competent work. Study of the report and its appendices, which cover a wide range of historic and scenic topics, local and general, demonstrates the merit of the work, the intelligence and good judgment with which it is directed, to matters of real public concern, and, at the same time, affords an admirable example of a public document, a repository from cover to cover of most valuable information, much of which can be nowhere else obtained, and constantly becoming through the lapse of time and changes in human affairs, of more importance." "New York has an excellent public association in its Scenic and Historic Preservation; Society, which not only encourages the preservation of scenes of natural beauty, but protects and marks places which have a significance in local, state or national history. One point of merit about this society is that it is not associated with any particular class or element in history or the social structure. It is for all. The Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Colonial Dames, Grand Army of the Republic and other meritorious societies properly attend to scenes and sites in which their particular members or progenitors were or are concerned. The Appalachian Club looks after the mountains and the forest trails. But there is no ancestral or other special badge upon the Scenic and Historic Sites people. They engage equally in the defence of the glacial carvings on the Onondaga rocks and the marine shells of Saratoga, in the marking of the biggest or the oldest tree on Manhattan, or in the locating of the old milestones on Broadway; and it is a foregone conclusion that they will seek to save Castle Garden, the Plymouth Rock of our later Pilgrims, from the destruction with which the proposition for a new and improved Aquarium threatens it. "A society that can do this is especially commendable, because there are now some millions of American citizens who are not eligible to membership in societies which require proof of Revolutionary or pre-Revolutionary descent, but who are expected to develop just as keen an interest in American history, and the American holy places, as if they had that descent. It is probable, indeed, that with the lapse of time a great many of these later comers will acquire that eligibility. The melting-pot will open the doors for them. Many names already decorate the rolls of the Revolutionary societies, and even those of the Mayflower descendants, which were strangers to the American records up to a recent period. The possessors of these lately foreign names enter the old societies by the doors opened to them by their mothers. But it will take a long time to blend the whole population in this way. In the meantime, we hope and expect that the children of immigrants will take as much pride as anyone else in the history of the country which is now theirs. Certainly we should not exclude them, if they do, from the company of those who cherish the memories of the past, nor should we be indifferent to the memorials of a later epoch than that in which the descendants merely of the oldest inhabitants are interested. The time has come when the note of inclusiveness, rather than that of exclusiveness, should be emphasized in our ways of distinguishing the past, as it is by the excellent Scenic and Historic Society." NECROLOGY During the year 1916, we removed from the membership rolls of the society the following names of those who died or notice of whose death was received during that year. The dates here given are the dates of their decease: B. J. Allison of Stony Point, N. Y., October, 1916. John D. Archbold of New York City, December 5, 1916. George C. Boldt of New York City, December 5, 1916. Mrs. Samuel Q. Brown of New York City, June 28, 1916. James G. Cannon of New York City, July 5, 1916. Gen. Howard Carroll of New York City, December 30, 1916. Harris B. Dick of New York City, September 21, 1916. Henry R. Durfee of Palmyra, N. Y., December 24, 1915. Seth Low, LL. D., of New York, September 17, 1916. Gen. Albert L. Mills, U. S. A., of Washington, D. C., September 18, 1916. * John De Witt Mowris of New York City, July 16, 1916. Hon. George C. Wait of Watkins, November 5, 1915.* The Society deeply laments the loss of these faithful friends and supporters. They were lovers of the beautiful in nature. They took pride in the historical traditions of our nation. They had warm human sympathy for their fellow-men and wanted to see their environment in cities improved. They shared the belief of this Society that life is something more than meat and drink and wherewithal to be clothed; and that after honest toil to get a living, there should be something of happiness in human lives to lighten the drudgery of labor. They shared our conviction that physical and intellectual happiness of the most wholesome kind can be promoted by proper city surrounding,- environment which is pleasant to see as well as healthful to live in; by parks and play* Reported in 1916. grounds in which rest or open air exercise can be had; and by larger state and national parks, in which people can commune with nature and study the marvellous works of creation. They believed that respect for our national history and traditions is a high form of patriotism to be nurtured by the preservation of ancient landmarks, the erection of monuments and memorials, and the rescue of treasured archives threatened with destruction. They shared our creed that these ends are worthy of the countenance and support of not only the public governments, municipal, state and national, but also private philanthropy, and while advocating the former, several testified the sincerity of their faith by liberal expressions of the latter. The prominent position of these late members in their respective communities attested the dignity and seriousness of the work which this Society has been conducting for the past 22 years, and on that account also, we sincerely regret to lose them as exponents of the Society's aims. Death of William B. Howland, LL. D. Our most notable loss since January 1, 1917, has been by the death of William Bailey Howland, LL. D., of New York, a member of the Society since 1903 and a member of the Board of Trustees since January 19, 1910. Dr. Howland died suddenly of heart disease in his office at No. 119 West 40th Street on Tuesday, February 27, 1917. He was born at Ashland, N. Y., June 10, 1849, being the son of the Rev. Harrison O. and Hannah Bailey Howland. On April 3, 1873, he married Miss Ella May Jacobs of Gowanda, N. Y., who survives him with two sons, Messrs. Karl V. S. and Harold J. Howland. Dr. Howland was a publisher who united with the constructive and executive ability of a business manager the instincts and perceptions of an editor a combination comparatively rare. In 1882 he founded the Outing magazine of which he was the publisher until 1885. From 1885 to 1890 he was editor and publisher of the Cambridge, Mass., Tribune, which he completely transformed and impressed with his personality. From 1890 to 1913 he was publisher and treasurer of the Outlook, his connection being contemporaneous from 1893 to 1913 with the editorship of Lyman Abbott and from 1909 to 1913 with the contributing editor 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, 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. |