LAW OFFICES of 

 DAVID B. OGDEN 

 54 William Street 

 New York 



April 3, 1918. 



Hon. Swagar Sherley, 



Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, 

 House of Representatives, 

 Washington, D.C. 



Dear Sir: 



I understand that Secretary Lane has recommended an appro- 

 priation of ^50,000 for the improvement and protection of the 

 Sieur de Monts National Monument. 



This is a matter which is of very great interest to myself and 

 to countless other persons who are situated more or less as I am. 

 It is now upwards of fifty years since I and my family first went 

 to Mount Desert Island, and I think I can say that in every in- 

 tervening summer some member of my family has been there. 

 It is there that during the whole of my professional life I have 

 found strength and refreshment more abundantly than I have 

 found it elsewhere either in this country or in Europe. The 

 breezes from the Atlantic mingling with the life-giving breath 

 of the forests of pine and spruce, the matchless grandeur of the 

 distant views, the beauty and picturesqueness of the immediate 

 surroundings, and, above all, the coolness of the atmosphere 

 make a combination which cannot be matched on the Atlantic 

 coast north of Rio de Janeiro. If ever nature indicated a benefi- 

 cent purpose of affording health and enjoyment to the sons of 

 men, she has done it on Mount Desert Island. 



That it should have been set apart as a National Park was, I 

 think, one of the most important peaceful events of our recent 

 national history. It is now protected by law from invasion of 

 every kind, but what still remains to be done is that this legal 

 protection should be made actual. The woods must be conserved, 

 the wild life must be protected, new means of access must be 

 devised and put in execution. Already the statistics show that 

 the number of visitors during the past two years exceeds the 

 number going to any other national park of recreative charac- 



