Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1916 — STATE PARKS RICH IN CIVIC VALUES [ARTICLE]

STATE PARKS RICH IN CIVIC VALUES

Will Stop Destruction ot Beauty Spots and Help Good Roads. • .‘a- ' ‘ '2..'- . . Doubtless the reason that the idea of celebrating Indiana's centennial by the people giving to their state a system. of parks is being .received with such widespread enthusiasm is the civic values that Iloosiers see in the movement. The state park system promises to pay civic dividends in many ways. It means the preservation of those scenic beamy spots that aYo to he found all over Indi>na. There jhas- bean some wanton destruction going on in these places hi -th.- last twenty years. The' fine: old t"- < 2 have been cm by lumber speculators and some of the finest scenery in Indiana lias bn n destroyed by railroads which blasted the fugged, picturesfiue rocks for roadbed ballast. It is apparent that the only way this destruction can he stopped is for the. public to acquire the property from the private owners. This will make .sure the perpetual preservation of the scenic spots so that future generations may enjoy them. State parks in Indiana will have the same effect upon the public as have the city parks of Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and other cities that have gone in for parks oil extensive scab'. The beauty spots coax the public into the fresh air. induce them to take' up healthful recreation, and they tie the public close to the charms of nature. State parks will also mean the preservation of trees, make safe retreats for birds and small game, and tlm parks will also lead to the stocking up of streams and lakes with fish. It. is not the intention in establishing state parks to go in for extensive and expensive landscape adornment. The wild; spots are to he preserved in their wi! : n< . so after the beauty spots conre into the possession of the public there will be little expense in Upkeep. ' State , parks will be a great stimn lent to good roads, for the parks will -lead to tying them together with the best kind of highways. There is' in the state i ark movement a fine opportunity to make a show place of all Indiana—a laud of parks not only for the enjoyment of the Hoosiers. hut., for the pleasure .of the people who come from other slates. ■ . /' Ellery s- dr wick, editor of the At iahtic Monthly magizine. Boston . wrote: "I feel thar all Americans should wish groat success to you: project.” y Robert Barns’ Father. In boyhood Robert Burns saw his father di>tivsM>d by landlords and their factors npiui raek reniing intent. Upon evil days had agriculture then fallen. Markers were limited or remote and inaccessible. Tuc li. dm headed industrialism. dour;-iiing i,;)\v upon iron ore and < oal io A.- iMiir - and Lanarkshire and ceim iir,i;i.g -•: be produce of the farms, i.iad mu t lu-ii (‘merged in history. . - Alt hough de Wended, from .Highland cbinsmi n.. ~ fp.iam idirns, the poet’s.fatiler, bad •or , a the feudal loyalty which works oui. as sheer liunkeyism, accepting, the ,-uii's and kicks of the superior person with the inverted pride which cm; nts it n Gist i net ion even to be kicked: by the foot of. aTi aristocrat. "1 have met with few,” wrote the poet of his-father in the autidiiograplileal letter to 1 *r. Moore, "who understood men, .their manners and their ways equal to ldni; but stubborn, ungainly integrity and headlong, un.governabhgJxasjcibility are qualifying elrcuinstanees: (-(uiseipit'nlly I was born a very poor man's son."