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SIEUR DE MONTS
NATIONAL MONUMENT

1918

A GROUP OF LETTERS

Addressed to the Chairman of the Ap-

propriations Committee of the House of

Representatives at Washington on the

occasion of the first inclusion of this

park in the annual park estimates of the
Government

Not for Publication

The Sieur de Monts National Monument constitutes the first
national park to be established by the Government, war me-
morials apart, to the east of Colorado or the Hot Springs of Ar-
kansas. |

With our eastern mountains represented in extensive national
and state forests, this park, which embodies the most splendid
scenery on our Atlantic coast, will probably remain the single
member of our national park system to the north of Washington
and the east of Indiana, an area that contains according to sta-
tistics compiled by the Agricultural Department close on to
thirty million people and is the most densely occupied in the
United States. It will be visited by multitudes of people always,
once it has been developed by the Government to receive them,
and it is emphatically a park for the people, offering them the
beauty and refreshment of the ocean upon a coast every other
portion of which is rapidly being taken up in private occupation.

It is a tract also capable of an intensive development, both in
a recreational and a wild life sense, that will unite with the wide
freedom of the islanded and navigable waters that surround it
to extend its area.

With its refreshing, ocean-tempered climate, its walks and
climbs and opportunities for invigorating life upon the sea, it is
a place moreover peculiarly fitted for restoring the vitality of
those whom the strain of work or war may leave exhausted or
nervously impaired.

LIST OF WRITERS

Hon. FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary of the Interior
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
& % Davin B. OGDEN
Hon. GEoRGE W. WICKERSHAM

Rev. A. W. Hatsey, D.D.

Rev. WILLIAM T. MANNING, D.D.

FELIX W. WARBURG

T. GILBERT PEARSON, National Association of
Audubon Socteties

PRoFESSOR W. B. Scott, Princeton University

Hon. GEorGE L. INGRAHAM

Jacos H. ScHIFF

Rt. Rev. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, D.D., Bishop of
Massachusetis

Hon. THoMAS EWING

LINCOLN CROMWELL

Hon. Cary E. MILLIKEN, Governor of Maine

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON

April 9, 1918.
DEAR MR. SHERLEY:

_I write to ask your favorable consideration of the estimate of
fifty thousand dollars I have entered among the National Park
estimates for the ensuing year for the improvement and protec-
tion of the Sieur de Monts National Monument on the coast of
Maine. .

I decided personally on this estimate after visiting the Monu-
ment last summer and making thorough examination during a
week’s stay into its needs and opportunities as a unit of the
National Park system. It is a true park area in the highest
sense, totally different from any other that we have and ca-
pable of giving untold refreshment to the great town and city
populations of our country to the eastward of the Mississippi.
It is the only National park — using the word in its descriptive
sense — that fronts upon the sea, and it represents at its cul-
minating point one of the oldest and most important recreation
areas upon the Continent — the New England coast.

It is a tract of extraordinary variety and interest, a bold moun-
tain chain compressed within the limits of an island fifteen miles
across — though seventy or eighty in its ocean frontage. A dozen
or more separate peaks, deeply divided by lakes and gorges and
an ocean inlet, make up this chain. The most beautiful woods
remaining on that coast— once famous for its timber — lie
round the mountain bases.

The lands constituting the Monument have been for over
sixty years the object of resort from all the great Eastern cities,
from Southern ones extending to New Orleans, and Central ones
to St. Louis. Now, over fifty thousand people visit the Monu-
ment each summer, making it third among the National Park
areas in the number of its visitors. Placed as it is in relation to
the great Eastern population centers, and equally accessible by
boat and motor as by train, this number may readily be doubled
within a few years’ time by right development.

The Monument was made possible by the gift of citizens, and
it has been generously added to since its creation.

The creation of this Monument was not the result of chance
but of carefully thought-out intention; the gift that made it pos-
sible simply provided opportunity for carrying that intention
out. No better way of extending into the crowded eastern re-
gions of the country the immediate benefits of our National Park
system could have been devised than that presented by the
Monument, which for the first time gave this system access to
navigable waters on a harbored coast and gave the East a Na-
tional Park area characteristic of its greatest recreational fea-
ture.

