OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



65 



RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY THE SOCIETY 



1909—1922 



January 28, 1913. 



Whereas, The provision of the Sundry Civil 

 Bill repealing the Tarsney Act will result in 

 putting the design and construction of build- 

 ings to be erected by the Federal Government 

 in the hands of salaried officials of probably in- 

 ferior architectural attainment and, therefore, 

 unlikely to produce buildings of a high order 

 of merit, and 



Whereas, In consequence, the provision 

 above referred to will be highly detrimental 

 to the character of architectural work to be 

 undertaken by the Federal Government at pub- 

 lic expense, and 



Whereas, A public building should not only 

 be a work of art, but is necessarily the most 

 conspicious kind of work of art, and in many 

 places the only work of art within reach, and 

 will, therefore have a continual and far reach- 

 ing effect on the taste and education of the 

 people; and it is, therefore, of the highest im- 

 portance that public buildings should be de- 

 signed by the best skill available, this being 

 only possible by the employment of those, who 

 wherever they may be found, are best qualified 

 for the work, and 



Whereas, Buildings planned under the sole 

 control of a Government Department are like- 

 ly to have the character of routine work, and 

 to be of small or even detrimental value as 

 works of art, and 



Whereas, While the landscape architects are 

 not as a rule primarily concerned in the de- 

 sign and construction of buildings, the settings 

 or surroundings which should form a unit with 

 the building, come under their charge, and they 

 realize that it is impossible to produce a satis- 

 factory work of which the most conspicuous 

 part is of inferior design. 



Resolved, That the Society of Landscape 

 Architects hereby expresses its profound re- 

 gret that this action has been taken in the 

 name of an economy which experience has 

 shown to be false; and that it wishes to ex- 



press its earnest hope that a new law may soon 

 be passed, in which the provision of the Tars- 

 ney Act may be re-enacted and in some re- 

 spects bettered. 



February 14. 1916. 



Whereas, The need has long been felt not 

 only for more adequate protection of the sur- 

 passing beauty of those primeval landscapes 

 which the National Parks have been created to 

 perpetuate, but also for rendering this land- 

 scape beauty more readily enjoyable through 

 construction in these parks of certain neces- 

 sary roads and buildings for the accommoda- 

 tion of visitors in a way to bring the minimum 

 of injury to these primeval landscapes; 



Whereas, The meeting of this two-fold need 

 can only be expected to come from, on the one 

 hand, the creation of a special Government 

 Service charged with the sole responsibility for 

 the care and maintenance and, so far as need 

 be, the development, of these areas for their 

 primary recreative purpose, and, on the other 

 hand, from the securing by such Government 

 Service, when created, of the most expert pro- 

 fessional counsel to advise as to the actual 

 treatment of these areas, including their plan- 

 ning and the design of all necessary construc- 

 tions within them; 



Whereas, The Secretary of the Interior has 

 now appointed in responsible charge of these 

 National Parks, Stephen Tyng Mather, and as 

 General Superintendent of the National Parks, 

 under him and in direct responsible relation to 

 these Park areas, Robert Bradford Marshall, 

 both public servants of the highest character 

 and standing, and, in the judgment of this 

 Society, particularly qualified to be in admin- 

 istrative charge of these areas, and it is un- 

 derstood that they do not intend to accept or 

 adopt any comprehensive plans for these areas, 

 or designs for constructions which such plans 

 may provide for, without first securing the ap- 

 proval of qualified experts advisory, and an 



