328 Presidential Addresses 



ture and the hardihood to take advantage of it, with 

 small regard for what their fortune may be. I can 

 not too often repeat that the essential feature in the 

 present management of the Yellowstone Park, as 

 in all similar places, is its essential democracy it 

 is the preservation of the scenery, of the forests, of 

 the wilderness life and the wilderness game for the 

 people as a whole, instead of leaving the enjoyment 

 thereof to be confined to the very rich who can con 

 trol private reserves. I have been literally astounded 

 at the enormous quantities of elk and at the number 

 of deer, antelope and mountain sheep which I have 

 seen on their wintering grounds; and the deer and 

 sheep in particular are quite as tame as range stock. 

 A few buffalo are being preserved. I wish very 

 much that the government could somewhere provide 

 for an experimental breeding station of cross-breeds 

 between buffalo and the common cattle. If these 

 cross-breeds could be successfully perpetuated we 

 should have animals which would produce a robe 

 quite as good as the old buffalo robe with which 

 twenty years ago every one was familiar, and ani 

 mals moreover which would be so hardy that I think" 

 they would have a distinct commercial importance. 

 They would, for instance, be admirably suited for 

 Alaska, a territory which I look to see develop 

 astoundingly within the next decade or two, not 

 only because of its furs and fisheries, but because of 

 its agricultural and pastoral possibilities. 



