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Show PM-fPMX ROAD HEBCHIDEMTION Efforts Made to Induce Americans to See Their Own Country. WASJnXCTO.V, .I;in. 27. -That th national parks aift now r-al magnetb v.liii'h i n d u ''ft Aiiifrirans to haromn acquit ac-quit in f eel with tlioir own country was particularly accentuated on " Motoring Motor-ing flay" of tho Washington conference confer-ence con duct fid hy the department of the interior. At th request of Secretary Secre-tary Fraoklin K. Lane, the American Automobile association took in hand hifl phase of the week's sessions, which covered every possible anle of national parks, management and progress. It was to be expected that the A. A-A. A-A. officers, headed by President H. M. Jfowe, would put forward the motoring proposition as second to no other in the enlarging use of the nation' playgrounds. play-grounds. In his introductory talk President Presi-dent Kowe thus rot'erred to our general tardiness in parks preparedness: "The parks have not been ready to he seen, and the preparation for it has been intermittent in-termittent and haphai'.ard, and the help from congress frequently has been given grudgingly. But with the coming of Mr. Lane in the department of the interior in-terior and his excellent selection of Mr. Mather as his assistant and in direct di-rect charge of the national parks, there has come a wholesome and invigorating change in the policy pursued toward improving the facilities for seeing and en joying our wonderful scenic, assets. " Chairman Diehl of the A. A. A. good roads board contended that main roads . in the several states which possess the ! r parks should be connected in such manner as to bring about the early put-I put-I ; ting togethor of what is known as the : J'ark-to-park highway, a pioneer spon- nor of which Gus Holm or Cody, Wyo- ining, who was one of the motor day ; spokesmen, i Cortlandt Field Bishop, a road trav-; trav-; eler of international experience, as-1 as-1 sorted that Europe could not produce J such attractions as the Grand Canyon, I "Vosemite valley and tho Rainier park, though much romainod to be done to ; make these wonder soctions more con-; con-; vowiently "seeable.M Orville Wright predicted that the air . routes to the national parks were certain . to be well patronized in the compara lively near future, aud thus referred to this form of travel: "But in order to visit the parks by aerial routes suitable suit-able landing places will have to be provided, either within the parks themselves them-selves or in the closely adjacent country. coun-try. In the plains west of the Mississippi Missis-sippi and east of tho Rockies, landing places can be found almost anywhere. But in tho mountainous and hilly regions re-gions of the far east and west they are not so plentiful. Here suitable lauding places will have to bo prepared, or those wlroady existing must be found and marked so as to be easily recognized from distances of five to ten miles. In Crater Lake park, and probably in some of tho others, are bodies of water large enough for landing with aeroplanes equipped with hydroplanes. (ls'o matter by what route we arrive, ar-rive, however, our national parks must be viewed from the ground to be appreciated. appre-ciated. The giant sequoia, when viewod from on high, will .be no more impressive impres-sive than the modest shrub; and the Oraud Canyon of the Colorado will flatten flat-ten out almost to a plain. Though the shining river will be seen winding its tortuous way in a mass of variegated colors, the grandeur of the gorgo in tdze and sculpture will be gone." A. W. Seaman of the pioneer Long Island Automobile club, who has had a varied road mileage, set forth quite completely details for continental touring. tour-ing. AV. P. Simpson of the National Old Trails explained modern road making mak-ing to facilitate the progress and safety of the traveler. In the absence of Chairman David G. Joyce of the A. A. A. touring board, some convincing statistics sta-tistics of multiplying road travel were presented by E. L. Ferguson, manager of the touring bureau of the association's associa-tion's national capital headquarters. All around, the motoring proposition had a complete presentation. |