LAND FOR WILD LIFE AND RECREATION 229 



structed and clean. The rates charged are limited so that the 

 operator can earn no more than a set amount of profit. 



The rates charged by the private operators in the parks 

 determine in a large part the extent to which the citizens of 

 the United States can use the parks. The aim of the Park Serv 

 ice is to provide accommodation for both rich and poor. How 

 ever, in some parks, the cost of living in all but the lowest type 

 of accommodations is more than the average person can pay. 

 Many of these average people would be unhappy in the one 

 type of quarters they could afford in a park. Thus the use of 

 the parks is to a certain extent restricted to those with a larger 

 than average income. 



There is another side of the financial management of parks. 

 Many parks, like Yosemite, were originally state parks which 

 were later turned over to the Department of the Interior. In 

 turning over the rights to the park the states also turned over 

 the rights to tax property in the park. In Yosemite there is in 

 vested $5,000,000 of private capital. The owners of these invest 

 ments pay no taxes in the county, which once included the park, 

 or to the state of California. Their only taxes are paid to the fed 

 eral government. This means that the country which once col 

 lected the taxes from this land now has less revenue. 



Take Yosemite as an example of another way in which the 

 county lost revenue. Recently a large tract of sugar pine was 

 taken over by the park. This tract of sugar pine had been in a 

 national forest. Under Forest Service regulations, a certain 

 portion of this timber was cut each year and sold, and one-third 

 of the revenue of this sale was paid to the county for schools 

 and roads. 



Those who favor the present system say that after all, the 

 tourists coming to see the sugar pines will spend more money 

 in the area than would have been made in taxes. This increase 

 in tourist trade will offset the loss in taxes. Those who argue on 

 the other side say that most of this tourist money is spent in the 



