in man's own well-understood interest, that in nature which for him and his descendants will be of continually greater valuespecial commands which we cannot neglect."

The writer then anticipates the question of his readers whether other people in other countries are doing anything in this direction; and in reply he cites not only the reservation of the Yellowstone Park in the United States but also the preservation of Niagara Falls and the message of the President about the diversion of water from Niagara for commercial purposes. In his succussive annual addresses, Dr. Oudemans has held up to his people the examples presented by the creation of the Grand Canyon National Monument, the Big Tree Park of California, the Mount Rainier National Park, the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Parks, the Montana Bison Range, the Mount Olympus National Monument and various forest and game reserves in this country. He has also referred to the Great Mountain Park in Alberta, the Algonquin National Park in Ontario and the new Game Reserve in British Columbia; and to similar monuments in Patagonia, Chili, Australia, Bohemia, Sweden, Switzerland, Prussia, etc.

The Netherlands Country Protection League.

An organization in the Netherlands which devotes itself more particularly to the protection and improvement of landscape and civic beauty, including the regulation of billboard advertising, is the Bond Heemschut, which was formed in 1911. The Dutch title "Bond Heemschut" is the equivalent of the title of the corresponding organization in Germany called the "Bund Heimatschutz," and means "Country Protection League."

The League was organized at Amsterdam on February 2, 1911, and is established for a period of 29 years. Its statutes were sanctioned by royal decree on September 4, 1911. It aims to prevent the disfigurement of and to preserve and increase the beauty of city and country by means of purchase, subsidizing or co-ope ration; to raise the money necessary therefor; to study problems involved in the preservation of the beautiful and remarkable in city and country; to procure information and advice on these sub

jects; and to arouse popular interest in the beauty of the Netherlands by means of addresses and the distribution of literature.

The League is formed of Members, Honorary Members, Donors and Correspondents.

Members are accepted bodies which sympathize with the objects of the League. Honorary Members are elected at the meeting of the League on the nomination of the board of government. Donors are bodies or persons who sustain the League either by annual contribution or by gift at one time. Correspondents are persons in different parts of the kingdom appointed by the governing board to furnish information whenever they think that they can thereby promote the work of the League. Members make an annual payment of one per cent. of the contributions which they as bodies have received during the year, with a minimum of 5 florins and a maximum of f 50. Donors make an annual contribution of at least f 25 or a gift at one time of at least f 500. The bodies composing the membership of the League are as follows:

The Amsterdam Society, the Architecture and Friendship Society, the Catholic Art Circle, the Dutch Society for Trade and Industrial Art, the Royal Antiquarian Society, the Society of Art and Friendship, and the Society for the Promotion of Architecture, of Amsterdam;

The A. N. W. B. Tourist Union for the Netherlands, the Beauty in Education and Instruction Society, the Hague Art Circle, the Dutch Antiquarian Union, the Society of Art and Industry, and the Painters' Society Pulchri Studio, of the Hague;

The National Union for Foreign Trade, the Dutch Hotelkeepers' Union, the Section of the Society for the Promotion of Architecture, and the Provincial Utrecht Society of Arts and Science, of Utrecht;

The Architecture and Friendship Society and the Union of Dutch Architects, of Rotterdam;

The Haarlem Society and the Society for Decorating, of Haarlem;

The Nehalennia Society and the Society for the Promotion of Foreign Trade, of Middleburg;

The Society for the Promotion of Foreign Trade, of Bergen ; The Society for the Promotion of Foreign Trade, of Leek; The Hertogenbosch Art Circle, of Hertogenbosch;

The General Dutch Alliance, of Dordrecht;

The Twente Antiquarian Chamber, of Enschede;
The Art Society Pictura Veluvensis, of Renkum ;
The Edam Museum Society, of Edam;

The Society " In Consten Een," of Nijmegen;

The Society for the Protection of Nature-monuments, of Bloemendael;

And the Delfia Society of Decorators, of Delft.

The principal officers, elected at the general meeting on May 8, 1912, are:

President: Mr. W. B. Buma, of Huizum.

Vice-President: Mr. E. W. Moes, of Amsterdam.
First Secretary: Mr. A. W. Weissman, of Haarlem.
Second Secretary: Mr. S. de Clercq, of the Hague.
Treasurer: Mr. G. A. Pos, of Baan.

The scope of this admirable organization may be indicated by citing a few of the objects which have engaged its attention during the past year.

