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Endorsed bu the Mississippi
Valley Association as a Part of
“One of the Biooest Economic
Moves Ever Launched on the
American Continent” * *
HE Mississippi Valley associa
tion indorses the plan to estab
lish the Mlssi- sippi Valley Na
tional park along the Mississip
pi river near McGregor, la., and
and Prairie du Chien, Wls."
This action was taken at the
first annual meeting of the Mis
sissippi Valley association in
Chicago. Five hundred dele
gates were present from 22 states in the vast
basin between the Alleghenies and the Rockies—
3.725 square miles, an area about eight times tlie
size of either France or Germany. It is one of tlie
garden s[K>ts of the world. A century ago all of
it to the west of tin* Mississippi was sin unex
plored wilderness. We bought that wilderness
from the French in 1803 for 815,000,000. Half a
•core of states have been carved from that "Louis
iana Purchase.’’
The whole Mississippi valley contains more than
half or our 110.000.000 people.
"We have handed to promote the interests of
tins big region”’ said President Harry IF Merrick
in his keynote address, ‘‘and we are determined
nothing shall prevent the accomplishment of our
purpose. The Mississippi valley wants certain
things. Some of them we shall have to get at
Washington. Our 22 states control 5'_‘ per cent
of the men in congress, and if they don’t do what
>ve want there’ll be hell to pay and no pitch hot."
The association would teach the valley interests
from t'hicagoand Minneapolis to New Orleans and
Galveston; from St. Louis to Kansas City, from
Detroit to Denver, and so in and out and all along
the line, that Mississippi valley means from the Do
minion border to the gulf and from the Alleghenies
to the Rockies, and that the easiest way out is not
over the Rockies to the Paoitie nor via the narrow
bottle m k of New York to tlie Atlantic, hut by
waterways nature intended for man's use.
Value of National Parks.
"We are putting American citizenship above the
dollar.” said Honorary President John M. Parker
of New Orleans in the opening address. "We
are considering conditions brought about by the
war. These changed conditions open n new chap
ter in the history of our valley empire."
The "changed conditions’’ of which Mr. Parker
spoke include the recognition the national parks
of the I'nited States not only as one of the great
economic assets of the nation, hut also as public
playgrounds necessary to the mental, moral and
physical welfare of the people. The United States
now has 18 national parks. Their standard is high.
They contain some of the most magnificent scenery
in the world. The system is to he still farther en
larged by creating several new parks.
The army of national park enthusiasts will cry
with one accord: "Would that the Mississippi Val
ley association could establish the Mississippi Na
tional park as easily ns it can its 825,000.000
bank!” Rut this Is one of the things the associa
tion will "have to get at Washington.” since it can
be established only by an net of congress. And
congress has no fixed policy regarding the estab
lishment of national parks. It Is a platitude to say
Hint politics should he eliminated from the estab
lishment of these public playgrounds. Neverthe
less some of the fiercest political contests in con
gress are fought over their creation. Ry way of
example it may be slated that it took six years of
persistent effort to pass in 1015 the net creating
Rocky Mountain national park, the most popular
of all the scenic national parks, and ten years to
pirns in 1010 the Grand Canyon National park act.
In each case unofficial leaders of the national
park movement'say. the Influential opposition was
the active hostility of the forest service, the bu
reau of the department of agriculture which has
, barge of the national forests. Tie* reason for this
active hostility is plain. Roll, these national parks
were taken fn*m national forests and automatical
ly came unde, control of the national park serv
ice u bureau of the department of the Interior.
Ti e creation of these two national parks thus took
a wav a large area from the control of the forest
service and correspondingly weakened Its political
11 The1 forest service defeated the Greater Yellow
stone National park hill In the last congress after
it had been passed by the house; brought to naught
the Roosevelt National park bill In the house pub
l,o lands committee after It had been passed by the
senate and is opposing the Greater Rocky Moun
tain National park bill for the addition of Mount
dents of political conditio.,s predict n si,cu
be wee n the department of the interior and
'part met it of agriculture in the immediate fu
„1P case of Mississippi Valley National park
... . , ..., forest service opposition becaust
wi" hV’,H area is in n national forest;
»«■««. ..«> —, u.«.
oj*z> £rtttrc?RAzYT ttzaii.
quinnl by the federal government. If the forest
service does oppose its establishment, national
park leaders say, it will lie because it opposes all
national park legislation. Again the reason for
tins general opposition is plain. The agricultural
department is waging u public campaign to get the
control of the national parks away from the in
terna- department and lienee is endeavoring to dis
credit the rival department in every way.
