ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



35 



such important work instead of wait- 

 ing for the uncertain initiative of 

 unorganized leaders of public senti- 

 ment. 



* * * 



The proposed publication might 

 well report for the Division of Parks. 

 Every state park adequately protect- 

 ed will automatically become more 

 or less a wild life refuge. The Divi- 

 sion of Parks comes under the 

 Department of Public Works and 

 Buildings of which Frank I. Bennett 

 of Chicago is Director. Frank D. 

 Lowman of Sandwich is Superin- 

 tendent of Parks. There is also 

 a Board of Parks and Building 

 Advisers of which Charles L. Hutch- 

 inson of Chicago is Chairman, the 

 other members being George W. 

 Maher and Frank E. Davidson, also 

 of Chicago, Julius W. Hegeler 

 of Danville, and S. R. Lewis of 

 Marseilles. This Board is supposed 

 to represent the old Park Commis- 

 sion which, under Prof. James A. 

 James as Chairman, arranged for the 

 purchase and organization into state 

 parks of the Starved Rock area, 855 

 acres, and the Fort Chartres area, 

 10 acres. This same Commission 

 reported favorably upon the purchase 

 of the Cahokia Mound and the White 

 Pine Forest of Ogle County, but the 

 opposition of Governors Yates and 

 Dunne prevented the purchase of 

 these areas. The report of that 

 Commission, dated 1913, is the last 

 official reference to the organization 

 of state parks in Illinois. 



The new Board of Parks and 

 Building Advisers above referred to 

 went into existence in 1917. This 

 Board does not seem to have in- 

 herited the program of the former 

 Park Commission which was to 

 study significant areas in Illinois with 

 reference to their suitability for state 

 parks and from time to time make 

 formal reports thereon to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly. The present Board 

 is made up of men of influence and 

 of large experience in public affairs, 

 but it has made no report or recom- 

 mendation upon this subject of the 

 extension of state parks. An inquiry 

 into the matter reveals the fact that 

 the Board is not supposed to act until 

 called upon by the state authorities 

 and then it can act only in an advis- 

 ory capacity. It possesses no power 

 of initiative. Unfortunately also, 

 there are no state authorities directly 



charged with the task of surveying 

 the natural resources of the state. 

 It would seem that in the process of 

 consolidating the various state com- 

 missions into administrative depart- 

 ments the old Park Commission lost 

 its significance. This should not be. 

 If there had been adequate facilities 

 for publicity, the present Board 

 could have called attention to its lack 

 of power of initiative. This number 

 of the Audubon Bulletin with Robert 

 Ridgway's stirring appeal for forest 

 and game preserves in Southern 

 Illinois and with the special articles 

 on the White Pine Forest and the 

 Palisades of the Mississippi is in- 

 tended to visualize the type of park 

 areas our state can well afford to 

 preserve. A state with such imperial 

 resources as those of Illinois need 

 not hesitate to invest liberally in 

 areas whose despoliation would be 

 an irreparable loss, material and 

 spiritual, to the state. 



We may w^ell ask leadership of our 

 state officials but we must give them 

 channels of publicity. What chance 

 is there for arousing the interest in 

 the important work of the Division 

 of Game and Fish, for example, and 

 for encouraging excellence on the 

 part of various officials in the dis- 

 charge of the duties of the Division 

 unless there is some opportunity to 

 let those who are well served know 

 the facts? It is probably true that 

 the Division has far too small a staff 

 of field agents to make its influence 

 felt generally in the state and this 

 accounts for the complaint that 

 comes in from various parts of the 

 state relative to inactivity of game 

 w r ardens. This is unfair to those 

 who are serving the state well. We 

 feel impatient that the Division of 

 Parks announces no far-reaching 

 program until we find that no one 

 has the initiative. It is nobody's 

 express business, as it were, but 

 surely there should be a way to 

 expose this weakness in our adminis- 

 trative organization. The remedy, 

 again, is publicity, and to this extent 

 the divisions concerned are re- 

 sponsible — they should make such an 

 outcry for more adequate support 

 that the rest of us would be 

 thoroughly miserable until we had 

 come to their assistance. Publicity's 

 the thing whereby — we get some- 

 where. 



