The Coconino sun., 1922-02-17
TAKE IT ALL


We suppose that director of national parks Stephen T. Mather will claim that the following letter he sent chairman Caring of the board of supervisors of this county is one of the dictated but not read' variety. Perhaps Mather didn't mean to say that the tourist travel would be more than made up by our loss in cattle taxes; but this is just what he did say:
 "You will note that only that portion of the present Kaibab forest occupied by the Grand Canyon Cattle company is involved and there is no interference with the local people in their present grazing rights in the eastern section of the forest. A great deal of interest has been taken all over the county in this area since the appearance of Mr. Hough's two articles in the Saturday Evening Post, and am sure that the tourist travel that will develop if this Presidents forest is created will be more than made up by the loss of taxes on the cattle grazed in this par ticular area"
 No matter what tourist travel might develop by making the forest a government park, that travel would be almost altogether into and out of the Presidents forest' by way of Utah. Which is just what senator Shoot had in mind when he introduced the grab bill.
 Coconino county - the second largest county in the United States = isn't an Arizona county at all. An area larger than the state of Massa- chusetts has been taken over and administered by the United States government. Now it is planned to slice out another section bigger than the state of Delaware from the II per cent still remaining to us. All to be done at the behest of free lance writer, business builder for the White automobile company and senator from a state that has long been anxious to annex to itself much larger section of our state. In this connection, it is encouraging to note that other newspapers in the state are at last waking up to the true state of affairs and in- stead of endorsing the proposed grab or treating 1t impartially as a news matter, are coming out against it editorialy One of these is the Bis bee Daily Review, which says:
 Tt IS with considerable pleasure that we note the opposition of senator Ralph H. Cameron to the proposed withdrawal of the Kiabab Plateau from further usefulness and the erection of it into The Presidents Forest Unfortunately many Arizona papers have accepted at it's face value the two feature articles written for and printed in the Saturday Evening Post by Emer- son Hough. While senator Ashurst and Carl Hayden have not as yet committed themselves, we are inclined to think they too, have been led astray by the beautiful word painting of skilled writer and the honeyed fattery of Stephen Mather head of the national park service.
 Government bureaucracy already is in charge of very large proportion of the lands within the state of Arizona. It is with difficulty that the average man steps outside of his community without running into the red tape of the forest service, the Indian bureau, the parks bureau, or the national monument service. These branches of Uncle Sam have control over matter of
 
 Subtract from this amount that which is simon pure desert and we have very small amount of land that is available for the residents of Ari- zona.
 "The Kiabab plateau is great forest It is in what is known as the strip and is difficult of access to the people of Arizona. Nevertheless its potentiality is tremendous to the people of this state. If it's character is changed by the proposed federal legislation it will become mere ly another piece of Arizona acreage that will be forever removed from Arizona. While the na- tional parks service has much merit, it is typical of government bureaucracy; it gathers moss and moss takes unto itself much red tape. All of which initiates against the free usage of it's fa- ciities by the people who live in and near it.
 within the forest and Indian reservations of Arizona is much of the best timber land and val uable acreage in the state. When the citizen puts foot on these reserves, he is stepping into the intricacies of Uncle Sam's bureaus. It must be said, however, in justice to the forest service that it is the most human of all such government departments. eo ts m go 70 A rs
 !" The Presidents Forest sounds good on pa- per. It is the dream of men who have no inter est in Arizona or in it's future except transient investigators or observers. Stephen Mather de- sires the addition to his branch of the serWce because it will increase his scope of authority and power Emerson Hough desires the 'Presi- dents Forest because it appeals to his artistic eye and to his prolific pen.
 Arizona would do well to follow senator Cameron's lead and protest against any further encroachment upon it's natural advantages"
 
 Con,aona in tba aast will soon nronOse that all