SYMPOSIUM OX SCIENCE AND RECONSTRUCTION 65 



My second point is. that no method is more sure of mind 

 and soul enlargement, so that broader and higher vision 

 may attain than to send to the hills and woods, these tired 

 and business befogged men of alfairs. and let them absorb 

 from the ozone of air and rock, water and leaf, new and 

 more extended outlook, with broader horizon and higher 

 vault of heaven, with purer and sweeter breath of life, and 

 with food and drink stimulating to more perfect growth in 

 manly power and experience. The man who drinks in the 

 love of Xature and studies her varied phases, is not a 

 wrecker of the commonwealth or a despoiler of her best 

 interests. 



And again, I hold, that these schools of God's Outdoors 

 are not merely the best places for broadening the charac- 

 ters and forging principles of eternal right and justice, 

 because their influence is always uplifting and never at 

 variance with normal development ; but that further, the 

 State has no force at its command, that, for the minimum 

 of expenditure will produce such a maximum of increment 

 in citizens strong in body, acute in mind, clear in vision, 

 broad in humanity, deep in reverence, loyal in patriotism ; 

 for Xature teaches no heresy and breathes no false doc- 

 trines of social or political expediency, but ever demands 

 the best. 



When we look at the condition of atfairs in our own great 

 state, we find her woefully behind her sister and neighbor- 

 ing commonwealths. It may be news to many of you that 

 our nearest neighbors on the north and west, Wisconsin 

 and Iowa, neither possessing but a fraction of our great 

 wealth and resources, are far more long-sighted and prov- 

 ident than we are. Iowa has a law on her statute books 

 permitting and appropriating a large sum annually for the 

 purchase of large or small tracts of land possessing desir- 

 able features that ought to be preserved and conserved 

 for the people. In this way a lotus lake here, a fine 

 primeval forest there, an area of clitf and stream or a piece 

 of original prairie are bought, and a well trained corps of 

 enthusiastic men and women are ever on the search for any 

 obtainable lands. In this simple and perfectly feasible 

 way, Iowa has now between 20 and 30 state parks and 

 reservations purchased or provision made for their acquire- 

 ment. It is needless to sa}^ her citizens, from Gov. Hard- 



