242 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



monuments many passing visitors. The two systems 

 must not be confused nor mixed. 



PATRIOTIC. and SOCIAL FUNCTIONS 



Another function of the National Parks System 

 second only to its inspirational and educational func- 

 tion, I want especially to emphasize. That is its im- 

 portance as a formal visible expression of the great- 

 ness and beauty of this nation among the nations. 

 Much value both to nation and individual flows di- 

 rectly from this conception. The sentiment which 

 brings the majority of the people so promptly to the 

 defense of the system when endangered by invasion 

 is very far removed, indeed, from the "sentimentali- 

 ty" with which defenders of the System are always 

 charged, unless national pride can be so termed. 



The Parks help very practically in a social prob- 

 lem of profound usefulness to so heterogeneous a 

 nation spread over so large a territory. In hotels and 

 camps, before mighty spectacles of nature, on trail 

 and at night around camp-fires, meet Americans of 

 every kind, occupation and degree of fortune from 

 every corner of the country. Every summer we meet 

 a few of the distinguished and the conspicuous in 

 the national parks. Politicians, merchants, legisla- 

 tors, artists, architects, bankers, scientists, judges, 

 millionaires and the merely fashionable all are repre- 

 sented. But we also meet in immense numbers busi- 

 ness and professional men and their families, teach- 

 ers, lawyers, brokers, manufacturers of everything 



