Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-11-06
Shenandoah Herald Woodstock Virginia Friday November 1926

have been considered the most in'0'
esting and valuable public posse
sions of the American peopie ~
many years. They attracted . inn
lion, four hundred thousand sis''
in 1924, and this figure will De a.
least doubled for 1925. Their ieSA
ational aspects are, by no niea
their most important features ~
the conservation of wild life anu ~
est areas which would be lhipo''
BILE without national parks, we hass
value to the nation as whole anu y
learned lessons of incaleulaDie lnone'
still greater value to the imliieu'ase
surrounding of those parks
The whole State of Virginia
every farmer, every manufactures
every jobber, every retailer every
banker, every salaried worker anu
their descendants after them VIII SUI
fer money loss if deforestatlon u 'ne
Virginia hill country is not checked
and unless reforestation taxes i's
place. The western national PARKS
have taught how western trees may
be preserved and propagated. An
eastern national park is needed TO 90
the same thing for Appalachian ior-
ests.
Wherever you live in Virginia,
your streams come to you from the
western hills. Denude those Nils Oh
trees, and you have freshets IN spring
and droughts in summer. Every tree
/ is a reservoir of moisture. frees
mean crops.
We have learned something great
er from existing national parks. We
have learned that when all is said
and done, the only way to make good
Americans, is to make outdoor Amer
leans. We have learned that there
is no place where Americans would
rather spend their money, and no
place where the money they spend
brings them higher investment re-
turns, than in national parks. We
have learned how to make national
parks comfortable for the visiting
tourist influx of every class, age and
condition We have learned how to
build roads and gateways for their
reception, hotels and camping places
for their comfort, railroads and mo-
tor highways for their travels
through surrounding places of inter
est, harmless entertainment features
all over whole states for their delec-
tation We have learned that moth
ing brings our people ogether, moth
ing teaches them so well how to work
together. as giving them these ma
tionally conducted places in which to
play together.
Then Secretary of the Interior HUI
bert Work and the officers of the Ma
tional Park Service have said, Let
us apply these lessons to the East
let us find an area in the Appalachian
Mountains where they can be made
available to thousands for every
dozen people who benefit by them at
present
The Congress of the United States
has accepted this suggestion and APP
pointed the Appalachian National
Park Commission. That commission
has made its report, designating the
Shenandoah area in the Blue Ridge
Mountains as "the outstanding and
logical place for the creation of the
first national park in the Southern
7 Appalaehians
Think what this means to Virginia.
Already, it has brought nationwide
publicity of the most desirable kind.
Any state would welcome such dis
tinction-many states would gladly
raise hundred million dollars, if
that sum were required, to assure
them a national park.