connections in the park can not be overstated. There is an insistent demand on the part of the public for these facilities, and I hope before another year, by conference with the officials of the telegraph companies, to still further improve the wire service. At present the office at Merced, through which all the business has to be handled, is closed at 9 o'clock, although there is a mass of business tendered to us in the way of night letters, etc., which can not be put on the wire. With the many thousands of people in the park at one time, the necessity of a perfect service of this kind becomes apparent.

The post-office facilities are in great need of improvement, and I hope to take this question up this winter with the proper officials and develop some plan for the improvement of the general mail facilities in all the parks. The Post Office Department has been studying the situation, particularly in the Yosemite, where the mail congestion is very great, and where it has frequently been necessary to wait several days before being able to secure a money order. I am sure the Post Office Department desires to have the same efficient service in the post offices in the national parks as in other regularly established offices, and while the business is largely a seasonal one there should be no difficulty in working out proper arrangements, as the revenues accruing to the department during the season are very large. It is my hope to see the best of service in the park, not only by our organization but also by the other Federal departments that are cooperating with us.

THE LE CONTE MEMORIAL LECTURES.

In the general discussion of progress made in advancing the educational use of the park, I mentioned the Le Conte Memorial lectures delivered this year in the Yosemite Valley under the direction of the extension division of the University of California. These lectures were one of the most important features of this exceedingly successful park season, and their establishment as a park institution to continue indefinitely is a source of keenest delight and satisfaction to me.

Our thanks are due the University of California for initiating this course, and for other courtesies extended, not the least of which is the undertaking of a comprehensive study of the animal life of the park under the direction of Dr. J. Grinnell, of the department of zoology. The results of Dr. Grinnell's work will probably appear next year, and will be a distinctly valuable addition to the literature of the parks.

STATE AND FEDERAL COOPERATION.

In the repair of approach roads to the park, and in planning the new El Portal lateral, the State highway commission has rendered effective aid to the National Park Service this year. The State fish and game commission has done all in its power to better the sport of fishing in the park, and is prepared to build the new hatchery as soon as requisite authority is obtained.

Exceedingly important cooperative work was performed by the United States Public Health Service in combating the mosquito evil in Yosemite Valley, and in making a comprehensive survey of the

sanitation needs of the park. The result of this survey indicates that the entire sanitation system of the valley must be rebuilt immediately.

To make a detailed survey of the Yosemite Valley, the Geological Survey has detailed a topographic engineer, and the Bureau of Entomology has continued to give extensive assistance in controlling insect pests that are attacking the forests in certain parts of the park.

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK.

Sequoia National Park has been much in the public eye this year on account of the consideration of legislation in Congress which proposes to enlarge its boundaries to include the Kern and Kings River gorges, the Great Western Divide, and some 60 miles of the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, including Mount Whitneyan area of approximately 1,300 square miles-and to change the name of the park to Roosevelt National Park..

As far as boundary lines and area are concerned, this is the "Greater Sequoia" project which we have long advocated, but in its new conception as a great national memorial to the late exPresident it possesses an appropriateness and country-wide significance of which even John Muir and his associates of the mountains who planned this big park could not have dreamed.

THE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK SUGGESTED.

It was at a gathering of members of the Boone and Crockett Club in New York, on January 10, 1919, that the idea of setting apart this wondrous region of mighty mountains, tremendous gorges, giant monoliths of granite, thundering waterfalls, the biggest and oldest trees of the world, and other works of nature on her grandest scale as a memorial park to Theodore Roosevelt was suggested by Capt. Frank Lyman. The ex-President had passed away only four days before, and his loss was an overwhelming blow to the Boone and Crockett Club, which he had founded in 1888, after his first years in the great West, and which is an association of men interested in out-of-doors, hunting, and game conservation. It was natural that his fellow club members should have been discussing at their gathering an appropriate memorial to their beloved leader and friend. It was natural that they should have sought to find something in the West that typified the virile body and spirit of Roosevelt in his lifetime.

The Sierra region of the Sequoia Park extension plan presented every element of this idea, and believing that no finer memorial than this vast region as the Roosevelt National Park could be dedicated to the great man's memory, Capt. Lyman's suggestion was heartily approved and arrangements were made to present the park plan to Congress.

LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS.

In Congress the plan met with the unanimous approval of the Senate, but in the House of Representatives opposition developed, not to the idea of a national park dedicated in honor of Col. Roosevelt, but

to the extent of territory affected by the pending bill and to the use of this region, and the measure was not brought to a vote before the close of the session. This legislation was Senate bill 2021, introduced by Senator Phelan, of California, providing for the extension of Sequoia National Park when first introduced on April 21, 1917, but containing an amendment changing the name of the enlarged park to the Roosevelt National Park when it was reported from the Senate Committee on Public Lands on January 16, 1919.1 This bill was passed by the Senate on the day it was reported from the committee, but, as I have stated, was not considered by the House.

In the Public Lands Committee of the House, after a discussion of the arguments of the opponents of the legislation in the light of a report by the Department of Agriculture that it could not approve the measure because of lack of certain information, the bill was changed by striking out all provision for the extension of Sequoia Park. It thus appeared in the House as a proposal simply to change the name of the existing Sequoia National Park.

NEW BILLS INTRODUCED.

Early in the current session of the Sixty-sixth Congress bills identical with the measure that passed the Senate in January were introduced by Senator Phelan and Mr. Elston, of California. These bills are S. 1391 and H. R. 5006, and are awaiting committee action at the present time.

During the past few months much investigation and study have been given to this project by the Sierra Club and by many eastern people who have visited this area for the particular purpose of studying its value as a great recreative park and also as a memorial to Col. Roosevelt. An effort to come to a basis of understanding with the Forest Service, in whose jurisdiction the area now lies, has been rather futile, the two bureaus being so far apart in their point of view as to the territory to be included. Nevertheless sentiment in California and in the Nation at large is so generally favorable to this project that there are good grounds for feeling that it will soon be approved by Congress.

DEVELOPMENT RETARDED.

The future of Sequoia National Park depends so much on the outcome of the enlargement project that we have rather delayed planning any extensive improvements for the area, and have contented ourselves, especially during the past year, with maintaining the existing roads, trails, and other utilities of the park in proper condition for public use.

Nothing of importance has been accomplished in a constructive way within the park either by the Service or by the concessioners. No serious attempt has been made to extend the facilities of the various business interests because of the relation of the extension project to their properties. When the larger development of the existing park is made in connection with the territory to be added to it, the scale of operations of these interests must be so tremendously

1 See committee report in Appendix D, p. 1224 Also excerpts from Congressional Record on p. 1232.