204 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



Nider, Mrs. Ames, Mrs. Taylor, and Mrs. Sawyer, have done splendid 

 work along the lines sugested by Governor Clarke last year. Women's 

 clubs all over the state have taken up the work. Several of them have 

 nature departments. In Cedar Rapids the nature department of the 

 Woman's club is the biggest and most popular deparment of the Woman's 

 club. And the same men, members of this society and others, have con- 

 tinued to plead, as they have been pleading for many years, for the con- 

 servation of Iowa's wild life and beauty until I verily believe all this 

 good missionary work has converted practically every thinking man and 

 woman in the state, with the possible exception of the members of the 

 present general assembly. 



Seriously, I believe that what is most needed now is a voice to cry 

 aloud to the legislature. Let him tell the senators and representatives 

 what other states have done and are doing and plead with them to put 

 Iowa where she belongs in the procession of progressive states. Let 

 him dwell for a little while on the fact that corn and pork and dollars 

 are great assets but that after all, they are only a means to aid the peo- 

 ple to reach higher levels of culture and enjoyment. And then let him 

 tell the legislature what several of our sister states are doing. Prac- 

 tically, all of the states of the east have long had state and interstate 

 parks. Many of the western states are awake to their opportunities and 

 aware of their responsibilities. Minnesota has her magnificent Lake 

 Itasca Park, Wisconsin her beautiful Glenn Park directly opposite the 

 proposed national park at McGregor. Minnesota and Wisconsin have a 

 famous interstate park at the Dalles of the Saint Croix and Wisconsin has 

 made a park of her own at the Dalles of the Wisconsin, and has several 

 other state parks. 



These are but a few instances of what other state legislatures are 

 doing. It is time for the Iowa legislature to do something for Iowa. I 

 sincerely hope that our legislative committee which is headed by Repre- 

 sentative Horchem, will be able to induce the legislatures to make a start 

 in this great work. A very small almost an infinitesimally small in- 

 crease in the levy would be sufficient. 



Magnificent work has been done in placing the (pro-position for a 

 great national park at McGregor before the people of this and other 

 states. For aid in this work, this association is much indebted to the 

 Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs, and especially to the conservation 

 department of the federation. Not only have the members o>f this de- 

 partment given many addresses and written many articles regarding this 

 park but they have helped to defray the expenses of similar work by 

 other speakers and writers. 



We hope that the national government will accept the recommenda- 

 tion of the agent of the department of the interior and set aside 14,500 

 acres of the sublimest scenery in Iowa and Wisconsin for a national 

 park. If that is done the state ought to acquire some other strips of 

 timber lands near by, especially some of the Oneota river valley. And if 

 it is not done by the government, then Iowa, herself, ought to acquire 

 this beautiful park and join with Wisconsin's Glenn Park in a great in- 

 terstate park on both sides of the Mississippi. 