The forest service was created in H.KJ3 to take
charge of the national forests, which were then
set aside for strictly Industrial and commercial
purpose's scientific forestry, lumbering and graz
ing and transferred from the interior department
to the agricultural department. Now the forest
service i< d< veloping tin* recreational possibilities
<>i the national forests and wants to get back na
tional park areas which have been taken from na
tional forests by act of congress.
In view of President Merrick’s declaration that
the Mississippi valley controls 5k’ per cent of the
men in congress, the progress of the park bill in
congress will be well worth watching.
Middle West Has No Park.
The progress of the bill will be well worth
watching for another reason: The establishment^
this park Involves a question of congressional pol
icy for which there is no precedent. This Is un
doubtedly tlie reason why no action whatever was
taken by th * last cimgress on a bill for Its estab
lishment. The question Is this: Hitherto congress
has established national parks out of the public
domain; it has never voted an appropriation for
the purchase of privately-owned property for na
tional park purposes. Will it make a new depar
ture in the case of this national park?
About 20.1*00,000 people are within a night’s ride
liy rail of the park site. Thus the location of the
park Is a feature of decided interest. There is no
scenic natlonnl park worthy of tlie* name between
Rocky Mountain in Colorado and Lafayette in
Maine. Yet tills proposed park lies in the center
nf a circle rimmed by Chicago. Milwaukee, St.
Paul, Minneapolis. Kansas City. Omaha and St.
Louis. Several railroads touch it. River trans
portation is available.
Tlie bulk of tho tour*** travel to the national
parks is now by private automobile. The park site
is convenient to the transcontinental motorist.
The selected area lies along the Mississippi in
northeastern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin. It
totals about 15.000 acres, land and water. The
river urea is about 4.000 acres; the two states own
the land under the river; the federal government
controls its navigation.
One tract of land in Iowa of LOTI acres has been
appraised at $82,755. Another tract on the Wiscon
sin side contains 7,458 acres and lias been ap
praised at $141,042. A third tract is a Wisconsin
state park trt 1.051 acres; there Is a reasonable
prospect that the legislature would turn this over.
Mrs. Martha B Mann of New York, who owns the
125 Iowa acres which form the scenic keystone of
thi' park, offers to donate this land, appraised at
s 12.51 *0. Thus the federal government is asked to
appropriate $22:1,707.53 for tlie purchase of about
04*00 acres out of 15,000 acres.
This area may be truthfully said to have scenic,
historic and educational features of national im
portance. Careful private ownership has protected
the heavy forests, which are still practically prl
nieval. The hills rise abruptly from the river to
about 500 feet. The view from l’lke's Beak, and
the nearby l'ictured Hocks, have nlore than a local
reputation. The broad sweep of the river Is mag
nificent and" there are attractive islands. There
are deep ravines and valleys containing springs,
lakes and streams Many bayous, home of the wa
ter lilies, meander from the river.
Indian mounds tire many in the park site. There
is for example, a system of them half a mile lung
on the east bank. Their unUiue character makes
them exceedingly interesting from the scientific
viewpoint. The park area is butanically ami geo
logically interesting.
Great Historical Interest.
Historically the region is genuinely interesting.
The first white man known to have journeyed by
way of Green bay. Fox river and Wisconsin river
was Jean Nicollett; he may or may pot have kept
on to the Mississippi. Pierre lUtdisson's suppressed
‘■Journal." brought to light in Paris in 1885, shows
that lie and Jean Groseiller in 1850 went down the
Wisconsin and tile Mississippi and up tlie Missouri
to the Mandan villages (Bismarck. N. D.). In 1073
Joliet and Pen' Marquette, usually credited with
tlie discovery of the Upper Mississippi, went down
the Wisconsin and the Mississippi to tin* Arkan
sas, returning to Quebec by way of the Illinois and
Lake Michigan. La Salle explored the region be
fore going down the Mississippi to the Gulf in i
1(583 and taking possession of “Louisiana" in the
name of Louis XIV.
Local history begins before 1800. In 1737 Sleur
Marin, a French commander, built a*fort near ,
Pike's Peak. In 1704 Basil Giranl, a Frenchman, |
held a conference in midstream with the Spanish
governor of Louisiana and secured a grant of 7,000 ,
acres on the present site of McGregor. The United
States confirmed the grant after the Louisiana Pur
chase.
