The Winslow mail., 1923-09-07

grounds set apart by congress for the use OF the
peopIe forever That official declaration OF ad-
ADMINISTRATION policy nothing less than absolute
protection of the national park system against
commercial invasion and exploitation.
DIR. John Wesley Hill, chancellor of Lincoln
Memorial university, made the declaration tie
officially represented President Harding and Sec
retary of the Interior Work at the Yellowstone
opening His statement prepared careful
and emphatic. 1t contained the following:
"And we are here today to celebrate the
annual opening of Yellowstone park the largest
and most far-famed of national parks, wooded
wilderness of three thousand three hundred square
miles, containing Incompatible waterfalls, more
geysers than found in the rest of the world all
put together irrigated by rivers like miniature
Iakes and beautified by lakes like inland seas
carved by canyons of sublimity, decorated with
coIors defying the painters art, punctured with
innumerabIe boiling springs whose steam mingles
with feecy Clouds succeed with vast Of
petrifed forests, a sanctuary of safe retreat for
feathered songsters and wild beasts wonder
land, playground, sanitarium and university all
I'm one, where the eye feasts upon the riotous
coIors of flowers, ferns and rocks; the ear Is
surged with the symphony of meodious sounds;
the mind is sated with thousand revelations of
truth and beauty, and the jaded body, weary VIII
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 herosm worthy its ex
pIorers and discOverers to retain 1t intact against
the bold and presumptuous claims of the advo
Gates of special privilege determined to CONNER
cialze this land of wonder, to build railroads
through It, tunnel its mountains dam it's lakes
and streams, and secure stranglehoId monopoes
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 on it's face for the commercial eXploita-
tion of parks must by the very nature of it's
aims and purposes be Immediately doomed to
failure.
1'Good projects bad projects, Indifferent prof.
ects all must face the same fate, for it is at last
established policy of the government that
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 you it will not be modified 1t
win not be .swerved hairs breadth by any !rfiu-
.ence, financial, political otherwise.
eff rights granted to one claimant, others
must follow, a precedent must not be estab-
Iished It would inevitably ruin the entire national
park system.
Doctor Hill might have been definite in
the matter of the attacks by commercial interests
upon Yellowstone. Since early in 1920 it has
required increasing vigilance and aggressive
Sanfzed effort the part of the vast army Of
national park enthusiasts defeat these attacks.
During the winter and spring of 1920 the Sixty
sixth congress nearly passed the Smith bill Gre
ating q 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 ease public
waters, including those of the national parks and
monuments. for water power.