EDITORIALS 



Viscount The recent death of James Bryce removes from the official 

 James Bryce family of the Sierra Club one of its most distinguished mem- 

 bers. He has been an honorary vice-president of the club since 

 19 1 2, and during the decade of his service he followed and supported the 

 club's public activities with keen interest. The last letter, received by the writer 

 only a few months ago, expressed concern for the endangered redwoods of 

 Humboldt County and asked what he could do to assist in the work of con- 

 servation. In a man who belonged to numerous other organizations and who 

 lived the extremely busy life of a much-sought scholar, diplomat, and states- 

 man, Viscount Bryce's devotion to the aims and ideals of the Sierra Club will 

 always be a treasured tradition. On his return from Australia, in 1912, Vis- 

 count Bryce was the honored guest of the Sierra Club directors at a dinner 

 presided over by John Muir. The invitation was cabled to him in Honolulu, 

 and though he had but one evening to spend in San Francisco it was imme- 

 diately accepted. All who were present at this memorable dinner listened with 

 delight to the Muir-Bryce exchange of mountaineering experiences and to the 

 estimate of supreme value which both placed upon the preservation of fine 

 scenery in national parks. "The world seems likely to last a long, long time," 

 said Bryce, "and we ought to make provision for the future. . . . The taste 

 for natural scenery is increasing, but the places of scenic beauty do not in- 

 crease. We are charged with duties toward those who come after, and there is 

 no duty which seems clearer or higher than that of handing on to them undi- 

 minished facilities for the enjoyment of some of the best gifts that the Creator 

 has seen fit to bestow upon his children." 



It is not generally known that Viscount Bryce wrote a book on the botany 

 of the island of Arran in 1859, and that he climbed Mount Ararat in 1876. 

 During his long life of eighty-four years he was a vigorous and persistent 

 walker. During the days of his ambassadorship in Washington he often took 

 his friends on foot-tours through the parks of the city and showed more resist- 

 ance to fatigue than some men of half his years. Though a Briton by birth and 

 allegiance, he was in feeling and comprehension an American of the Ameri- 

 cans. His mastery of four languages in fluent speech was only another indica- 

 tion of his cosmopolitanism. But we of the Sierra Club shall especially remem- 

 ber him as a lover of the great outdoors, and as one who deserved his own 

 tribute to the memory of John Muir — "a singularly pure and simple character, 

 who was in his life all that a worshiper of nature ought to be." W. F. B. 



Roosevelt-Sequoia We had hoped to be able to chronicle, before going to 

 National Park press with this Bulletin, the creation of the Roosevelt- 

 Sequoia National Park. At a hearing held before the 

 Public Lands Committee of the House on January 13th, Representative Bar- 