Prairie du Cliicn is very old. In 1778 it was a
Sac and Fox village at which an annual mart or
fair was attended by fur traders from the St. Law
rence and the Lower Mississippi. In 1805 it was
a trading post of the Northwest company, the
rival of the Hudson’s Bay company. Lieut. Zebu
ion M. Pike, U. 8. A., was there ir. that year, ex
ploring the headwaters of tlie Mississippi, lie
crossed over to Pike’s Peak and raised tlie ting for
the first time in what is now Iowa.
Though tlie United States secured the territory
to the Mississippi by the Treaty of Paris (178.3)
tlie British hung on to the Northwest and we did
not get full possession until a generation later.
When John Jacob Astor established the American
Fur company as a competitor of tlie Missouri Fur
company and the Northwest company in 1S08 he
set up a trading post tit Prairie du Glilen that
played an important part in tlie American fur
trade. In 1814, during the War of 1813. the United
States built Fort .Shelby at Prairie du Chlen. It
was captured tin* same year by the British ami In
dians and was called Fort MeKnye until its evacu
ation in 1815. it was burned and the Americans
built Fort Crawford on its site. This was aban
doned in 183(5 and a larger Fort Crawford was
built farther down tlie river; tlie ruins of this
still stand. The arsenal of Fort Shelby is still in
existence.
In 1831 the Black Hawk war broke out. Abra
ham Lincoln was a captain of Illinois volunteers.
Col. Zachary Taylor and Lieut. Jefferson Davis
also fought. When Black Hawk was overpowered
he was taken to Fort Crawford. Colonel Taylor
commanded Fort Crawford for a time and Lieu
tenant Davis was under him. Local tradition tells
ot tlie elopement of Davis and Taylor's daughter.
Natives will show you the very window through
which the young woman climbed. The last garri
son marched out under Gen. Albert Sidney John
son. bound for tlie Mormon campaign in Utah.
When Zachary Taylor, “Old Itough and Heady,"
hero of tlie Mexican war, became twelfth presi
dent of the United States in 184i>, Jefferson Davis
was tlie pro-slavery leader in the United States
senate.
When Abraham Lincoln was president of the
United States during tlie Civil war and comman
der in chief of the Federal army. Jefferson Davis
was president of tlie Confederacy and commander
in chief of its armies.
One of Danzig’s Finest Streets.
Daa/,ii., union oy tup peace
treaty becomes an interna
tionalized city and the outlet
for Poland to the Baltic, is
thus described In a bulletin issued by
the National Geographic society:
Picture n far north Venice, cut
through with streams and canals,
equipped also with a sort of irrigation
system to tlood the country for miles
about, not for cultivation but for de
fense; a city of typical Philadelphia
streets, only with those long rows of
stoops made of stone and highly deco
rated and jutting into the roadway in
stead of on the sidewalks, and you
catch but a glimpse of the composite
Danzig.
As a city of churches Danzig vies
with Brooklyn; its crooked, winding
streets suggest those Boston thorough
fares of cowpath derivation; and were
Its grain warehouses more modern
the visitor might believe himself
in Minneapolis—thnt is lie might
until he heard their names—sueli as
Golden Pelican, Little Ship, Gray
Goose arid Milk Maid—then he might
look about for some popular resorts
of New York’s Greenwich village.
In no other German city is medie
val architecture to be found in such
variety and preservation as in Danzig.
Conspicuous both in Polish and Ger
man history, Danzig was one of the
four principal centers of the Han
seatic league, while not far up the Vis
tula is Marienburg, capital of the Teu
tonic Order of Knights, which nour
ished in Danzig.
Ancient Art Works Intact.
Physically, Danzig escaped many ef
fects of the reformation. Even in her
famous St. Mary's church, one of the
largest Protestant edifices in the world,
covering an area as great as the
Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris,
are to be found reliquaries and
manuscripts, embroideries of Roman,
Byzantine and Gothic designs, treas
ures in precious metals, stones and
ivories, and a noted collection of vest
ments. Among Sts' art works is the fa
mous “Last Judgment” of Hans Meal
ing. In appearance almost as much
like a fortress as a church, bringing
to mind Luther’s militant hymn “A
Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” the
church hns been called “one of the
most German thing* in Germany.” In
many ways it suggests the Prussian
militarist spirit. From the vaulting,
for example, projects one of Napoleon’s
cannon balls.
But the Danzig visitor needs no In
direct intimation of militarism. The
city was one of the most strongly for
tified places In the now shattered Ger
man empire. To the east and south
of the city older defenses were sup
plemented in recent years by u score
of bastions. Along the Vistula, on
which the city lies, to its mouth at
Neufahrwnsser. four miles away,
stretches a line of forts. In addition
three sides of the town could he In
undated by the garrison.