Cordially yours
(Signed) FRANKLIN K. LANE

Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,

Chairman, Committee on Appropriations,
House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.

April 10, 1918.
My DEAR Mr. SHERLEY:

As a man who has been deeply interested for many years in
the growth and development of our national park system, I re-
spectfully urge on your Committee favorable action on Secre-
tary Lane’s request for adequate appropriation for the Sieur de
Monts National Monument on the coast of Maine. It is our
one eastern national park and gives for the first time to the
crowded eastern portion of the country the opportunity to share
directly and immediately in the benefits of our national park
system. Its striking ocean frontage makes it unlike every other
park.

I have watched with keen interest the work that has led to the
creation of this Park. Under right development it will give a
healthy playground to multitudes of hard working men and
women who need such a playground. Moreover, it constitutes
a wild life sanctuary under national guardianship at a spot where
such a sanctuary is greatly needed.

Secretary Lane’s request for adequate provision for this park
is in accordance with the broad national policy for the conser-
vation and development of our home resources — a policy which
every year becomes of increasing consequence.

Faithfully yours
(Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Hon. SwWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, Committee of the House on Appropriations,
Washington, D.C.

LAW OFFICES of
DAVID B. OGDEN
54 William Street
New York
April 3, 1918.

Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR:

I understand that Secretary Lane has recommended an appro-
priation of $50,000 for the improvement and protection of the
Sieur de Monts National Monument.

This is a matter which is of very great interest to myself and
to countless other persons who are situated more or less as I am.
It is now upwards of fifty years since I and my family first went
to Mount Desert Island, and I think I can say that in every in-
tervening summer some member of my family has been there.
It is there that during the whole of my professional life I have
found strength and refreshment more abundantly than I have
found it elsewhere either in this country or in Europe. The
breezes from the Atlantic mingling with the life-giving breath
of the forests of pine and spruce, the matchless grandeur of the
distant views, the beauty and picturesqueness of the immediate
surroundings, and, above all, the coolness of the atmosphere
make a combination which cannot be matched on the Atlantic
coast north of Rio de Janeiro. If ever nature indicated a benefi-
cent purpose of affording health and enjoyment to the sons of
men, she has done it on Mount Desert Island.

That it should have been set apart as a National Park was, I
think, one of the most important peaceful events of our recent
national history. It is now protected by law from invasion of
every kind, but what still remains to be done is that this legal
protection should be made actual. The woods must be conserved,
the wild life must be protected, new means of access must be
devised and put in execution. Already the statistics show that
the number of visitors during the past two years exceeds the
number going to any other national park of recreative charac-

ter except the Rocky Mountain Park, and I feel confident that
this number, great as it is, will increase with amazing rapidity
in the future if steps are taken to enable persons of moder-
ate means, to whom a visit to the far west is an impossibility,
to come to Mount Desert Island and spend there without undue
expense the leisure time which the summer affords them. Every-
where on the island are to be found sites of exceptional beauty
for the erection of small houses, and the cost of living is not ex-
cessive. There are thousands of men situated as I am and have
been — hard workers whose strength and vitality can only be
maintained by breaking away from labour for a short period —
to whom this Park is going to prove a measureless blessing.

If the Government proposes to spend any money upon its park
system, I think that the Sieur de Monts ought to receive that
proportion of the total appropriation which the number of its
visitors bears to the aggregate number of visitors to other parks.
The remarkable opportunities for increase and greater useful-
ness it offers under right development seem to entitle it to that.

Very sincerely yours
(Signed) Davip B. OGDEN

40 WALL STREET, NEW YORK
April 8, 1918.
HONORABLE SWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, Committee on Appropriations,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
My DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN:

