State Park Conference at Bear Mountain 
May 1922 
The Honorable John Barton Payne, Chairman of the Con- 
ference, Mr. Stephen F. Mather, Director of the National Park 
Service, and Major Welch, Director of the New York Palisades 
Park, were responsible for the conference at Bear Mountain, to 
which Mrs. Sloan had appointed four delegates to represent The 
Garden Club of America. To our surprise the roll-call disclosed 
ten members of The Garden Club of America ; two from Massa- 
chusetts, two from Connecticut, two from New York, two from 
Illinois, one from Colorado and one from far-away Texas. The 
roll-call was quite an interesting feature at the opening of the 
conference, as each state was named in turn the visitors were 
asked to rise and state the organization represented. 
The three days were spent in listening to interesting talks on 
various aspects of the State Park and Conservation problems, 
interspersed with drives in that enchanting country. One day 
we lunched at Newburgh, at the house where Washington had 
lived, and which is now a museum. The last day's drive was 
through 'the beautiful country from Palisades Park to the New 
York Botanical Garden. Following the luncheon at the Bronx 
Zoological Garden the visitors were taken to the Pennsylvania 
Hotel for the banquet which closed the conference. It was at 
this banquet that Dr. Partridge announced the gift to the Palis- 
ades Interstate Park Commission of a tract of six hundred acres, 
bordering both sides of the new Storm King Highway. This 
gift is made by Dr. Ernest G. Stillman of New York. 
In the opening speech at Bear Mountain, Mr. F. C. AValcott 
made an eloquent appeal in the name of The Garden Club of 
America for a National Conservation Day. He gave a brief 
sketch showing the trend of life from the uplands to the lowlands 
and from the farms to the towns and cities, causing the present 
congestion in the cities. This congestion makes it urgent that an 
opportunity be found for the people to get into the open. It 
would seem that this could best be brought about by an Outdoor 
Day, when children, old and young, would be encouraged to leave 
their work and go into the parks, especially provided for their 
pleasure to enjoy and become familiar with outdoor America. 
At the close of Mr. Walcott's speech he offered a resolution that 
a committee of five be appointed by the chair to consult with 
Congress on the best method of bringing about a Conservation 
Day. Mr. Mather seconded the motion and spoke to it, followed 
by several others. The vote was unanimously carried. A later 
resolution offered and voted on at the conference was to the 
effect that Conservation Day should include Arbor Day, with 
tree planting as an important feature of its observance. 
Fanny Day Farwell. 
381 
