8 DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL PARKS. 



jurisdiction of the Interior Department. This substitutes efficiency 

 for the former haphazard consideration of each separate park by a 

 small force in the office of the chief clerk of the department, already 

 burdened with numerous other important duties. 



This measure provides for the appointment of a director and as- 

 sistant director as the executive officers of the bureau and a small 

 corps of clerks, stenographers, etc., all charged with the perform- 

 ance of duties relating solely to the administration and supervision 

 of the national park system. It is an important step forward which 

 renders possible the realization of the manifest destiny of our na- 

 tional parks as one economic asset 



TWO NEW NATIONAL PARKS. 



Next in importance may be mentioned the creation of the new 

 Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, and the Hawaii Na- 

 tional Park which embraces the craters of the three great volcanoes, 

 Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Haleakala, on the Hawaiian Islands. 



A bill providing the creation of Mount McKinley National Park 

 in Alaska passed the Senate, and is now pending in the House of 

 Representatives, and a bill providing for the extension of the bound- 

 aries of the Rocky Mountain National Park to include a number of 

 natural features possessing unusual scenic value passed the House 

 of Representatives, and is now awaiting consideration in the Senate. 



Three other bills placed on the statute books by the Sixty-fourth 

 Congress relate to Federal exclusive jurisdiction of Yellowstone, 

 Mount Rainier, and Crater Lake National Parks. A defect in the 

 act of May 7, 1894, relating to the punishment of misdemeanors in 

 the Yellowstone National Park, was corrected. Exclusive jurisdic- 

 tion of Mount Rainier and Crater Lake National Parks had pre- 

 viously been ceded to the Federal Government, and by the act of 

 June 30, 1916, and the act of August 21, 1916, respectively, the 

 tendered jurisdiction of these parks was accepted and provision made 

 for United States commissioners to punish violations of the Federal 

 laws, rules, and regulations of the respective parks. 



These laws are important because they give the Government better 

 control of the three parks involved and assure their better protection 

 from depredations. Cession of jurisdiction over Yosemite, Sequoia, 

 General Grant, and Lassen Volcanic Parks in California and Mesa 

 Verde and Rocky Mountain National Parks in Colorado to the 

 Federal Government is earnestly recommended, and steps should be 

 taken to secure the passage of measures designed to accomplish this 

 purpose by the Legislatures of California and Colorado. 