Through its intercession, trees have been saved in Heerlen, Zaandam and Gouda; the best part of the forests of Gaasterland have been preserved; and a tram-line to Friesland through the Stadbosch was prevented from destroying some beautiful trees at Assen. The manner of felling trees and cutting down a dune by the Commission of Survey of the Provincial Asylum of Meerenberg at Santpoort led the League to remonstrate to the Provincial States of North Holland with the result that the plan was changed so as to preserve the aesthetic appearance of the place. A report that the trees in the park-land of Haarlem were to be felled led to a representation to the Burgomaster to the effect that growing trees were an element of beauty in the landscape and ought to be spared; with the result that at least a temporary stay of execution was secured.

Protests against sign-boards along the electric railroad between Haarlem and Amsterdam; the renting of the walls of city buildings on the Waagplein at Alkmaar for billboards; and unsightly signs on a front near the museum of Edam, have been measurably successful. In Nijmegen a police ordinance has been adopted prohibiting billboards; and Mr. Hazelhoff Roelfzema, a member of the Provincial States of North Holland, has introduced in that hody a bill for the restriction of billboards.

Americans who have been interested in the picturesque towers of the Netherlands will be pleased to know that the League has been successful in saving towers at Wierum and Schoonhoven. It was also consulted by the municipality of Zandvoort concerning the external appearance of a water-tower which the town was about to build.

At Alkmaar, the iron bridge on the Waagplein needed renewing and it was proposed to build a new swing bridge of iron; but the League interceded successfully for a wooden bridge strengthened with iron as less disfiguring. And at Nijmegen, the opinion of the League was sought concerning the best location of a proposed bridge over the Waal with a view to conserving the beauty of the City and the landscape.

To accommodate the increased traffic at the Amsterdam Gate in the City of Haarlem, two plans, neither of which was satisfactory, were proposed. One plan contemplated a wider bridge in place of the present one, while the other plan proposed a new bridge near the present one. The League, in co-operation with others, solved the problem and saved the old gate by devising a plan by which traffic was given another direction.

When it was proposed to pull down a fourteenth century church at Kuik and build a new one, the League besought the continuance of the ancient structure and secured the postponement of its demolition.

While solicitous for the preservation of old buildings, the League has given a good deal of attention to the architectural appearance of new ones. The designing of houses to be built in Monnikendam and Broek-in-Waterland received careful consideration. At Wyk aan Zee, where the Asylum for Old Men and Women was to be demolished, the League urged the erection of a new building which would satisfy certain claims of beauty and the placing of the old date figures 1628 on the gable-end. When it was feared that the barracks which were to be erected on the Vuchtschen Highway at Hertogenbosch would spoil the beauty of that promenade, the League persuaded the architect to bring the building into harmony with its surroundings.

In preserving the beauty of the Island of Walcheren and in a hundred other ways, the League is doing excellent work for the

preservation of the beautiful landscapes and picturesque landmarks of that very interesting country.

SCENIC AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN
DENMARK.

Danish-American Park Dedicated.

On August 5, 1912, a large tract of land in the Rebild Hills of Jutland, amid a wilderness of Danish heather, was dedicated as a public park in the presence of King Christian, many high officials, 2,000 Americans from all parts of the United States and 10,000 Danes. The park was presented to their home country by Danishborn Americans representing sixteen States of the Union.

Addresses were delivered by King Christian; Count Moltke, the Danish Minister to the United States; Hon. Maurice Francis Egan, American Minister to Denmark; Dr. Morris, the Konsejl Presidente of Denmark; and Dr. Max Henius of No. 1135 Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, Ill., Chairman of the Danish-American Committee which represented the donors of the park.

Minister Egan, in the course of his address on "What Americans Owe to the Danes," said:

"In every Danish community in the United States the evil most hated is ignorance, and it is a proverb in all parts of our country that a Dane will sacrifice everything for the education of his children. What he has gained from America one of the most. beloved of all the Danes in America, Count Moltke, will tell you. For myself I can say seriously that the Danish-American, the industrial worker, the careful farmer, the skillful engineer, the admirable teacher, who is likewise often a preacher, has given to us more than we could possibly give to him."

King Christian then spoke, expressing on behalf of Denmark the Nation's thanks for the gift of the park and warm appreciation of the love of their native country on the part of the Danes in America which it had proved.

After King Christian's speech, which was loudly cheered, the flags of the United States and Denmark were hoisted on the highest places in the park.