Editorials 



433 



that the conservation of our natural resources, though the gravest prob- 

 lem of today, is yet but part of another and greater problem to which 

 this nation is not yet awake, but to which it will awake in time, and 

 with which it must hereafter grapple if it is to live — the problem of 

 national efficiency, the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and con- 

 tinuance of the nation." 



There has not been in the past, and we may question whether there 

 can arise in the future, a man who so richly deserves to be memorial- 

 ized in the establishment of a national park. W. F. B. 



The National After reading the 1918 report of the Director of the 

 Park Service National Park Service, we feel moved to express our 

 warmest appreciation of the able and far-sighted man- 

 agement of our national playgrounds by Director Stephen T. Mather. 

 Altogether admirable was the firmness with which the Interior Depart- 

 ment refused all applications for sheep-grazing in the parks. The more 

 determined of the park invaders, cloaking their hope of private gain 

 under a show of public service with mutton and wool, even applied to 

 the Food Administration for aid in opening Rainier National Park to 

 sheep. But Mr. Hoover promptly concurred in the view that "the Gov- 

 ernment's policy should be to decline absolutely all such requests." It 

 is a well-known fact that even a short period of grazing by sheep com- 

 pletely destroys many species of beautiful wild flowers that are the 

 glory of our mountain parks. Crater Lake Park, as Mr. Mather points 

 out, has not recovered its extinguished flora after a lapse of twenty- 

 five years. The damage done there by sheep is irreparable. 



Among features of the service which are deserving of special com- 

 mendation and public support is the effort to turn the parks to practical 

 account in the public schools. This is being done in classes of geog- 

 raphy and general science through the medium of literature and picture 

 portfolios, furnished by the National Park Service. A beginning has 

 also been made with traveling exhibits of national park pictures, mo- 

 tion-picture films, and lantern-slides. The need of restoring and pre- 

 serving as much as possible the wild-life resources of the national parks 

 has also received Mr. Mather's careful attention. The presence of an 

 abundant fauna greatly enhances the recreational appeal which a peo- 

 ple's playground makes to the traveling public, and thus increases its 

 potential economic value as well. 



A fact of good augury for the steady growth and development of our 

 national park system is the Congressional authorization of the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior to accept gifts of land areas and other property 

 that will improve the parks. A considerable number of important gifts 

 for such purposes have already been made, notably that of the old Tioga 

 Road, in the Yosemite Park, and a section of the Giant Forest — both of 

 them invaluable additions to the parks. We are so filled with enthusi- 



