REPORT OF THE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT AND LAND SCAPE GARDENER. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT AND San Francisco, Cal., Monadnock Building. SIR: The work in this office during the first year of its life has brought into strong relief the need of further study of the problems involved in the administration of our national parks. There is a growing feeling that our scenic areas, and particularly those which have been set aside as national parks, have not received the attention which their importance as a factor in both the economic and aesthetic development of our country would seem to justify. This is evidenced by the marked increase in the attention paid by the press to the affairs of our parks and by the apparent desire on the part of the public to know more of them and the particular part they play in the life of the Nation. That the expenditure of money for the maintenance and development of our scenic reservations has an economic as well as aesthetic justification there can be no doubt, for each year large sums of money have left this country to be spent by tourists in foreign lands in search of scenic beauty. The fact that no material proportion of this sum returns is only less provoking than the knowledge that the money thus taken abroad by Americans is spent to view natural attractions that are inferior to those which may be found at home. In your report of 1913 you stated that land is not always land, but is sometimes coal, sometimes timber. One might add that it is sometimes scenery and, as such, merits the careful study and development that would be extended to other national resources. The condition of travel in foreign lands has stimulated the interest of our people in the merits of similar pleasures in this country. Never in history has there been so great a volume of travel in the United States. Surely it is the part of wisdom to retain this great advantage and to crystalize upon a general policy for the administration of our national parks. FUNCTIONS OF OUR NATIONAL PARKS. The first step in the consideration of a general policy for the administration of the national parks is the determination of just what functions they perform. Clearly they are not designated solely for the purpose of supplying recreation grounds. The fostering of recreation purely as such is more properly the function of the city, county, and State parks, and there should be a clear distinction between the character of such parks and national parks. The latter fully justifies the plea for further aid, both moral and financial, from our Federal Government. If this aid is granted and a systematic effort is put forth to send our people out into the hinterland of this country, we shall be confronted by the problem of caring for a flood of tourists whose needs must be anticipated. THE TOURIST. The first logical step to be taken in an analysis of the conditions of tourist travel is a study of the tourist himself. Primarily, the tourist takes the line of least resistance. This means that he seeks the path that presents the best accommodations for the least cost. From a record of travel in our parks it may be shown that the finest scenery without accommodations will not receive so large a travel as an inferior character of scenery which has a better type of accommodation. The tourist who upon the strength of literature issued by the department travels to our parks is more or less justified in holding the Federal Government responsible for his comforts or discomforts while there. Nor is he backward with criticism. He demands that he be instructed as to the merits of this trail or that, this camp or that. He not infrequently is disappointed in not finding luxuries that he would not expect in similar places under other than Federal control. He invariably overlooks the fact that he, in a way, is part of the Government, and therefore indirectly responsible for the conditions he finds. Nevertheless, his demands must be respected if it is hoped to direct his footsteps to travel in our country. The three potent factors in influencing tourist travel are publicity, accommodations, and transportation. Obviously, the tourist must be informed of the merits of the district to which it is desired to bring him. He must then be shown that the accommodations at that place are satisfactory; and, last, he must know that the transportation facilities to, through, and from the location are good and may be had at reasonable cost. These three factors should constantly be borne in mind in any planning for the development of tourist travel. The three general classes of tourists who visit our parks are: Those to whom the expense is of little moment; those who, in moderate financial circumstances, travel in comfort but dispense with luxuries; and, third, those who, fired with the love of God's out-of-doors, save their pennies in anticipation of the day when they may feast their eyes upon the eternal expanse of snow-clad peaks and azure skies. It is of this latter class that I would speak. Many of our parks are truly vast in area, encompassing within their boundaries innumerable wonders. To reach these the tourist, upon arriving at the park, must hire saddle animals, pack animals, a guide, cook, and other help. The expense of such an outfit is prohibitive to all but the wealthy. Those who have waited and saved their money are denied the fuller enjoyment of our parks, for they can not bear the expense of transporting their supplies over the trails. There is but one solution of the problem of caring for this class of tourists, and that is the establishment of small inns at convenient intervals, so that tourists may travel the trails afoot, purchasing their provisions and other necessities as they go. As you are aware, the first steps in an effort to bring about such a condition have been taken in Yosemite