Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-11
HOOVER'S TRIP SEEN
AS GUARD TO PARKS
Governments Determination
to Preserve Domains
Is Outlined.
By FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

One of the motives of the Presidents
vacation trip to the national parks this
Summer is his determination to pre-
serve these domains.
For IL years Uncle Sam has been
systematically combating the drive by
interests Of various sorts to break
into the national parks for the purpose
of private enterprise. It has required
the utmost vigilance at Washington.
this writer learns in a well informed
quarter, to thrust back these efforts.
Broadly speaking, the drive has come
from three different quarters-First,
from companies or groups which seek
to exploit the. water power resources
OF the parks: secondly, from those which
would like to drain park waters for
irrigation projects, and. thirdly, from
local State elements which. are anxious
to carve purely State parks out OF
national park domains.
Believes i'm Preserving Beauty
President Hoover, outdoor man and
nature lover, Is an uncompromising be-
lever in the desirability Of preserving
the national parks in all their pristine
beauty and ruggedness. Addressing the
National Conference on Outdoor Recre-
Secretary OF Commerce said, my own
thought is that the national parks
parks within the responsibility of the
Federal Government-should be those of
outstanding scientific and spiritual APP
peal, those that are unique in their
stimulation and inspiration"
Since Mr.. Hoover made that statement
those who are devoting themselves to
perpetuating national park Standards"
have used 1t as the keynote of their
program. They are convinced that the
Presidents forthcoming travelling plans
in the Far West are meant to indicate
that he stands four-square to the wind
on the principle that the parks belong
to the people and should be kept for
them exclusively.
Coolidge Vetoed" Arkansas Park.
One of President Coolidges parting
acts, before leaving Office In 1929, was
to give q pocket veto to a project to
turn a national forest into a national
park. The project was known as the
Ouachita National Park, In Arkansas
Congress passed the bill and authorized
the scheme. but Mr.. Coolidge, carrying
out the theory that the Ouachita prof.
ect did not measure up to national
national park standards" withheld his
approval. It was considered one OF the
typical plans that periodically originate
In the States largely for the purpose of
fiattering purely local pride and with
out any full justification. Sometimes
these park projects are dubbed "politi-
cal parks" on Capitol HILL Just as GER
tain navy yards have come to be known
as political navy yards" It has not
been found easy to thwart such schemes.
From an authority intimately identi-
ned with the Federal Governments
national park policy, the following
diagnosis" Of President Hoover's Sum-
mer expedition into the West Is sup
piled:
Standards Survive Attack.
The standards of the national parks
have been under attack by ater-power
and other interests since about 1918.
The standards have so far survived all
attacks. Water power interests desire to
get rights In the parks for hydroelectric
and other highly remuneratiVe CONNER
claI purposes. 1t is not difficult to
realize what would happen once these
powerful and skillful interests obtained
q foothold in the park domains. Having
got an inch, they would not rest con-
tent until they had taken an ell We
nave been struggling against giving
tnem toehold, because we fear It
would be the Digging of the end.
In the same way as water-power
schemes, 1t has been sought to place
irrigation projects in the national parks,
"A great deal has been said about the
crying needs OF the farmers in the
neighborhood OF the parks. The parks
being at high attitudes, it has been
argued that the water coming down
from them could be easily impounded
below.
of perhaps even greater peril to
national park standards than water
power and irrigation projects is the
local political angle, which manifests
lCseiI In proposals to establish so-called
national parks which would in effect be
nothing but State parks. These schemes
are organized effectively at Washington
through the congressional backing they
contrlVe to obtain. Believers in true ma
tlonai park standards consistently op-
pose such plans in the name of the
whole people OF the United States, to
whom the domains belong.
President Is Final Hone.
The final hope of preservation of the
parks against wrongful encroachment-
from whatever side it may be threat
ened is the President. In him is lodged
the power to veto projects which can be
shown to be inimical to the national
park system, or which he knows to be
such,
1T is for all these reasons that we
rejoice In President Hoover's 1880 Sum-
mer travelling plans. He could not pos
slDiy make more effective swing
around the circle Even though he
knows the West well already, he mani
testify Is anxious to acquaint himself
more thoroughly at first hand with park
conditions in order to be able the more
intelligently to face encroachment
propositions when they come up. He Is
going about 1t In the Hoover way, and
the Nation, which has been educated to
appreciate that our national parks COM
prise one OF the worlds grandest CALLER
les of scenic masterpieces, viii rejoice to
know OF the Presidents program"
I Uncle Sans national park domain
now includes 20 individual establish
mentS. The last one was created by
signature OF President Hoover only q
day or two ago-the Carlsbad Cavern
National, Park in New Mexico, formerly
known as Carlsbad National Monument.
other national parks in the order of
their creation are:
1872.
Sequoia, Middle Eastern California,
1890.
Yosemite, Middle Eastern California,
1890.
Gen. Grant, Middle Eastern Cali
fornia, 1890.
Mount Rainier, West Central WASH
ington, 1899.
Crater Lake, Southwestern Oregon,
1902.
Wind Cave. South Dakota, 1902.
Platt, Southern Oklahoma, 1908.
Sullys Hill, North Dakota. 1904.
Mesa Verde, Southwestern Colorado,
1905.
Glacier, Northwestern Montana, 1910.
Rocky Mountain, North Middle Colo
RADIO, 1915.
Hawaii. Hawaiian Islands, 1915.