The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1923-08-30
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Administration Policy Of
Complete Conservation
for Our National Parks
BY JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN

BY JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN
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mwm HE national parks lost good
friend when Warren G. Harding
M died. His appreciation and APP
~ prevail of the national park move
n EMl.~ ment were signally shown at the
II l2MgS 1923 opening Of Yellowstone for
- &dDNS its fffty-frst year by an ofncial
bzBMEA declaration Of administration pol
NL<p1 icy worthy of it's place as the nrsr
national park in all history ana
largest and most famous OF all
Americas nineteen public play
grounds set apart by congress for the use OF inc
Deople forever That official declaration OF al
ministration policy was nothing less than absolute
protection of the national park system against
commercial Invasion and exploitation
Dr. John Wesley BILL, chancellor OF Lincoln
Memorial university made the declaration DE
officially represented President Harding and Sec
retary of the Interior Work at the Yellowstone
opening His statement was prepared careful
and emphatic It contained the following:
"And we are here today to celebrate the
annual opening of Yellowstone park the largest
and most far-famed Of our national parks. wooded
wilderness of three thousand three hundred square
miles, containing Incompatible waterfalls, more
geysers than are found In the rest of the world all
put together, irrigated by rivers like miniature
lakes and beautifed by lakes like inland seas,
carved by canyons of sublinIity, decorated with
colors defying the painters art, punctured with
innumerable boiling springs whose steam mingleS
with feecy clouds, succeed with vast areas OF
petri1ed forests, sanctuary OF safe retreat for
feathered songsterS and wild beasts wonder
land playground sanitarium and university all
In one where the eye feasts upon the riotous
colors of flowers ferns and rocks the ear is
surged with the symphony of melodious sounds;
the mind is stated with a thousand revelations of
truth and beauty, and the jaded body, weary W. h
the trudge of thought and toll and travel, ungirds
for song and dance beneath the shadows of the
everlasting hills
Yellowstone history Is replete with crises
where the friends of the park and the park idea
have had to fight with a heroism worthy it's ex-
plorers and discoveries to retain 1t intact against
the bold and presumptuous claims of the advo-
Gates of special privilege determined to CONNER
cialize this land of wonder, to build railroads
through 1t, tunnel Its mountains, dam its lakes
and streams and secure stranglehold monopolies
with small compensation TO the government and
total loss to the people.
"And regardless of all facts and figures, appeals
and threats, therefore. any plan, however meri-
torious its face, for the commercial explota-
ton Of parks must by the very nature of It's
aims and purposes be Immediately doomed to
failure
Good projects bad projects. Indifferent prof.
ects all face the same fate, for it is at last
established policy of the government that our
national parks must and shall forever be main
tanned in absolute unimpaired form, not only for
the present but for all time to come policy
which has the unqualified support Of President
Harding.
This is the fixed policy of the administration
and can assure you 1t will not be modified. 1t
will not be swerved a hairs breadth by any infiu-
ence, financial political otherwise.
IF rights are granted to claimant, others
must follow, so a precedent must not be estab-
ished IT would inevitably ruin the entire national
park system"
Doctor Hill might have been more definite In
the matter of the attacks by commercial interests
upon Yellowstone Since early in 1920 it has
required increasing vigilance and aggressive or
ganized effort the part Of the vast army Of
national park enthusiasts to defeat these attacks
During the winter and spring Of 1920 the Sixty.
sixth congress nearly passed the Smith bill Gre
ating a commercial irrigation reservoir In the
southwest corner of Yellowstone for the benefit of
Idaho. And It did pass the water power bill
granting to commission power to lease public
waters. including those of the national parks and
monuments. for water power.