, which was made pub
80 great national playgrounds-the
,ou,stone National Park, the Yosemite
~, and the many other national re-
os-were responsible for the expendi-
~ oe n liberal percentage of this vast
.so, m travel, says the report.
70 increase the accessibility of the
1t, snots in the United States, par
p,sst, Tho West, and to attract each
w. ,,ore and more American citizens
W n former years have spent their va
.e.,,s abroad to the natural playground
= ,his country is the plan of Secretary
,,ns He says that these natural re-
,rcos of an aesthetic nature are of
sinast as much value to the people as
~ Industrial resources of the country,
.rd he would make the parks of the
~s',,d states the Mecca OF seekers oil
sa,vraI beauty tho world over.
Tho secretary reports that additional
,o,els are being erected in the great ma
.snsI marks of the West, that better
.osds are being constructed over a stead
~, increasing mileage and that trails
80 being opened each year by means
~ which any American citizen may visit
.i,h .,omfort and ease the Rocky Noun
ain f.stnesses known heretofore only to
s,ob ,oyers of the Serras as John Muir
and John Burroughs
The section of the report published
,oday also deals with mining laws and
he development of Alaska
secretary ..ane says that IL the Presi-
dent would appoint committee of three
synerts familiar with the mining laws
md the difficulties of miners and COM
mission them to suggest new mining
rode TO Congress it would give a new
freedom to the mining industry in this
country.
"Between mining engineers and mining
LAWYERS the rules of the game have been
refined into obscurity," says Secretary
Lane.
On the question of Alaska the report
Ess:
III would be too hazardous a thing TO
surrendcr the resources of Alaska to To-
cal control or disposal. for those who
have lived in any new country know how
sreat the temptation is to grant away
water front and power sites. forests and
oher exceptional resources to those who
come Offering large sums for quick inn
pavement"
Fot this reason the Secretary recon-
rends that toward Alaska the Federal
government maintain an attitude of
"s,mpathetic cooperation" keeping In
close touch through the United states
resident Commissioner in the territory
with the progress of the great northern
province
Secretary Lane remarks that the lure
Of little voices is strong upon the you
men of the United States and Is pulling
them to Alaska with strong. invisible
strings When the Alaskan Engineering
Commission set out to open work on the
new Government railway, he says, there
we're IS 900 applications on file and many
more since have accumulated. And those
applca tions, says the Secretary. were
fled b young men already employed in
ass. - positions in the United States.
The :.'raction of the great cold region
isp,,"ouud says the Secretary, and from
those who go to the northern frontier will
spring strong citizenship, he predicts.
The land has a mysterious charm,
pull which affects all who see 1t and
those. too. who only know indirectly OF
It's largeness its grandeur and its eco
nomic possibilities says Secretary Lane.