The minor purposes of forests may correspond somewhat with the
major purposes of parks, and _vice versa_; but the main and
essential purposes of each are altogether different from the main
and essential purposes of the other and any confusion of them is
sure to lead to waste and disappointment.
Scenery is our most valuable and our noblest resource.
It is of utmost importance that each of these reservations be managed
separately. Those who have distinguished themselves by appreciating
the importance of National Parks and by helping them in every way,
have been clear and emphatic in urging that National Park management
be utterly separate from the management of National Forests. Among
those who have taken this stand are John Muir, J. Horace McFarland,
John Nolen, Mrs. John D. Sherman, and in fact every one that I know
of who is an authority on parks. The National Academy of Science also
made a similar recommendation in 1897.
A Park should stand alone, and stand high. If we think of the Parks
separately, keep them free from the dominion of commercialism, of
interests, and of organizations, we may hope in a short time to
receive the best use of them.
The courts have recently made a number of excellent decisions
concerning the conservation of scenery, and have gone definitely on
record recognizing its higher values. In a decision concerning a
waterfall, Judge Robert E. Lewis said in part:--
It is a beneficial use to the weary that they, ailing and feeble,
can have the wild beauties of Nature placed at their convenient
disposal. Is a piece of canvas valuable only for a tent-fly, but
worthless as a painting? Is a block of stone beneficially used
when put into the walls of a dam, and not beneficially used when
carved into a piece of statuary? Is the test dollars, or has
beauty of scenery, rest, recreation, health and enjoyment
something to do with it? Is there no beneficial use except that
which is purely commercial?
This decision is epoch-marking. It emphasizes the importance to the
Parks of having a management that is in no way tied up with any other
work.
From the time of the creation of the Yellowstone Park till 1914 there
was no official head to the National Parks, but that year Secretary of
the Interior Franklin K. Lane used his right and appointed the first
Superintendent, Mark Daniels.
The year 1915 was memorable in National Park history. In that year
Secretary Lane appointed Stephen T. Mather Assistant to the Secretary
of the Interior, with authority to do all that he could for Parks. Mr.
Mather, a business man, sympathetic, well acquainted with the Parks,
saw their extraordinary possibilities. Having the administrative
charge of these National Parks, he at once set to work upon the
extremely difficult task of bringing them out of chaos into order. In
the short time that he has had charge of them, he has made a
remarkable advance in securing for them a working plan of development,
and a simplified and businesslike management.
In 1915 Superintendent Daniels was superseded by Robert B. Marshall,
former Chief Geographer of the United States Geological Survey. Mr.
Marshall worked enthusiastically but resigned in December, 1916. Mr.
Mather became Director of the National Park Service in March, 1917.
Automobiles were first admitted to all National Parks in 1915, and
that year, too, a number of educative publications concerning them
were issued.
In September, 1911, what may be called the first National Park
Conference was held in the Yellowstone Park. This was called by
Secretary of the Interior Walter L. Fisher. In his opening remarks at
this conference Mr. Fisher said that the purpose of the conference
was to "discuss the matter of the present condition of the National
Parks and what can best be done to promote the welfare of the Parks
and make them better for the purpose for which they were created."
This brought together a large gathering of men of affairs and
distinctly furthered the creation of the National Park Service.
The National Park Service is one of the subdivisions of the Department
of the Interior. The Service was created by an act of Congress in
1916, after a campaign that lasted for seven years. At its head is a
Director. It gives the Parks an official standing and the care and
development and administration needed.
All National Parks and twenty-one of the National Monuments are in
charge of the National Park Service. As Monuments are scenic and
educational reservations, it is plain that all these Monuments might
well be in charge of the National Park Service. Then, too, the name
"Monument" might well be changed to "Park."
Considering the far-reaching influence of the Parks on the general
welfare, in a few years they might be placed under a cabinet officer
who could appropriately be called the Secretary of National Parks.