ship of Theodore Roosevelt. From 1913 to the time of his death he was managing editor of the Independent. He was also publisher of the Countryside Magazine. Not long ago he became deeply interested in aeronautics and acquired a monthly magazine devoted to aerial navigation but was compelled to relinquish it on account of other demands on his time. His particular interest in aeronautics was due to his belief that the flying machine would reach a far higher state of development than it has yet attained, and that its effect on civilization would be far-reaching. As railroads and telegraphs, by affording easy means of intercommunication, had promoted the homogeneity of individual nations, so he believed that the aeroplane and the wireless telegraph, transcending national boundaries, would tend to universal homogeneity and proportionately advance civilization. His views in that respect were typical of his general outlook upon human affairs. While not unmindful of the details of the counting and the editorial rooms, even to the small conveniences of employes, he constantly looked beyond them to the general welfare of his city, state and nation, and the world at large. His membership in the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society for the past fourteen years, in seven of which he served as a Trustee; his Treasurership of the American Civic Association for thirteen years; and his Commissionership of the Niagara Falls State Reservation since February 3, 1909, were evidences of his love of the beautiful in nature, his belief in the duty of providing places of wholesome recreation and health recuperation for the people, his devotion to the betterment of the living conditions of the poor and his patriotic interest in the historic traditions of the American people. That Dr. Howland's interests extended beyond our national boundaries was evidenced by two fields of activity in which he won signal marks of distinction. For several years he had been Treasurer of the Society for Italian Immigrants. Not sharing the feeling of many that Italian immigration, especially from the southern provinces, was to be discouraged, he believed that the Italians were a valuable contribution to the population of the United States. For his work in their behalf, he received a decoration from the King of Italy. On the occasion of the centenary of unbroken peace between the United States and Great Britain, Dr. Howland was very active in his efforts to have the anniversary suitably observed, and to cement more strongly the ties of blood and tradition that bind the two nations together. He had a large part in the work leading up to the acquisition of Sulgrave Manor, the home of the ancestral Washingtons near Northampton, Eng., as a memorial. (See our Annual Reports for 1912, pp. 219, 226-228, 1913, pp. 297-299, and 1914, pp. 272-274.) For his activity in this matter he received the honorary degree of LL. D. from the University of Toronto, Canada. At the time of his death, Dr. Howland was President of the National Institute of Efficiency, Treasurer of the Congregational Home Missionary Society, a Trustee of the Chautauqua Institution, and a Trustee of the Sulgrave Institute. He had membership in many philanthropic, civic, art and professional societies. His body was taken to Kinderhook, N. Y., for interment, on Thursday, March 1. In his casket this Society placed a glass tablet* bearing the following inscription: WILLIAM BAILEY HOWLAND, LL. D. President of the Commissioners of the State Reservation President of the National Institute of Efficiency Trustee of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Treasurer of the American Civic Association, 119 West 40th Street, New York City, Interred at Kinderhook, New York, From the Trustees of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. The Society has recently placed similar glass tablets in the caskets of the late Very Rev. William M. Grosvenor,, D. D., Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, of New York, who died December 9, 1916, and Mrs. William Barr of Orange, N. J., who died January 2, 1917. The inscriptions are etched with acid upon the glass. It is believed that as glass is more durable than metal under the corrosive action of acids of the earth, the glass tablet will preserve a means of identification longer than the metal plate on the coffin. On Friday, March 2, 1917, memorial exercises were held at the National Arts Club, No. 15 Gramercy Park, New York City. Mr. J. Horace McFarland, President of the American Civic Association, presided. Between the invocation at 3 o'clock and the benediction at 4:30, twenty speakers made informal addresses. They included, besides Mr. McFarland, Mr. Richard B. Watrous, Secretary of the American Civic Association; Hamilton Holt, LL. D., editor of the Independent; Hon. Alton B. Parker, representing the National Institute of Efficiency; Lord Aberdeen, who spoke for Dr. Howland's friends in Great Britain; Mr. Herbert S. Huston, publisher; Mr. Ernest H. Abbott of the Outlook editorial staff; Dr. Antonio Stella of the Italian Immigration Society; Mr. Clinton Rogers Woodruff, Secretary of the National Municipal League; George Frederick Kunz, Ph. D., Sc. D. President of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society; Albert Shaw, LL. D., Ph. D., editor of the National Revenues; Hon. John A. Stewart, of the American Peace Centennial Committee; Hon. John De Witt Warner, representing the National Arts Club; Mr. Ernesto