YOSEMITE RECESSION AGAIN.

SAN FRANCISCo, December 7, 1911.

The return of Yosemite Valley to the State is being urged in the Legislature. The reasons given for this proposed action are inadequate appropriations by Congress and neglect of the valley under Federal administration. Since the Sierra Club more than any other one factor was responsible for the recession of Yosemite Valley to the United States in 1905-6, this statement is made in behalf of the Club.

Yosemite Valley now has expended on it each year more than twice as much as the State expended prior to recession.

In addition to the foregoing we must recall that the Federal Government has collected and expended in improving the valley an average of about $10,000 per year from concessions in the valley, whereas the State collected and expended but a few hundred per year from this source. To be entirely fair we must deduct $5,000 from the annual Federal average expenditure which was the amount appropriated by Congress for years for the National park surrounding the State park prior to recession. To offset this is the fact that under army control the salaries of officers and soldiers in charge of the park and their expenses and subsistence are paid by the army and none of this comes out of the annual appropriations which, together with revenue from concessions are practically all expended in improvements. Under the State régime several thousand dollars for salaries, traveling, and office expenses were expended annually out of even the small State appropriations. It will thus be seen that as a matter of fact only about $10,000 annually was spent by the State on actual road and trail work and other improvements in the Yosemite Valley, whereas now the Federal Government spends annually about $40,000 on clear work such as roads, trails, etc.

When the State turned over the valley to the Federal Government the Pohona Bridge had been condemned some three years, the flooring removed and two miles of beautiful road on the

floor of the valley withdrawn from general travel. The Stoneman Bridge was in a dangerous condition for heavy travel, and the Sentinel Bridge so weak that nothing but passenger wagons were allowed to cross; most of the culverts were broken through and the main roads and trails in a terrible condition. These were the three most important bridges in the Valley.

Under Federal control a steel bridge replaced the condemned Pohona Bridge; a new truss bridge replaced the dangerous Stoneman Bridge and the Sentinel Bridge was repaired and soon will be replaced. A hundred thousand dollars has been spent on permanent road work, the main road to El Portal is being sprinkled, old trails repaired and put in good condition and splendid new ones built as, for example, the new scenic trail above Mirror Lake leading out of the valley to the High Sierra. Under State control all of the best pasture in the upper end of the valley was fenced in and rented for a nominal sum to a private concern. As soon as the Federal Government got control and this lease expired, all the unsightly fences came down and now the public enjoys these fine meadows, and campers can feed their own animals there. If this be neglect, what shall we term the old State régime and its famous junketing trips?

But we face "a condition and not a theory." It is as useless to try to secure the Yosemite Valley for the State as to ask for the Presidio Military Reservation. It will be a waste of time and energy. If instead, we will only devote the same time and energy to securing additional appropriations from Congress, we will accomplish something. In view of 1915 and the fact that the proximity of Yosemite was one of the arguments advanced for securing the Exposition for San Francisco, the Legislature and every loyal citizen of the State should memorialize and urge Congress to prepare Yosemite for the Fair by appropriating $1,000,000 for its improvement in four $250,000 annual installments, following out a comprehensive plan of development just as it did in the case of the Yellowstone. Each year the Sierra Club has consistently urged such an appropriation, but alone and unaided it has only succeeded in helping to raise the annual Congressional appropriation to $50,000. Let everyone pitch in and help, for the State has far more than it can properly take care of in the way of expenditures right now, and if it has any spare money for parks, let it purchase and preserve a tract of primeval redwood on Eel River in Humboldt County, for there is nothing like that forest wonder anywhere else in the world, and a few years from now it will have perished and passed beyond the power of man to replace. Very respectfully,

WM. E. COLBY, Secretary of Sierra Club.

EXTRACTS FROM Report of the Secretary of THE INTERIOR. (1911.) BUREAU OF NATIONAL PARKS.