National Park. If this work is carried through, a blessing will have been conferred upon those whose lack of money has shut them from the greater part of our national parks. It will also be, in my opinion, the most potent factor in retaining, through the medium of our parks, a material percentage of tourist travel and will necessitate a careful consideration of the problem of a general policy. Any plan, however, which may be devised for the management of our national parks should not be predicated upon the assumption that their function is solely to accommodate and retain our tourists in this country. A GENERAL POLICY. A policy to be efficient must be functional. One for the parks, therefore, must take into consideration the distinctive characteristics of national parks which, as before stated, are relative to the furthering of a national patriotism, public knowledge and health, and tourist travel in the home land. Upon consideration it will be seen that the first two follow as a natural consequence of the last. In the consideration of a general policy we are concerned primarily, therefore, with tourist travel. To foster tourist travel it will be necessary to develop the roads, trails, and other accommodations in the parks to a point where the traveler will not be subjected to serious discomfort. This means the expenditure of money upon a larger scale than has been the practice heretofore, and the first question that should be settled is, What shall be the source of supply? There are but two practical sources from which funds may be secured, namely, by Federal appropriation and by revenues from the parks themselves. Both resources are now resorted to, each of which is inadequate. If the Federal Government is to support the parks, then they should be operated so as to make the cost to the tourist as low as possible. If not, then the various sources in the parks themselves should be developed sufficiently to supply the needed money. The sources of revenue from the parks fall into four classes: 1. Automobile permits. 2. Concessions of various kinds. 3. Receipts from public utilities operated by the Government, such as light, telephone, etc. 4. Natural resources, such as timber, stone, fuel, etc. Of these four sources it will be seen that they may all be classified as taxes in proportion to the benefit received rather than the ability to pay. An analysis of this character may help in the decision of the policy to be pursued, but it can do no more. The decision must be made in the light of public needs, and the park supervisors should know whether they are to develop the park revenues to their maximum, or whether the park is to be administered at the lowest possible cost to the tourist. If the question of finances were settled, in so far as the source is concerned, and a well-crystalized policy, looking toward the development of the parks along lines that will foster the increase of tourist travel in this country, is established, much of the delay and confusion in the field will be eliminated. WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. The work in this office has been distributed among the parks, giving attention where it seemed to be most needed. One of the first steps taken after the creation of this office was the laying out of organization charts for the office of the general superintendent and a typical organization chart for the Yosemite National Park. Three charts were drawn-one for the office of the general superintendent, one organization chart for the Yosemite National Park, and a functional organization chart making a complete and detailed analysis of the functions of the various officers in Yosemite National Park. INSTALLATION OF COST-KEEPING SYSTEM IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. With these organization charts well in mind, a system was devised which will enable the department to keep a close and accurate record of the operations in the parks where the system was adopted. This system was installed in the Yosemite National Park, and the records and information shown in the monthly reports therefrom enable this office to make many material reductions in the cost of operation. For example, the report of May, 1915, showed a cost of $1.66 per mile for sprinkling roads. The analysis given in the report enabled us to find the leaks and losses, and the monthly report for August, 1915, after repairs had been made to the sprinkling system, showed a cost of 72 cents per mile for sprinkling roads. Similar reductions were made possible in other departments. This system of cost keeping comprises two general divisions, namely, statistical reports and financial reports. Copies of the monthly reports are forwarded to the department, showing clearly the operations of the month. Before this system could be installed it was necessary to take an inventory of the physical assets, such as buildings, bridges, power plant, materials on hand, etc. This inventory was made, and disclosed the astounding fact that there were in the Yosemite National Park on April 30, 1915, $23,625.34 represented by materials and supplies on hand. The inventory further showed that the assets in the park in the form of construction work done, utilities, etc., amounted to $613,635.03, apportioned in the following manner: Construction work, such as trails, bridges, culverts, etc.. Equipment, comprising live stock, wagons, machinery, etc. $453, 923. 15 96, 601. 75 36, 434. 29 23, 625.34 3,050.50 613, 635. 03 The items that go to make up this inventory are segregated, showing fully what has been expended on each piece of work, and it is proposed hereafter to keep a record so that the department will have on file the amount of money spent on each road, trail, bridge, and every other feature in the park that demands an expenditure of money. It is considered that only in this way will it be possible to carefully |