ticularly of magnificent examples of the Creator's work, that is elevating, refreshing, restful, and inspiring. It exerts its appeal to the best in us; seeing it makes us better men and women, physically, and mentally, and spiritually. After all, the most of us are not far removed from the soil. If we were not country bred, our parents or grandparents were. We feel restricted in our city atmosphere and must periodically reestablish contact with the soil to refresh our tired minds and bodies. We love the great open breathing spaces, and in loving them we want our children and children's children to be able to know some portions of their native America as it appeared to us and to our fathers.

MISSION OF THE NATIONAL PARKS.

It is here that the national parks fulfill their greatest mission. Areas quite large in themselves, but still infinitesimally small when compared with the vastness of the country, or even with the remaining public lands, they lie unspoiled in all their primeval attractiveness and grandeur as when they constituted part of the red man's domain. Here are still the great natural flower gardens to greet the eyes, spreading along the roads and trails in riotous profusion and far into the upland meadows to the mighty glaciers that cling close to the mountain peaks. Here in their natural habitat some of the species of wild life formerly crowding the hills and plains of the West are making their last stand-the remnants of the seemingly endless herds of bison, the elk and deer, the moose, the bear, and the beaver.

It is quite true that elsewhere on the public domain on the unreserved public lands or reserved national forest lands-there are yet still other areas of less majestic scenery but for the present still untouched and available in their natural freshness. But these areas are getting smaller day by day. Moreover, they are frankly available for commercial development and use. The forests can be cut, the waterfalls, rivers, and lakes are being harnessed, hunting is allowed under certain restrictions, and grazing is fully permitted because there is no consequent wild life for which it need be reserved. The broader use of the automobile has forced recognition of the great need for roads, and hundreds of millions of Federal, State, county, and municipal funds are being used annually in reconstructing the old roads or extending new ones into the furthermost still untouched portions of the land for the development of settlements and commerce. It is only in the national parks, reserved from occupancy and settlement under our national conservation policy, that under existing laws protection of natural scenic resources and wild life is afforded. As the center of population slowly moves westward, pushing its advance guards close to the park borders, there will doubtless be increasing demands for the utilization of park resources for private or local needs, but opposed to these demands there will be a growing and deeper appreciation of the value of the parks by the people from generation to generation. Seeing these parks can not help but impress upon the observer the wisdom of Congress in reserving areas of such incomparable scenic grandeur for all time for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.

The Canadian Government recently in speaking of the values of its national parks says:

National parks are maintained for all the people-for the ill that they may be restored, for the well that they may be fortified and inspired by the sunshine, the fresh air, the beauty, and all the other healing, ennobling, and inspiring agencies of nature. They exist in order that every citizen may satisfy his soul craving for nature and nature's beauty; that he may absorb the poise and restfulness of the forests; that he may steep his soul in the brilliance of the wild flowers and the sublimity of the mountain peaks: that he may develop in himself the buoyancy, the joy, and the activity he sees in the wild animals; that he may stock his brain and his mind as he would a warehouse with the raw material of intelligent optimism, great thoughts, noble ideals; that he may be made better, happier, and healthier.

TRAVEL INCREASES.

By their wonderful scenery and variations in climate, the daily diversions for enjoyment afforded in the contemplation of the wild life, the geological and historic background, the parks furnish just the distractions and physical and mental relief the people of to-day need to satisfy the restlessness that appears after days of ceaseless toil at the bench, the desk, or the plow; they are truly our national play and recreation grounds.

Their great popularity is evidenced by the joyful, enthusiastic use that is now being made of them only a little over half a century after Cornelius Hedges uttered his prophetic words in the Yellowstone. We are at the beginning of an annual travel movement to the parks by the American people, the volume of which may not yet be predicted with any degree of certainty. It will be seen from a glance at the following comparative table that the first indication of enlarged interest in the national parks came during the height of the World War in 1917:

1 Year of California's expositions showed an increase in park travel of 100,000 visitors over any previous

year.

* No record.