There are twelve national parks, embracing over 4,500,000 acres, which has been set apart from time to time by Congress for the recreation of the people of the Nation. While public interest in, and use of, these reservations is steadily increasing, as shown by the growing number of visitors, adequate provision has not been made for their efficient administration and sufficient appropriations have not been made for their proper care and development. At present, each of these parks is a separate and distinct unit for administrative purposes. The only general supervision which is possible is that obtained by referring matters relating to the national parks to the same officials in the office of the Secretary of the Interior. Separate appropriations are made for each park and the employment of a common supervising and directing force is impossible. Many of the problems in park management are the same throughout all of the national parks and a great gain would be obtained and substantial economics could be effected if the national parks and reservations were grouped together under a single administrative bureau. Bills to create a bureau of national parks have heretofore been introduced in Congress, and in my judgment they should immediately receive careful consideration so that proper legislation for this purpose may be enacted. Adequate appropriation should also be made for the development of these pleasure grounds of the people, especially through the construction of roads and trails, and their proper care and maintenance. In several of the national parks there are large private holdings which should be acquired by the Government.

NATIONAL PARKS AND RESERVATIONS.

Public interest in these national reservations, not only in this country, but abroad, is constantly increasing, as is indicated by the number of visitors thereto. During the past year the total number of visitors to all these parks aggregated approximately 224,000, as against 198,506 in 1910. There is every reason to believe that travel thereto will be greatly augmented in the future, especially during 1915, when the Panama-Pacific International Exposition will be held in San Francisco, and the various transcontinental roads will doubtless provide a transportation rate calculated to attract visitors to the various reservations as well as to the Exposition.

For the purpose of bringing together the superintendents of the various parks, and discussing the many difficult problems presented in the administration of the affairs of each, I presided at a conference held under my direction in the Yellowstone National Park in September, 1911, at which there were in attendance the Assistant Secretary, the chief clerk, and other representatives of this Department, representatives of the Departments of Agriculture and War, the various transcontinental railroads, and of concessionaires in the several reservations. Many phases of park administration were discussed, including hotel accommodations, public transportation, construction of roads, trails, and bridges, fire protection, forestry, protection of game, and the enforcement of the park regulations generally. This conference should result in more effective administration than it has heretofore been practicable to secure. The consensus of opinion, however, at the conference was that development of the national reservations should proceed along more liberal lines than has heretofore obtained, and that the supervision of the activities of the various parks should be centralized in a bureau especially charged with such work.

NATIONAL PARK BUREAU BILL.

In the Senate of the United States, December 7, 1911, Mr. Smoot introduced the following bill, which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Public Lands:

"A bill to establish a Bureau of National Parks, and for other purposes.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the Department of the Interior a bureau to be called the Bureau of National Parks, which shall be under the charge of a director, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall receive a salary of six thousand dollars per annum; and there shall also be in said bureau such experts, assistants, and other employees as may from time to time be authorized by Congress.

"Section 2. That the director shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, have the supervision, management, and control of the several national parks, the national monuments, the Hot Springs Reservation in the State of Arkansas, lands reserved or acquired by the United States because of their historical associations, and such other national parks, national monuments, or reservations of like character as may hereafter be created or authorized by Congress.

"Section 3. That there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the general expenses of the Bureau of National Parks, including the pay of the director and the necessary experts, assistants, and other employees at Washington, District of Columbia, and in the field, and other expenses requisite for and incidental to the general work of the Bureau of National Parks, whether at Washington, District of Columbia, or in the field, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars, to be immediately available.

"Section 4. That the Secretary of the Interior shall make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary and proper, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, for the management, care, and preservation of such parks, monuments, and reservations, and for the protection of property and improvements, game, and natural scenery, curiosities, and resources therein, and any violation of the provisions of this Act, or of such rules and regulations, shall be punished as is provided for in section fifty of the Act entitled 'An Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States,' approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine, as amended by section six of the Act of June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten (Thirty-sixth United States Statutes at Large, page eight hundred and fifty-seven). He may also, upon terms and conditions to be fixed by him, sell or dispose of dead or insect-infected timber, and of such matured timber as, in his judgment, may be disposed of without detriment to the scenic or other purposes for which such parks, monuments, or reservations are established, grant leases and permits for the use of the land, the development of the resources, or privileges for the accommodation of visitors in the various parks, monuments, and reservations herein provided for, for periods not exceeding twenty years. The funds derived from such sales, leases, permits, and privileges shall be covered into the Treasury, to be expended by the director, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, in the administration, maintenance, and improvement of the parks, reservations, and monuments herein provided for.

"Section 5. That the director and other officers and employees of the bureau in Washington, when traveling on duty in the field, and the experts, assistants, and other employees, when away from their posts of duty in the field on official business, shall be allowed a per diem in lieu of subsistence, to be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior, exclusive of transportation and sleeping-car fares.