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 should constitute a class that is of national interest. In the category of national parks should be no reservation that is of local interest only. What, then, are the functions of our national parks as distinguished from State and local parks? As I view this question our national parks should serve three distinct functions: 1. The stimulating of national patriotism. 2. The furthering of knowledge and health. 3. The diverting of tourist travel to the scenic areas of the United States. NATIONAL PATRIOTISM. We, as a people, have been accused of lacking in that love of country with which our neighbors in Europe are so plentifully blessed. Whether such a criticism is merited or not, it is certain that local patriotism has rapidly grown in this country more or less at the expense of patriotism for the country as a whole. This condition would not exist if our people knew their country. To love a thing one must know it. The Belgian knows each hill and dale of his small country and loves it with an intensity that has become proverbial. And so it is with the Swiss, the French, the English. These peoples know their lands and love them. But ours is a great country, stretching from sea to sea, and a knowledge of all its glories is given to but few. What more noble purpose could our national parks serve than to become the instrument by which the people shall be lured into the far corners of their land that they may learn to love it? For one who will encompass the circuit of our parks, passing over the great mesas of Colorado, crossing the painted desert, threading the sparkling Sierra Nevada, and viewing the glaciers and snow-capped peaks of the great Northwest will surely return with a burning determination to love and work for, and if necessary to fight for and die for the glorious land which is his. KNOWLEDGE AND HEALTH. I have said that it is my opinion the Federal Government is not justified in maintaining a national park for recreation purposes alone, yet it is readily seen from the character of our reservations that each has its recreational feature. I do believe, however, that objects and districts of great educational value should be reserved and placed in the category of national parks. Natural phenomena, great canyons, ruins of antiquity, waterfalls-all are objects of great interest and possess an educational value that can not be estimated. In Yellowstone are the geysers, in Yosemite the highest of waterfalls, in Sequoia the largest and oldest trees on earth, trees that were 3,000 years old when Christ was born. In Wind Cave National Park is a cave that comprises over 90 miles of sparkling passages. At Arkansas Hot Springs and Platt National Park are medicinal waters that have dispelled the pain of legions of sufferers. In Mesa Verde National Park are the crumbling dwellings of a forgotten race. Pregnant with mystery and romance, these ancient ruins beckon the traveler across the great green mesa and cast about him the spell of endless conjecture. If for no other reason, the value of these treasures as a medium for the furthering of knowledge and health 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 |