The Washington herald., 1920-02-08
LIFE
CALLS NATION
Huston Thompson Tells Of
National Parks as Cure
For Ills.
ESCAPE MEDICINE IDEA
Mountains of West Offer
Inspiration to War
Worn Youth.
ESCAPE MEDICINE DEl

freeing Americans from the machine
idea'' engendered by the world war
IN an address by Huston Thompson,
vice chairman Of the Federal Trade
Commission. before the Far Western
Travellers Association at a dinner to-
night at the Hotel Astor.
''one nation so dedicated itself to the
idea" declared Mr.. Thomp-
son, ''that It not only succeeded in
itself into a single unit
with but a single thought. but it also
tried to compel the rest Of humanity
to goose-step with 1t. Civilization re-
volted. built a machine of its own, and
set it. in motion. This did not ad-.
vance in goose-step formation, but il
was compelled to standardize itself to
the point where individualism had for
the time to be suppressed. The two
machines advanced in head-on COL
lision. and civilizations steam roller
forever fiattened out the goose-step.
when the job was finished human
ity opened UP its eyes to find that this
machine idea, abhorrent though 1t Is,
had been grating itself on the whole
world.
Turn Toward the West.
How can we master It? The an
swer is found in the great outdoors,
and the greatest of all our outdoors.
the national parks. We are a nation
of travellers. but in the past our faces
have been turned toward the East.
Now 1t is time to move toward the
West just as the unseen forces have
driven man to do in all ages.
IF we would see this nation of ours
Americanized and thus immortalized.
we must know our own country"
Other reasons counsel this great
to the Western reservations,
Mr.. Thompson declared. both economic
and esthetic.
Il would not want to interject into
so great a subject as this the question
of material gain," he said. And yet
those of the Atlantic coast must know
that this great country will not meas
ure up to its strength and opportunity
in the world unless the man of the
Middle West partakes of its prosper
ity. Every year millions upon millions
OF dollars are taken from the soil and
mines of the West and poured into the
Golfers of the great companies of the
East. We of the West are not COM
planning. but unless the East recipro-
Gates there will be a one-sided devel-
opment of our nation as there has
been in the past.
Dollar. VIII Come Back.
Five hundred million dollars scat
tered along the highways and through
out parks and cities of the West by
travellers from the East not only will
be returned many-fold in mere dollars
to the Eastern merchant, but will add
to the health and Americanization or
those who dwell within the brick
walls of our great cities"
Tru e inspiration comes from the
towering mountains of these parks,
Mr.. Thompson argued.
Grasshopper Glacier.
Mr.. Thompson held his listeners, all
with the Western wonderland
of which he told. with graphic descrip-
tions of the beauties and curiosities of
the great parks. Among the most
striking descriptions was that Of the
famous "Grasshopper Glacier"
Here is how he told of a climb over
the slowly-moving river of ice:
I'VE passed through the ever-chang-
ing forest up to the scrubby pines.
then to the timberline, and at last to
the crest of the continent where the
great Grasshopper Glacier-a mass of
ice and snow a mile and a half long
and half a mile high-clings to the
side of the range. 1 put my ear down
to a crevice and listened to its melt
ing waters flowing under the ice down
the mountain side and out to the
rivers to bring life to the prairie.
Insects by Millions.
las I inspected the glacier 1 mar
veled, for here were millions of grass
hoppers either encrusted in the ice or
carried down in streaks oS black over
the snow to. the foot of the glacier.
No one knows whence they came or
how long they have been there. How
did such an insect ever reach this alti-
tude of L. 900 feet? 1t was e.sy to i'm
agine that the day that great swarm
was caught in the ice it might have
been so dense as to blot out the sum-"
The speaker disclosed plan for in
Producing a part OF the youth of
New York to the natural marvels of
which he told.
What I have been doinC thus
far is to draw a general picture for
you" he said. Now let me make
it concrete. The hope for future
America is dependent on the boys
and girls of our land. If we can
set on fire the spirit of roman e
that burns in the heart of each
youth of this city and our other
cities with the Inspiration trat
comes from our Mountains and (e
great drama of the pioneers who
built up the West. we can lay
foundation for the future of our
nation that will make it eternal.
IN my dreams ] have tried to fash
ion some practical plan that will
bring the American boy and tNe
great outdoors together and make
him a missionary on its cause.
Appeals to Boy Scouts.
= II turn naturally to that NEST
hopeful of organizations outside of
our churches today-the Boy Sc 1ut
I have a plan which I
have unfolded to another OF. L IA
tion. but which tonight I gladly re-
veal to you. Suppose that we take
New York City and divide 1t up in
to twenty zones. and say to
Boy Scout organization of this city
We propose to promote a contest
among the scouts of each zone IN
which contest the winner shall be
selected by the number of ire (
badges he has won during his three
years as scout and by kis ability
shown in writing upon some ra-
triotic subject or story of tur pic
neers. The reward for tire success
Of the winner in each zone sha 1
be a camping trip in Yellowstone
Park. The twenty boys who are
winners will be taken to the pa,k
and there met by a pack train with