American Big Game in its Haunts 



not merely for the sake of preserving the forests 

 and the water, but for the sake of preserving all its 

 beauties and wonders unspoiled by greedy and 

 shortsighted vandalism. These beauties and won- 

 ders include animate as well as inanimate objects. 

 The wild creatures of the wilderness add to it by 

 their presence a charm which it can acquire in no 

 other way. On every ground it is well for our 

 nation to preserve, not only for the sake of this 

 generation, but above all for the sake of those who 

 come after us, representatives of the stately and 

 beautiful haunters of the wilds which were once 

 found throughout our great forests, over the vast 

 lonely plains, and on the high mountain ranges, 

 but which are now on the point of vanishing save 

 where they are protected in natural breeding 

 grounds and nurseries. The work of preservation 

 must be carried on in such a way as to make it evi- 

 dent that we are working in the interest of the peo- 

 ple as a whole, not in the interest of any particular 

 class; and that the people benefited beyond all 

 others are those who dwell nearest to the regions 

 in which the reserves are placed. The movement 

 for the preservation by the nation of sections of the 

 wilderness as national playgrounds is essentially a 

 democratic movement in the interest of all our 

 people. 



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