I beg to invite your favorable consideration to the estimate of
$50,000 which I understand has been entered among the Na-
tional Park estimates for the ensuing year for the improvement
and protection of the Sieur de Monts National Monument (or
National Park) on the coast of Maine. I am very familiar with
the property and the considerations which surround the pro-
posal to improve and care for it as a part of the National Park
System. Mount Desert Island is unique in many particulars.
It is a mountainous isle, surrounded by ocean and bay, and
deeply indented by estuaries of the sea. In proportion to its
superficial area, it embraces more beauty and presents more
opportunities for healthful recreation than any place with which
I am familiar in the United States. There is a small fringe of
homes of the wealthy which girdles a part of its perimeter. On
the other hand, there is a vast expanse of property most ad-
mirably adapted for summer homes of people of very moderate
means. For that reason, it has been for years a favorite resort
of professional and scholastic folk from all over the country, and
the people interested in the movement to make it a National
Park are looking to the benefit of the large class of brain-work-
ers of small means who may find there a source of reinvigora-
tion and inspiration at small cost. In addition to that, the place
has great possibilities as a bird refuge, for the protection of the
wild bird life of the eastern country.

There are, of course, great demands upon the national finances
in the present exigency, but the preservation of this island has a
national importance even in time of war, because it furnishes a
singularly appropriate resort for the thousands of our men who
may come home from across the water in need of the most fav-
orable influences for the upbuilding of body and mind. For these
reasons, I venture to urge your careful and favorable considera-
tion of this proposed appropriation.

Very sincerely yours
(Signed) GEO. W. WICKERSHAM

THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS
OF THE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U.S.A.
156 Fifth Avenue
New York

Office of Secretary
A pril 8, 1918.
Hon. SwWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR:

Permit me to urge upon your favorable attention the recom-
mendation made by Secretary Lane, that an appropriation of
$50,000 be granted by Congress for the improvement and protec-
tion of the Sieur de Monts National Monument.

My interest in this project is purely a philanthropic one.
Thirty years ago I visited Bar Harbor and was charmed with
its wondrous beauty. For the past fifteen years every summer
I have spent three or four weeks at Bar Harbor, and I know
something of its lure. It grows upon one with the years. The
Government never did a better piece of work than when it set
apart this masterpiece of nature for a National Park. Each year
I have seen increased numbers of what Abraham Lincoln called
the ‘‘common people”’ going to the Park to enjoy its beauties.
If proper arrangements are made I believe this number will in-
crease rapidly with the years, as the Sieur de Monts National
Monument is the only National Park in this section of the coun-
try where dwell many millions, large numbers of whom, if the
way were open, could be induced to spend a portion of each year
in this delightful resort. The appropriation will aid much in
making permanent what has already been done. The summer
residents at Bar Harbor and those who are interested in this pro-
ject have shown a spirit of unselfishness, of sacrifice, of high ideal-
ism and of good citizenship that I believe has not been excelled
by any group of men and women anywhere in the country. They
should receive the hearty and cordial codperation of the Govern-
ment, for what they are aiming to accomplish is that this Park

may be made available for the people. I am sure that the Presi-
dent, whom I know very well, he being a classmate and warm
friend of mine for forty years, and whose idealism and love for
the people are too well-known to be questioned, would heartily
approve of this appropriation. It means large things for the
people in the near future if the interests of this Park are properly
conserved.

I trust you will not consider it an intrusion for me to urge upon
you the favorable consideration of this recommendation of Sec-

retary Lane.
Sincerely yours
(Signed) A. W. HALSEY

Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions

IST PROVISIONAL BATTALION
Camp Upton, N.Y.
April 8, 1918.

Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,

Chairman, Committee of the House on Appropriations,
Washington, D.C,

DEAR SIR:

I learn that the question of making an appropriation for the
Sieur de Monts National Park is shortly to come before you for
consideration. For many years I have spent my summer vaca-
tions near to the Sieur de Monts National Park. This park offers
a quite unequalled opportunity for rest and recuperation to the
busy, overworked men and women in the eastern part of our
country. In my judgment the expenditure required to develop
it would be many times over repaid by the practical and perman-
ent benefits which it would confer.

This park possesses extraordinary natural attractions and
possibilities, it can be developed without undue expenditure, and
it is far nearer at hand than any other national park to the great-
est number of those who most need such provision.

With respect, I remain, Sir,

Yours very truly
(Signed) WILLIAM T. MANNING
Volunteer Chaplain 1st Provisional Battalion

NEw York, April 12, 1918.
Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR: |

I understand that Secretary Lane of the Department of the
Interior has recommended that an appropriation of $50,000 be
made this year for the development and protection of the Sieur
de Monts National Monument at Mt. Desert Island, and as one
who is delighted that the Government in its wisdom has made
a reservation out of that wonderful and beautiful spot for the
benefit of the citizens of the United States, I hope that this ap-
propriation will be granted.

