WILDERNESS RESERVES 289 



liever in manliness, and therefore in manly sport, and 

 every lover of nature, every man who appreciates the 

 majesty and beauty of the wilderness and of wild life, 

 should strike hands with the far-sighted men who wish 

 to preserve our material resources, in the effort to keep 

 our forests and our game beasts, game birds, and game 

 fish indeed, all the living creatures of prairie, and 

 woodland, and seashore from wanton destruction. 



Above all, we should realize that the effort toward 

 this end is essentially a democratic movement. It is en- 

 tirely in our power as a nation to preserve large tracts of 

 wilderness, which are valueless for agricultural purposes 

 and unfit for settlement, as playgrounds for rich and poor 

 alike, and to preserve the game so that it shall continue 

 to exist for the benefit of all lovers of nature, and to give 

 reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the 

 hunter, whether he is or is not a man of means. But this 

 end can only be achieved by wise laws and by a resolute 

 enforcement of the laws. Lack of such legislation and 

 administration will result in harm to all of us, but most 

 of all in harm to the nature lover who does not possess 

 vast wealth. Already there have sprung up here and 

 there through the country, as in New Hampshire and the 

 Adirondacks, large private preserves. These preserves 

 often serve a useful purpose, and should be encouraged 

 within reasonable limits; but it would be a misfortune 

 if they increased beyond a certain extent or if they took 

 the place of great tracts of wild land, which continue as 

 such either because of their very nature, or because of 

 the protection of the State exerted in the form of making 