Quaint House Architecture.
Streets are lined with ornate old
houses of tiie Hanseatic period, crown
ed with idgh guides, often profuse
ly ornamented. Balconies overhang
the streets and in spite of the Impedi
ment they offer to traffic, many of
the elevated stone porches still re
main. Gargoyles grin from ancient
walls. Vistas abound. There are
many old water gates. One of these,
the Hobc Tor, is fashioned after a Ho
man arch. Another, the Kran Thor,
with each successive story projecting
farther than the one below, looks like
tht> leaning tower of Pisa.
Danzig's beginnings are not known.
Poland. Denmark, Pomerania and
Brandenburg held It at various early
times. In the fourteenth century It
came under the sway of the Teutonic
knights. Not long afterward it be
came one of the four centers of the
Hanseatic league. With the decline of
tlie league it allied itself with Poland,
retaining most of its rights as a free
city. It had a flag derived from the
rod and white emblem of the league,
employing the red as a field upon
which were three gold crowns, ar
ranged vertically.
Separation From Poland.
Russians mid Saxons took the city
mid the score or more neighboring vil
lages it governed in I7IH. When Po
land was partitioned, four years before
•tie American colonists signed the Dee
✓
inranon or inuepenacnee, Danzig was
separated from Poland and ‘21 years
later Prussia gained possession of it.
Again made a free city by Napoleon,
it passed once more to Poland; then
back to Prussia in 1814.
Danzig became the capital of West
Prussia. Government and private
docks were located there. Shipbuild
ing and the making of munitions were
introduced and amber, beer and liquors
were other products. Its granarict,
built on an island, were erected when
it was the principal grain shipping
port for Poland and Silesia.
Danzig is a little farther by rail
northeast of Berlin than Boston Is
from New York. Its population in
HilO was about that of Columbus, O.
WELL EQUIPPED BY NATURE
Simple Explanation of Remarkable
Sense of Hearing That Is Pos
sessed by the Owl.
It Is held by naturalists that In
order to capture its prey the owl
must depend even more upon its sense
of bearing than upon its sense of
sight. The tufts of feathers that dis
tinguish the short-eared and the long
eared owls are, of course, no more
ears than they are horns. The true
thir of the owl is a most remarkable
organ.
The facial disk of feathers that
gives the owl its characteristic ap
pearance serves as a kind of sound
ing-board or ear-trumpet to concen
trate the slightest sounds and to transs
mit them to the orifice of the true
ear, concealed in the small feathers
behind the eye. Even in the barn
owl. which possesses the least com
I plicated arrangement of this kind, the
orifice of the ear is covered by a re
! markable flap of the skin, while in the
| other species there are striking dif
ferences in the size and shape of this
orifice and its covering flap on the tw’o
sides of the head.
The exact way In which owls utilize
this elaborately specialized apparatus
has still to be discovered.
Water in Wood.
All wood contains more or less wa
ter; even the driest wood known con
tains two or three pounds of water to
every 100 pounds of weight. Absolute
ly dry wood is unknown, for the heat
needed to obtain it would dissolve the
wood and convert it into gas and
charcoal.
A Swiss authority on the character
istics of wood believes that a suffi
ciently powerful and perfect micro
scope would show that the ultimate
wood cell is composed of crystals like
grains of sugar or salt and that thin
films of water hold the crystals apart,
yet bind them into a mass.
A good microscope shows the wood
cell and reveals its spiral bandages
and its openings and cavities, but no
instrument yet made reveals the ulti
mate crystals that, as many believe,
do exist and that would explain why
water cannot be expelled from wood
without destroying the wood itself.—
New York Sun.
Justice to Franklin.
Philadelphians love to set forth the
fact that there were written two of
the most notable literary achievements
of the world, the Declaration of Inde
pendence and the Constitution of the
United States, both of them remark
able for tine literary quality, for pre
clsion of statement, for lucid presenta
tion of facts, for logical arrangement.
But it is possible, so it has been
unkindly suggested, that they do not
always remember that neither of these
important productions was written by
a Philadelphian. But to anyone whn
may make a suggestion it may with
Justice be said that tiie “Auto
biography” of Franklin, one of the
few great autobiographies of the
world, was written by a Philadelphian,
and also ids “Poor Uiehurd,” and other
world-famous works.
Putting the Clock Ahead.
How times have changed. The old
fashioned girl who used never to sit
up later than nine o’clock has u daugh
ter now who just starts out at nine
o’clock for the evening.—Boston Trts»
script.