28 THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 



greater parks of the Far West. The proposal has the approval 

 of the American Automobile Association and the support of 

 the National Park Service. 



There was much argument, pro and con, before the automo- 

 bile was permitted to enter the parks in the early years of 

 Secretary Lane's incumbency. Those opposed to its admis- 

 sion held that to do so would be a violation of the National 

 Park Idea in that it would be an essential ignoring of that 

 part of the "Idea" which contemplated the retention of the 

 parks in their original condition. It was argued on the other 

 hand, that the admission of the auto would render the parks 

 more accessible to the people and thus make of them to a 

 much fuller extent "public parks and pleasuring-grounds." 

 There seems to be no question that a great and ever-increas- 

 ing number of people are visiting the parks in this manner, as 

 an examination of the statistics in the appendix will disclose. 

 Moreover, the automobile has been a most important revenue- 

 producer. Director Mather stated at the sundry civil hearings 

 of December i6, 1920, that about 60 per cent of the revenue 

 collected in the parks during the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1920, came from this source. 



In the construction of this highway it is proposed that the 

 eleven states concerned build those sections passing through 

 well-settled portions of their respective territories, and that 

 the National Government assist in constructing those sections 

 traversing thinly populated regions. 



The sundry civil act of June 12, 1917 (40 Stat. L., 153) 

 provided that after July i, 1918, all revenues from national 

 parks except those from Hot Springs should be covered into 

 the Treasury to the credit of miscellaneous receipts. Previous 

 to that time the revenues had been expended in the parks in 

 which earned. The relation of these revenues to the amounts 

 granted by Congress forms an interesting study. The total 

 appropriations for 1920 totalled $907,070.76 and the revenues 

 for the same period totalled $316,877.96, or approximately 

 35 per cent of the cost of maintenance. The total appropria- 



