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Show .-a. I,, ..i.VnnTy'Vayarijuade to pas the bill before congest to convert Into a .national park Ibe historic, camp MOUNT VKHNON. grounds of Valley I orge, whore Washington Wash-ington and his men pasted the bitter winter of 1777-78. A small portion of the tract has lioen acquired by tho state of Pennsylvania, snd tho well pro-sen pro-sen rd brick building In which Washington Wash-ington bad hi headquarters it now owned and tared for by a patriotic body formed at tho centennial of Valley Val-ley Korge, but tho largrr and equally historic portion of the field, on which tho soldiers ramped and luffere, Is stilt In tho hands of private owners Tho tntrenchmenta and other historic landmarks nro gradually vanishing. It Is desirable that the whole tract be acquired by tho national government and be forever preserved as a national park, as In the cose of tho Chlckamau-ga Chlckamau-ga and Gettyibtirg battlefleldt. It It a curlout fact that the movement move-ment to preserve historic grounds of this kind at tho natlonil expense hat come only since tbo elf II war. Tho Idea seems to have started from the great cemeteries whero so many of th soldiers of tho civil war He burled near where they fell The extension of tbe reservation to Include the whole field of conflict and to preserve Its historic his-toric landmark! under federal authority author-ity was a natural step from this beginning begin-ning At last It has dawned upon the people that It may be well to extend the tame proccu to the more Important Import-ant revolutionary battlefields, private associations and city or stito governments govern-ments hare done some good work In this direction, but It It only of recent year that the plan for national restr-vatlon restr-vatlon baa had any serious consideration. considera-tion. There has been talk of making such a park of the historic grounds at Saratoga, Sara-toga, where llurgoyne surrendered to Oatcs Tbe proposition to preserve the Valley Forge tract Is ono that appeals still more strongly to tbe Imagination of the patriotic American, for the tut-forlngs tut-forlngs of that terrible winter teated tbe nervo of Washington and of his patriots even more severely than the dangert of battle It It ttrango that tho Idea of rclorvlng Uilt spot was not acted upou a century ago, wben the whole tract could have been bought for a trifle It should be bought now and guarded at tacredly at Mount Vernon, Ver-non, j I 1 |