THE NATIONAL PARKS SYSTEM 265 



with enormous energy. Assuming that an area of 

 any scenic quality at any distance from tourist plea- 

 sure routes would draw extensive motor patronage 

 if called a National Park, and seeking development 

 and upkeep for local parks at national expense, lo- 

 calities in many states have pressed demands con- 

 tinually upon Congress for national parks at home. 

 Some offered to buy and give property to the nation, 

 others have demanded that neighboring national for- 

 ests should be turned into national parks. As we go 

 to press a movement develops to eliminate the pro- 

 tective control of the Secretary of the Interior. 



3. The Automobile Invasion began when con- 

 tinent-wide motor touring reached national parks 

 about 1916. Ignorant of park conceptions and stand- 

 ards, eager to view the wonders of American scen- 

 ery, eager especially to see their newly accessible 

 West, the rushing hordes of the wheel were kept 

 from trampling out of existence the precious irre- 

 placeable quality of the primitive only by their need 

 to hold the road. There has been found a solution 

 to this problem. Through government limitation of 

 national park roads the people may control this inno- 

 cent, amiable, overgrown, ungovernable agency of 

 dire destruction. By concentrating the crowd in 

 chosen centres within the parks, a unique American 

 Institution may be preserved for posterity. 



A more interesting situation for the student of 

 the times than this triple invasion, to say nothing of 

 its importance to people and nation, has rarely of- 