The great impetus, however, was given shortly after the close of the World War in 1919. The travel figures for the past two seasons are exceptionally interesting and gratifying in view of the fact that serious labor disturbances resulting in strikes and shortage of work had their inevitable adverse effects. This has been particularly true during the present year when the most far-reaching rail and coal strikes the country ever experienced occurred during the height of the tourist season. What the travel figures would have been had economic conditions been normal furnishes food for interesting conjecture, probably several hundred thousand visitors more. The

remarkable showing of this year has also been made despite the thousands of tourists leaving for foreign ports in response to the vigorous advertising campaigns of our own United States Shipping Board, as well as foreign steamship agencies and the subsidizing of steamship companies by foreign governments to reestablish their erstwhile heavy and profitable tourist trade.

The reason for this popularity is the appeal these great national playgrounds have to all classes of visitors that throng from all sections of the country and not solely to the well-to-do or richer classes. People in all walks and stations of life, and from all sections of the country, meet in splendid companionship for the intimate enjoyment of these great wonderlands of nature. Friendships and acquaintanceships are formed that last through life. The man from the North, the South, the East, and the West meet on common ground, and leave knowing the other better. He learns not only what the parks have to offer, but through his contacts what the attractions of the other sections of the country are. As a factor in bringing the residents of the various States together, as a strengthener of national home ties, the parks stand unexcelled.

The visitor is well served; his every need and desire are anticipated by service. Facilities are offered to meet the varying tastes and all degrees of income, means, and inclination. The hotels and camps installed under Government supervision and control, at large outlays of capital, give a wide choice of accommodations. Some of the larger hotels are as luxuriously appointed as the finest city hotel, but equally comfortable living on a more economical scale can be secured, such as the camps provide, and this often proves more attractive in this outdoor atmosphere to those who, with means, could easily afford the better quarters. In some parks camping outfits may be rented, and in all the larger parks supplies of all kinds may be purchased. One may bring his own camping outfit and camp in the specially prepared public camping places. And it is in these public camp grounds that the greatest joy of a visit is perhaps best experienced. It is roughing it de luxe. Cafeteria service is being established in the larger parks, and in one a traveling delicatessen delivery service further supplies the public camper.

THE AUTOmobile thE PRINCIPAL FACTOR.

Undoubtedly the principal factor in the travel movement in this country to-day is the enlarged use of the automobile. Its perfection as a reliable and comfortable means of transportation has undoubtedly had most to do with stimulating travel to the national parks. During the past few years, when our travel figures mounted to such large numbers, railroad rates had remained high, so that train travel was comparatively slight. It is only this year that materially reduced rates were put into effect on various transcontinental railroads of the country, but, unfortunately for the railroads, they were severely hit by the strikes at the height of the season. Nevertheless, with travel made so easy, so convenient, and so comfortable by Pullmans and other excellent service, the railroads are certain of a remarkable travel year when conditions finally become normal. It is true the automobile affords a wide freedom in movement of parties limited only by the capacity of the cars, and permits stops at or excursions from any

points en route to a particular destination that appeal to the members of the party. It meets the opportunities for out-of-door recreation that we Americans as a sightseeing nation seem to crave, and has come to be considered by many to be the ideal means of vacation travel.

The great majority of the park visitors now come by motor cars and use the public camping grounds. So extensive has cross-country motor traffic become that practically all cities and towns have established municipal camps and rest grounds for the accommodation of the automobile tourist. Particularly in the West, where the transcontinental traveler is most frequently encountered, facilities approaching in comfort almost the luxurious have been installed in the public camps-electric grills and laundries, baths, and community houses. It is to the automobile that we are indebted more than anything else in the line of transportation for helping Americans get better acquainted with their own country, and, as our travel figures show, the matchless splendors of the national parks constitute the supreme scenic travel magnets of our country.

GIFTS FROM FRIENDS OF THE PARKS.

There are many ways in which appreciation of beauty can be shown, but it reaches its highest form when it inspires the beholder with a desire to assist others more readily to enjoy that which has brought such delight to him or her. In our national park work Congress has made possible affirmative response to such generous impulses by passing legislation enabling the acceptance of donations of money, land, or other property, and annually it is our pleasure to accept and record many gifts.

