THE GENERAL SESSION 21 



Yes, more research is needed. 



Yes, better coordination is needed. 



Yes, more money for present programs is needed. 



All are indeed essential, but let's accept that truth and concentrate 

 on new ideas. 



This is our charge for the next two days new, practical ideas for 

 solving specific problems. 



Now, before we get to work in our panels, I would like to take 

 a few minutes to emphasize three points about the urgency and 

 importance of what we are doing. 



The first is that natural beauty must be an integral part of our 

 national life. It cannot be a frill or afterthought or a luxury subject 

 to the red pencil of accountants, public or private. It must be a vital 

 part of the way we build our country. 



Over the next 40 years we are going to rebuild this country. We 

 will build as many houses as we have since this country was first 

 settled. We will build enough offices and factories to create at 

 least one and a half million new jobs each year. We will complete 

 and expand our network of interstate highways and rebuild our 

 system of secondary roads. 



In doing all this, we must provide as much open space and park- 

 land as is possible. But the concrete that is poured and the steel 

 that is raised will have a far greater effect on our environment than 

 the land we can hope to save or restore. 



How we build our factories, how we create our next generation 

 of suburbs, how we build our great highway system will determine 

 in large measure how beautiful an America we will create for our 

 children and grandchildren. 



The second point is that natural beauty is basic to the spiritual 

 side of our national life. How we treat our land, how we build 

 upon it, how we act toward our air and water will in the long run 

 tell what kind of people we really are. 



Conservation, outdoor recreation, physical fitness, and environ- 

 mental health are all directly involved. Culture and education are 

 as well. 



Natural beauty, in short, is one of the very important expressions 

 of national character. 



The perception of beauty, Thoreau said, is a moral test. I sug- 

 gest that perception of beauty and action to preserve and create it 

 are a fundamental test of a great society. 



