3i8 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



The Board of Directors sent the following communication: — 



May 2, 1908. 



To THE President of the United States and the Governors 

 OF THE States Assembled in Conference. 

 Greeting: We, the undersigned, Directors and Officers of the 

 Sierra Club, have been gratified to learn of the Conference of 

 Governors called at the White House for the purpose of con- 

 sidering the Conservation of Natural Resources. Acting upon 

 the conviction that this is a matter of utmost public concern, 

 we wish to record, in connection with this Conference, our strong 

 sense of the paramount value of scenic beauty among our natural 

 resources. The moral and physical welfare of a nation is not 

 dependent alone upon bread and water. Comprehending these 

 primary necessities is the deeper need for recreation and that 

 which satisfies also the esthetic sense. The establishment of 

 gardens and parks is the immemorial expression of an ever pres- 

 ent human desire. Our country has a wealth of natural beauty 

 which is far beyond the power of human hands to create or 

 restore, but not beyond their power to destroy. It is an untaxed 

 heritage that may be had for the lifting one's eyes ; whose influ- 

 ence upon the life of the nation, physically, morally, mentally, is 

 inestimable, and whose preservation is the greatest service that 

 one generation can render to another. Nor are we unmindful 

 of the incalculable economic value of our scenic resources. Con- 

 sular reports indicate that the stream of tourists attracted to 

 Europe by its scenic, no less than its natural, beauty is worth 

 $550,000,000 annually. America affords the newest, and in many 

 respects the finest, of the world's natural pleasure-grounds. 

 Tourists of wealth and fashion, as well as mountain climbers 

 and lovers of outdoor life from all over the world are flocking 

 in constantly increasing numbers to the Cordilleran system of 

 mountaians on our Western Coast. Even from a purely economic 

 point of view it would be extremely unwise to administer our 

 scenic resources in such a way that comparatively private gain 

 results in universal public loss. In taking this stand we express 

 the sentiment of our membership of more than a thousand per- 

 sons, who have subscribed not only to the purposes of the Sierra 

 Club, "to explore, enjoy, and render accessible the mountain 

 regions of the Pacific Coast; to pubHsh authentic information 

 concerning them ; to enlist the support and co-operation of the 

 people and the Government in preserving the forests and other 



