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Sierra Club Bulletin 



enthusiasm, but cattle and timber interests, as well as the negative action 

 of the Forest Service in asking for additional time to investigate 

 (whereas they have already had five years in which to acquire this in- 

 formation), have managed to delay action in the House of Representa- 

 tives. Some, at least, of the sudden show of affection for the name 

 Sequoia is known to have been deliberately stimulated by a concealed 

 opposition. While it is a sound policy in principle not to change a name 

 like Sequoia for that of a man, this surely is one of the cases where the 

 principle is honored in the breach. We ought to recall that Roosevelt, 

 in 1908, called the famous Conference of Governors at the White House 

 in order to consider and provide for the conservation of our natural re- 

 sources, and at this conference the importance of national parks was 

 emphasized. "We want to take action that will prevent the advent of a 

 woodless age," he said in his remarkable opening address. Some idea 

 of what he did may be gathered from the fact that near the close of his 

 administration in 1908 there were 165 national forests, of which Roose- 

 velt had created 143, and seven additional ones were created by him 

 during the remainder of his administration. In other words, Roosevelt 

 increased the national forest area from 46,000,000 to 194,000,000 acres — 

 four times the original area and ten million acres to spare ! In the face 

 of facts like these one might expect all forest and park lovers to have 

 patriotic reasons for taking the lead in securing the consummation of a 

 project like the setting aside of the Roosevelt National Park. 



But these are not the only reasons that can be urged for the associ- 

 ation of Roosevelt's name with this measure. It was he who found the 

 way and set the example of creating by Presidential proclamation 

 twenty-three national monuments, whose unique, beautiful, and in some 

 cases awe-inspiring, scenic features are now a precious possession of the 

 American people. Other Presidents followed in his footsteps until now 

 we have at least thirty-six of these monuments. But those created by 

 Roosevelt constitute both in number and in character the most valuable 

 part. Among them was the Grand Canon of the Colorado, regarded by 

 some foreign experts as the greatest scenic wonder in the world. If 

 Roosevelt had not taken this action we probably would never have been 

 able to enroll it among our national parks, as has just been done by act 

 of Congress. 



Finally, Roosevelt during his administration secured the establish- 

 ment of five additional national parks, comprising an area of 390,000 

 acres, and established the precedent of urging the welfare of national 

 parks upon the attention of Congress in his rnessages. No other man 

 in American public life has done half as much to preserve for the use 

 and enjoyment of the American people resources of forests, water- 

 power, and scenery which are now an invaluable asset of our national 

 wealth. 



Nor let us overlook what Roosevelt did by his foresight to win the 

 great war, when, at the Conference of Governors in 1908, he sounded a 

 trumpet-call to the nation in these words: "Finally, let us remember 