The work done in the different National Parks, in my opin-
ion, has been of the greatest value in instilling patriotism and —
pride of country in American citizens, and I know from the utter-
ances which I have heard from people traveling in Yellowstone
and Glacier National Parks that pride of ownership and the
joy which they derive from these beautiful places is a strong
tie binding them to their country — which has been so wisely
developed.

Mount Desert Island, on account of its wonderful climate and
beautiful scenery is sure to become a place of pilgrimage, and its
unique beauty and easy access are bound to result in its develop-
ment as a veritable playground on land and water for the people.
Knowing that one forest fire, permitted to gain headway through
a lack of proper protection, would mean the ruin of this spot, I
strongly urge that the investment which the Government has
wisely accepted in this reservation shall not be allowed to go to
waste for want of the relatively small appropriation which it will
take to guard and further the opportunities offered there.

Respectfully
(Signed) FELIX W. WARBURG

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES
FOR THE PROTECTION OF WILD BIRDS AND ANIMALS

New York City

, April 6, 1918.
Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,

Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR Mr. SHERLEY:

In behalf of the National Association of Audubon Societies
for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals, I am writing to
express our most profound hope that your Committee on Appro-
priations will favorably consider the recommendation of Secre-
tary Lane, that $50,000 be appropriated for the maintenance
and improvement of the Sieur de Monts National Monument on
Mount Desert, Maine.

Through codperation with the Department of Agriculture,
and also to some extent by purchase, this Association has been
actively engaged the past fifteen years in seeking to establish
a chain of refuges or sanctuaries for wild bird life, extending from
Maine to Florida and west to the Pacific Coast. Throughout
this entire period no area of such importance to wild life has
been set aside as a sanctuary in the Eastern States as that con-
tained within the boundaries of the Sieur de Monts National
Monument, created by Executive Order through the Monu-
ment Act, July 8, 1916.

The sum asked by Secretary Lane for its protection and de-
velopment is certainly moderate when one considers the impor-
tance of the territory, and it is greatly needed.

Trusting that you and your Committee may pass favorably
on this matter, I remain, with best wishes,

Yours very truly
(Signed) T. GILBERT PEARSON

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Princeton, N.J.
Department of Geology

April 8, 1918.
Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, D.C. ;
DEAR SIR:

Permit me to express the earnest hope that your Committee
will make a favorable report upon Secretary Lane’s recommen-
dation of an appropriation of $50,000 for the Sieur de Monts
National Monument on the island of Mt. Desert. As you are
probably aware, the nation owes this park to private foresight
and generosity and, from the scientific and educational stand-
point, it is very important that the Government, after accepting
this gift, should make adequate provision for its proper care and
for rendering it acceptable to the many people who would gladly
take advantage of it. To preserve intact the very interesting
geological and botanical features of the region and to make a
safe refuge for animal and bird life were, together with the hu-
man one, the principal motives which led the originators of the
plan to undertake the work, and the Government, as trustee for
the people, should in my opinion see to it that the plan does
not miscarry for want of suitable attention. I have always been
an ardent supporter of the system of National Parks, which is
so creditable to our Government, and I trust that even under
the present circumstances of terrible stress the parks may not
suffer from neglect. The Sieur de Monts project is worthy of
your most worthy consideration.

With repeated expression of my hope for your favorable ac-
tion, I am,

Very respectfully yours
(Signed) W. B. Scott
Blair Professor of Geology

Law Offices of
GEORGE L. INGRAHAM

14 Wall Street
New York
April 4, 1918.
My DEAR SIR: :

I have for many years made my summer home on the Island
of Mt. Desert in the State of Maine, and have taken a great
interest in the development of the Island, being quite familiar
with the unique position that it holds upon the Atlantic Coast.
It is really a promontory of granite extending into the Atlantic
ocean, and it is, both geologically and in relation to animal and
vegetable life, the most interesting corner of the Atlantic sea-
board. These granite mountains extend right into the ocean,
and constitute the highest point of land on the immediate coast
between Eastport and Florida. Attempts to exploit it for com-
mercial purposes have threatened to destroy its unique charac-
ter. There are groves of white pine, besides interesting forest
tracts of other species, remaining on the island, and the com-
bination of mountains and lakes with these renders it in my
opinion a most important spot to be preserved.