G. Fabbri, President of the Society of Italian Emigrants; George Kennan, Litt. D., author and special writer, and others. TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING. Establishment of National Park Service Signalized The Twenty-second Annual Meeting of the Society was held in the auditorium of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City on Wednesday evening, January 10, 1917, beginning at 8 o'clock. As on former occasions, the Society had the hearty co-operation of the museum and its officers: Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sc.D., LL.D., Ph.D., President; Mr. Adrian Iselin, Jr., Secretary, and Mr. George H. Sherwood, Assistant Secretary, for which it desires to express its great appreciation. George Frederick Kunz, Ph.D., Sc.D., President of the Society, presided. The regular business of the meeting, consisting of the reading of the President's and Treasurer's annual reports, the report of the Nominating Committee, and the election of twelve Trustees for three years, was transacted between 8 and 8:30. The Secretary of the Society then exhibited upon the screen a few pictures of the inauguration of the permanent illumination of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor and of Miss Ruth Law, the air-woman, writing the word "Liberty" in letters of fire against the sky with her aeroplane, taken after night-fall on the evening of Saturday, December 2, 1916. The slides which were remarkable of their kind, were kindly loaned by Mr. Earl Harding of the New York World. The Secretary also showed a number of views of the 57-acre tract at Fort Tryon, New York City, which, it was reported during the preceding week, Mr. John D. Rockefeller had purchased with a view to giving it to the City for a public park. The Secretary read a letter from Mr. A. Adams, Mr. Rockefeller's Secretary, stating that the current reports of the proposed gift "have been neither confirmed nor denied by Mr. Rockefeller."* Hon. Cabot Ward, Commissioner of Parks of the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, and President of the Board, who is a member of the Society, spoke of the value of the Society's work in sustaining the hands of Park and other City officials in their efforts to save the parks for their proper uses, to abolish signboards in the vicinity of parks, etc. The principal address of the evening was delivered by Hon. Robert Sterling Yard of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The position of honor was thus given in order to signalize the creation of the National Park Service by act of Congress approved August 25, 1916, to have the supervision, management and control of the several National Parks and National Monuments which are now under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, the Arkansas Hot Springs Reservation, and such other National Parks and Reservations of like character as may hereafter be created by Congress. This establishment has long been advocated by this Society and other bodies, civic and scientific, and marks a notable advance in the movement for the protection and public enjoyment of the scenic, scientific and historic treasures of our country. The address, therefore, was of unusual interest. Mr. Yard, who was formerly on the New York Sun and later editor-in-chief of the Century Magazine, spoke upon *The reports have subsequently been confirmed. See Appendix G. the aesthetic, scientific, educational, physiological and economic values of the National Parks and National Monuments, and exhibited stereopticon views of the Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Casa Grande, Mesa Verde, Mount Rainier, Crater Lake, Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and the Grand Canyon National Monument. The lantern slides, kindly loaned by Mr. Herbert W. Gleason, of Boston, and colored by Mrs. Gleason, were wonderfully beautiful. The address held the close attention of the large audience for an hour and a half. After Mr. Yard's address, Mr. Fred Payne Clatworthy, a professional photographer, of Estes Park, Colo., exhibited about fifty autochrome views of Rocky Mountain National Park made direcly from nature by the Lumière process which were of very great interest, both on account of the beauty of the scenery and the remarkable fidelity of the rendering of the colors. AMERICAN METHODS OF CONSERVATION Before proceeding to a detailed report of our administration of State properties during the past year and a record of other events of related interest, it may be appropriate to give here a condensed general statement of how nature and history monuments are created and administered in the United States. Among the hundreds of communications received from American and foreign sources during the past year and asking all sorts of questions, one of the most interesting was the following from Mr. George Brisqualine of Kharkow, Russia. It is interesting particularly because it illustrates the kind of questions which arise in a country where the movement for the preservation of scenic and historic places and objects is in its formative stage. It also gives one of many indications, which appear in the course of a year, of the way in which foreigners turn to the United States for information and guidance on this subject.* Following is a translation of Mr. Brisqualine's letter, the original of which was written in excellent French: *It should be said, however, that the United States can and does learn much from European countries along these lines. |