Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-03-09
BY HERBERT COREY,
ETS sec. 1t was DR.. Tanner,
wasn't 1t, who invented star

ETS see. 1t was Dr. Tanner,
wasn't 1t, who invented star
walton as cure-all? Had a
theory that the man who could
i've on a couple Of dill pickles and
split truffie would not be bothered by
any other worry? Well, he should
have met Stephen T. Mather, director
OF the national parks bureau. Mather
Is the Worlds expert on starvation.
1t should be understood that this
is not an interview with Mr.. Mather.
feared he would cramp my style.
lie could hardly be candid about what
congress is doing to the park sys-
tenn, because Congress is touchy, not
to say tetchy, about officials who say
tnlngs about 1T. And if he were not
candid he would spoil a story. And
this is not the best time to talk about
adding to our national burden Of
/. taxes, on which each little clause in
the appropriations bill piles a
package.
MI. CoolidSe's Warning.
1t was only the other day that
President Coolidge called attention to
the fact that enough sprojects for
money spending have been offered in
Congress to ruin the country if they
were all accepted. He intimated that
if the bright-eyed appropriationists
had their way we would all be mooine
like moujiks in few short years.
And for all that the national parks
are being starved. Which does not
look like good sense, according to
Secretary of the Interior Work. He
says that if the parks were given a.
chance they would more than pay
their way. They would show a profit.
In fact, most of them show profits
now, in an indirect fashion. It cost
100000 to run Yellowstone Park last
year and the receipts were $4,000.
If the two or three million dollars
spent by tourists in the adjacent
states were boiled down and the in
come tax which the government COL
lects on the profits were added to the
parks receipts, there can hardly be a
doubt that 1t is a money maker.
Stepfather to Park System.
The reason why Steve Mather-
every one who knows him thinks Of
him as Steve-gets in on this pitiful
tale is that he is a stepfather of the
national parks system. OF course, we
have had parks ever since the Won
ders of Yellowstone were discovered
in 1872 and the discoverers talked
about them. Every one who had not
been there said they were liars. The
congressional investigation scheme
had not been invented then, and they
bumped along under this stigma until
it was discovered that they had been
telling only a part of the truth. Then
Yellowstone was made into q national
park to keep it out Of the hands OF
the hot-dog vendors, and twenty-five
other national parks have been made
since. There are also forty-one ma
tional monuments, a monument being
a park that has not grown up.
During the periods in which these
parks were being ear-marked and set
aside they sort of ran themselves. No
one took any particular interest in
them, except as they afforded good
places for sons and nephews. Con-
gress gave as little money as possible,
which was expended on a violently
competitive basis by the superintend-
entS of the various parks. They all
hated each other. apparently, and
each felt that a danger was hidden in
cooperation.
Side-Stepping Cooperation.
If Yosemite Park, to name one at
random, had had n freight-train load
of picks and shovels, none of which
were in use, Glacier Park would have
had to buy in the open market if a
pick and shovel were needed. No one