Years ago a number of public-spirited persons who habitu-
ally resort to the Island, procured, piece by piece, a conveyance
of the most essential portions of it to Trustees, in order to pre-
serve their beauty and their freedom to the public. Some two
years since this property was conveyed to the Government, which
accepted it for a national park. The Secretary of the Interior
has applied for an appropriation of $50,000, for the improvement
and protection of this park, and if the object of those who have
contributed the property is to be attained, it is necessary that
there should be appropriated a sum of money by the Govern-
ment to preserve the wild life that now exists upon it, and to
make improvements.

I conceive it to be of the greatest importance to the inhabi-
tants of the United States that there should be one reservation
on its eastern coast for the purpose of preserving the wild life
native to it, both animal and vegetable, and this can only be done

by protecting this locality, now nationally owned, from injury and
encroachments. Not as one interested in the immediate local-
ity, however, but rather in the wild life of the Atlantic sea-
board, I appeal to you to obtain this appropriation.
With great respect, I am
Faithfully yours
(Signed) GEORGE L. INGRAHAM
Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, Committee on Appropriations,

House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.

NEw York, April 11, 1918.
Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,

Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR:

Will you permit me to write you in reference to the appropria-
tion which I understand Secretary Lane of the Department of
the Interior has recommended to be made for the current year
for the protection and improvement of the Sieur de Monts
National Monument on Mt. Desert Island.

I have been a resident during the summer on this Island
for the past fifteen years; and have visited almost every nook
and corner on it. In my travels all over the United States and
in foreign countries, I have found no section that Nature has
made more attractive than Mt. Desert Island. I really believe
that it is one of the finest gifts God has bestowed upon the people
of the United States, and it is but right that they should show
themselves worthy of this gift by seeing to its proper develop-
ment and preservation.

It is a source of congratulation that the Government has
taken this upon itself by taking over a large part of the Island and
making it into a National Park, and it is to be hoped that it will
likewise see to the proper maintenance of the newly created Park
through moderate expenditures such as may be required to make
this Park a real joy and benefit to the people of our country,
who are visiting it in ever-increasing numbers, and to give it the
protection against forest fires which is greatly needed.

May I, therefore, bespeak your valued interest, which, aside
from myself, will be highly appreciated by all who have at heart
wholesome recreation for the people of our country.

Respectfully yours
(Signed) JacosB H. SCHIFF

March 23, 1918.
Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY, Chairman,

Committee on Appropriations,

House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.

My DEAR SIR:

May I ask your favorable consideration as Chairman of the
Appropriations Committee of the item for the appropriation of
$50,000 for the improvement and protection of the Sieur de
Monts National Monument, on the coast of Maine?

I fully realize the strain there is on the Treasury during the
war. At the same time, may I say that this is a park created
through the munificent gifts of citizens for which no appropria-
tion has been asked until this year and now only for its protec-
tion and improvement in the public interest. |

I have been a summer resident of Mt. Desert since 1870, and
have met there travellers from all over the world, All agree that
there are few, if any, spots — anywhere — which combine such
qualities of mountainous area close to the ocean, of exhilarating
sea and mountain air, of unique forestry and fauna due to its
position between the cold belt of Canada and the warmer belt
of Cape Cod. It is bound to be a spot to which people from all
parts of the United States will increasingly turn, indeed, have
turned already. The only national park in the East, it will give
such an opportunity, moreover, for the commingling of citizens
from North, South, East, and West, as is helpful for the unifica-
tion of the people.

I remain, Yours very truly

(Signed) WILLIAM LAWRENCE

THOMAS EWING
Attorney at Law
160 BroaDway, NEw York, N.Y.
April 1, 1918.
Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, Committee of the House
Upon Appropriations,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR SIR: .

