State Parks of Wisconsin 



destruction of the finest remaining bits of scenery goes on more and 

 more rapidly." What is true of Massachusetts is true of New 

 York, where the State paid a milHon and a half dollars to recover a 

 poor portion of the great tract at Niagara Falls which it had formerly 

 owned. The coast of Maine, the mountains of New Hampshire 

 and Vermont, the natural treasures of other States — all enforce this 

 lesson of lost opportunity, a failure to recognize and provide for the 

 necesssities of the many as against the privileges of the few. Strik- 

 ing examples could be taken from Wisconsin itself, in the history of 

 Lake Geneva, Lake Oconomowoc, the Dells of the Wisconsin, and 

 Devil's Lake. While the State of Wisconsin is large, the amount 

 of natural scenery suited in character, location and extent for public 

 parks is relatively limited and the best is apt to be taken first by pri- 

 vate individuals. The population is steadily increasing; attractive 

 open spaces are as steadily decreasing in number and increasing in 

 value ; therefore, unless action is taken in time, there is a grave dan- 

 ger of what may be called physical and moral suffocation. 



[20] 



