Transcription:
1 Raymond, Fresno Co., Cal. Feb. 4, 1891 Dear Mr. Johnson: I have not yet brought up publicly the question of military
rule in Yosemite; but have privately circulated an address, to gather some signatures as a nucleus for a more general congregation
after a time, if necessary. I have been waiting to hear if the Overland will publish an article I offered tin that direction.
In January the editor wrote to me that I would hear from him soon; but the time for effective agitation is wearing away, and
I will not wait much longer. There is no shadow of doubt in my mind about the result of the soldier business. The principle,
in the first place, of military interference in civil matters is radically wrong, and no excuse of expediency can make that
wrong right. But, waiving that consideration, the attempt to run the Yosemite park by soldiers would certainly prove a costly
failure, and would bring into contempt the whole proposition of forest preservation. A company of troopers planted at Wawona,
or at any other point in the Park, would be as useless as a company of Yosemite commissioners. The soldier idea appears to
be, to have a camp somewhere in the park, and to let a moral influence emanate from the camp, impregnating the air with an
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