I am very much interested in the plans of the Interior De-
partment for the development of the Sieur de Monts National
Monument for which an appropriation is asked from Congress.
I have been going to a place bordering it on Frenchman’s Bay
for many years. No section of the country is better suited to
giving opportunity for rest and recreation in the summer to large
numbers of. people of moderate means than Mt. Desert Island.

It lies within easy boat and motor reach from great business
and industrial centers as far south at least as New York, and
easy railroad reach from many states. What is needed is to make
its points of interest and beauty readily accessible and to fit it to
be a place of residence of a simple kind for the multitudes of
_ people who live where they can come to it.

It also seems to me that this is a time when it is peculiarly
desirable to develop our home resources for recreation and the
upbuilding of the vitality of the people, particularly of the peo-
ple whose lives are cast along somewhat narrow lines and who
need to be assisted to get out of the ruts and obtain the uplift
and inspiration of a spot like this.

Respectfully yours
(Signed) THoMAS EWING

357 FourTH AVENUE, N.Y.
April 23, 1918.
THE Hon. SWAGAR SHERLEY,
Chairman, Appropriations Committee,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.

My DEAR SIR:
Secretary Lane, of the Department of the Interior, has asked

the Congress to make an appropriation of fifty thousand dollars
for the care and development of the Sieur de Monts National
Monument. This wonderful part of Mt. Desert Island is really
a national park, though called a ‘‘monument’’ because of the law
under which it was accepted as a gift to the nation. It includes
some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. It combines —
in wonderful variety a rugged sea-coast, exquisite lakes, peace-
ful meadows, and towering cliffs. Primeval forests fill its valleys
and stretch up the lower slopes of the highest mountains on our
Atlantic coast toward their bare, glacier-scarred summits. It is
a playground of Nature’s making, showing her best work in things
animate and inanimate. Its woods and marshes are an ideal refuge
for birds and wild game. Almost every plant known to the tem-
perate zone in eastern North America is found growing there.

The Sieur de Monts Monument is within a day’s journey of
a third of the population of the United States, lying within
easy reach by rail or water from every town and city in the East.
Already it is visited yearly by more people than go to any other
of our national parks, except only the Arkansas Hot Springs and
Rocky Mountain Park.

During this past winter poachers have been unhindered by the
Government in slaughtering deer and killing the grouse sheltered
in the park, and timber has been cut without license. Such
destruction must be prevented and the forest guarded against
disease and fire. It needs paths, wood roads, and proper entrances,
for protection and to make its beauties more accessible.

As head of one of the buying sections of the War Department
I realize as many cannot, the huge sums which must now be de-
voted to the national defense. Part of this defense, however,
consists in keeping our people at their highest efficiency. This

public playground of Mt. Desert Island should not be neglected
by the Government, which holds it for the people. It should be
protected for the present and developed for the future, for those
who need — even more in time of war than in time of peace— the
tonic of its bracing air and wild scenery.

I trust that you will use your influence to secure for the Sieur
de Monts National Monument its full share of whatever appro-
priation is made for the national parks.

Yours respectfully
(Signed) LINCOLN CROMWELL

Chairman, Knit Goods Branch, Supply & Equipment Division, Q.M.C. War
Department

HON. SWAGAR SHERLEY,

Chairman, Committee on Appropriations of the House,
Washington, District of Columbia.

SIR:

The State of Maine is warmly interested in the development
of the National Park upon its coast, entitled the Sieur de Monts
National Monument.

This park, which has been the gift of citizens to the National
Government, occupies the most beautiful tract of land on the
Atlantic coast, and has exceptional historic interest. Readily
accessible from every eastern section of the Country, unique in
landscape character and bordering on the sea, the resort to it
and its value to the public as a recreative area could readily be
doubled in a few years’ time by right development. I sincerely
hope that such development may be given it and that the ap-
propriation for the purpose now asked by the Secretary of the
Interior after personal investigation may be granted. This is the
one eastern representative of the National Park System, a sys-
tem maintained at the general expense for all the people. It
stands already third among the National Park areas of the Coun-
try in the number of its visitors and has yet received no Federal
aid.

Trusting that your Committee will take favorable action ac-
cordingly on Secretary Lane’s request, I remain

Yours very truly
(Signed) CarL E. MILLIKEN
Governor

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