The Lafayette National Park in Maine will forever bear eloquent testimony to the generosity of a few persons who, knowing and loving this area themselves, wanted to preserve its beauty for the enjoyment of all the people. Under the active leadership of Mr. George B. Dorr, of Bar Harbor, Me., the present superintendent of the park, the Hancock County trustees donated, in 1916, 5,000 acres on Mount Desert to the Government. This was accepted and proclaimed the Sieur de Monts National Monument, becoming in 1919 the Lafayette National Park by act of Congress. From year to year by additional gifts of land made to the United States through the trustees the park area has been increased so that it will soon round out into a public recreation area of large size, incomparable in its peculiar beauty; truly an example of splendid giving that stands alone in this country to-day. Just recently Superintendent Dorr reported the tender of further gifts of land which, as soon as the titles can be reviewed, will be added to the park area.

The Mesa Verde National Park has long needed an up-to-date museum to house the many interesting artifacts of the original inhabitants of the prehistoric cliff dwellings and pueblos found in the region, and it is most gratifying to record that through the gift of Mrs. Stella Leviston, of San Francisco, Calif., the erection of this building has been made possible. Mrs. Leviston, fascinated by the mute evidences of the life and industry of these unknown peoples, decided to make conditions for their study by others easier, and contributed $3,000 to be used in building the first wing of the building.

It will be constructed along the lines of the new superintendent's residence, the early modern pueblo style, which is extremely adaptable to the building of additions later on, as more room is necessary and funds are available.

Another gift, doubly appreciated because of its unexpectedness, was made by Mr. W. F. Chandler, of Fresno, Calif., when, after a packtrain tour of Mount McKinley National Park, he donated, through the National Geographic Society, $1,000 for use by the superintendent in locating and breaking trails. Mr. Chandler has previously in a similarly substantial way indicated his great love for the national parks by other donations and his whole life has shown by constructive criticism and substantial assistance that he is a firm believer in the parks, and is willing to use a share of his private means to the end that others may get a similar measure of enjoyment from a visit to them. Mr. D. F. Gaines, president of the Arlington Hotel of Hot Springs, Ark., generously contributed $600 for the printing of 30,000 copies of the rules and regulations for Hot Springs National Park, 19,000 of which were, at his expense, sent to prominent physicians throughout the country and the remainder distributed by the service through the regular channels. Mr. Gaines is the successor of his father, the late Albert B. Gaines, who had large business interests in Hot Springs, Ark., and who always was in the forefront of those who spared neither time, money, nor effort in advancing the interests of that city.

While visiting the Casa Grande National Monument last May, Mr. George O. Ford, of Phoenix, noticed that the display case containing valuable relics of the early inhabitants was inadequate and asked permission to donate as a gift from his wife a more suitable case. His offer was gladly accepted and several days later a handsome wall case, particularly well adapted for display purposes, was received with his compliments.

By act of Congress approved September 18, 1922, authority was given to accept the gift of the Woman's Club of Estes Park of a large-sized lot in Estes Park village on which a new administration building for Rocky Mountain National Park is to be erected. tender of this gift was acknowledged in last year's report.

The

By deed of gift from the Southern California Edison Co. the so-called Wolverton Dam tract of 160 acres in Sequoia National Park passed to the Government. The action of the Southern California Edison Co. in freeing the park of a possible water-power development expresses in the highest degree the desirability of maintaining the integrity of the national parks.

Largely due to the interest in General Grant National Park of Gen. Lewis L. Pilcher, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, now living in Brooklyn, N. Y., a large-sized framed portrait of Gen. U. S. Grant, after whom the park was named, was presented by U. S. Grant Post, Grand Army of the Republic, Brooklyn, N. Y., for hanging in the administration office of the park. This picture forms one of the most appreciated gifts the Park Service has received.

To all these public-spirited citizens and organizations to whom written acknowledgment has been made, the service again, in this public manner, wishes to make grateful acknowledgment.