500 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



merits for projects which fit within the purview of the statewide 

 plan. We are not authorized under that statute and with those 

 funds to bypass the State governments, if you want to use that term, 

 and go directly to the county. 



I might say that we have had very strong support from the coun- 

 ties, very close working relationships with the association of county 

 officials and the mayors and the local groups in connection with 

 this program. But it is necessary that counties and municipalities 

 tie in through the State. 



STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 



SAUL B. COHEN. Large tracts of Federally owned land, in the 

 form of forts, camps, and bases that have fallen into disuse are being 

 sold piecemeal or are being stockpiled without adequate regard for 

 medium- and long-term alternative uses. I would like to recommend 

 to the Recreation Advisory Council that it propose to the Department 

 of Defense that the latter conduct an inventory and prepare a use- 

 plan both for disposition, or temporary use, of such tracts. Whether 

 we speak of long-abandoned island forts, or of recently closed camps 

 and bases, we should look at these tracts as part of a total package, 

 not as isolated pieces. Higher and better use of the land, when 

 viewed from the pattern and scale of the totality, is apt to take a far 

 different tack, than if viewed from the individual tract. The result 

 can have a significant impact upon outdoor recreational and national 

 beauty programs. 



PATRICK HORSBRUGH. The all-embracing subject of the condi- 

 tion of the human environment implied by the phrase, natural beauty, 

 so readily understood by those at the conference, requires to be given 

 a clearer and more purposeful identity and political punch. 



Even though these environmental issues transcend partisanship, 

 there can be little doubt that the redeeming strategy, standards, and 

 seemliness represent, inevitably, political problems and political pro- 

 cedure. But there exists no recognized lobby whereby ideas and 

 policies can be processed and pressed as is the case with the lobbies 

 maintained by the legal and medical associations. The stability of 

 society rests upon three principal conditions: social order, personal 

 hygiene, and physical conditions. Where is the advantage of the 

 rule of law if the envirium is disreputable? What is the value of 

 medical standard if the envirial health is obviously sickening? 



