86 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZIN 



Thus the National Geographic Society 

 has conveyed to the United States Gov- 

 ernment a total acreage in Sequoia Na- 

 tional Park of [,916 acres, purchased at 

 a total cost of $96,330. 



EVERY MEMBEB has a PART IX GIFT 



Jt should be noted that the gifts were 

 nor solicited by The Society. The Na- 

 tional Geographic Society asks its mem- 

 bership for no contributions of any sort. 

 Its publications and its scientific and edu- 

 cational activities are entirely supported 

 by their dues. 



Every member of The Society may 

 feel that he had a part in this enduring 

 gift to his country and to posterity, for 

 the funds appropriated directly by The 

 Society for the purchase of the Sequoias 

 came from the fraction of the dues of 

 members set aside for such benefactions. 



The tender was made in the name of 

 the National Geographic Society because, 

 as the Director of the National Park 

 Service, Mr. Mather, put it : "It is only 

 proper that this gift should come to the 

 government through the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, in view of the keen in- 

 terest which The Society has taken in the 

 purchase of the other private holdings in 

 this park. It was through direct gifts by 

 your Society that we were able to save 

 the Giant Forest, which contains the 

 finest stand of Sequoia Washingtoniana 

 in the Sierra." 



SECRETARY FALIv ACKNOWLEDGES GIFT 



Following the presentation, Albert B. 

 Fall, Secretary of the Interior, wrote to 

 Gilbert Grosvenor, President of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society : 



I )r \k Mr. Grosvenor : 



h was a very pleasant surprise when you 

 called on me on April 20 and, on behalf of the 

 National Geographic Society, presented the 

 title deeds and other pertinent papers convey- 

 ing to the United States the so-called Martin 

 tract of 640 acres in the Sequoia National 

 Park, recently purchased at a cost of $55,000 

 by your Society, through the generosity of its 

 members, in order that this area with its fine 

 stand of trees might be preserved for the 

 American people. 



1 have already personally expressed to you 

 my sincere thanks and my acceptance of the 

 proffered gift. Your Society on several pre- 

 ceding occasions has stepped in at a crucial 

 moment and acquired several similar areas in 

 this same park, thereby saving from extermi- 

 nation other wonderful trees that would other- 

 wise have fallen under the axe. 



Your Society is to be highly commended on 

 its substantial expression of a high public 

 spirit, and on behalf of the United States I 

 again want to express to you, and through you 

 to the contributors, my deepest appreciation of 

 your generous and considerate action. 



Respectfully, 



Albert B. Fat.l. 

 Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor, 



President, National Geographic Society, 

 Washington, D. C. 



To mankind, throughout the ages, trees 

 have been the most human-like, the most 

 companionable, of all inanimate things. 

 Aristotle thought they must have percep- 

 tions and passions. An infinitely more 

 scientific generation still is sensible to 

 their mystical power. 



More and more will Americans visit 

 Sequoia National Park to gaze upon the 

 majesty of "Nature's forest master- 

 pieces" in their last stand. National 

 Geographic Society members may well be 

 proud that they had a part in preserving 

 for all time these mementoes of a past 

 far beyond the records of written history. 



INDEX FOR JANUARY-JUNE, 1921, VOLUME READY 

 Index for Volume XXXIX (January-June, 1921) will be mailed to members upon request. 



