66 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



What is the effect of the scenic beauty of Washington upon 

 the citizens of the nation who come here? Is not their pride 

 awakened, their patriotism quickened, their love of country 

 increased by the dignity of man's effort for beauty here? Con- 

 sider wealthy Pittsburg, busy Cincinnati, proud Chicago, with 

 their wasteful smoke, their formless streets, their all-pervading 

 billboards and grime — would one of these serve to stimulate love 

 of country as the national capital? 



No, the unthinking and ofttimes unnecessary ugliness of civ- 

 ilization does not foster patriotism, nor does it promote the 

 health and happiness which are at the very basis of good citizen- 

 ship. When, in looking over the horrors of industrial civiliza- 

 tion, WilHam Morris urged humanitarian effort 



" Until the contrast is less disgraceful between the fields where 

 the beasts live and the streets where men live," 



he brought out a bitter truth. We have made our cities ugly, 

 for the most part; but we are learning the basis of happy citi- 

 zenship, and, while we cannot altogether make over these cen- 

 ters of population, we are bringing into them the scenic sugges- 

 tion as well as the physical facilities of the open country, in 

 the parks. In these parks lies the answer to the ignorant con- 

 tempt for scenery to which I have alluded; for it is incontro- 

 vertible that peace and health and good order are best fostered 

 in the parks including the most natural scenic beauties. 



Mr. Chairman, there is, too, a vast economic reason for jeal- 

 ously guarding all of our scenic heritage in America. Visiting 

 a quiet Canadian community on the shore of Lake Ontario a 

 few days since, I was impressed by the number and the beauty 

 of the summer homes there existing. Inquiry brought out the 

 astonishing fact that they were almost exclusively owned by 

 residents of a certain very wealthy and certainly very ugly 

 American city, where iron is king. The iron manufacturers flee 

 from the all-pervading ugliness they have created, and the money 

 earned in complete disregard of the naturally fine scenic con- 

 ditions about their own homes is used in buying scenic beauty 

 in a foreign country. Perhaps a certain form of protection is 

 here suggested! 



It is authoritatively stated that the tourist travel tribute paid 

 annually to Europe exceeds a half-billion dollars, of which vast 

 sum America contributes a full half, getting back a far smaller 

 sum in return travel from all the world. No one will suggest 

 that there is travel to see ugly things, or to look upon wasted 

 scenery, in Europe. No, this vast sum is expended almost 

 entirely in travel to view agreeable scenic conditions, either 

 natural or urban. The lumber king leaves the hills he has 



