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but down the barbed panax horrid as out of your way show the Elias bears. Contemplate these blessings to come. Governor Budd
is going savagely into Yosemite matters on the slimy trail of Irish He says he likes Commissioner Fields personally but will
not reappoint him until he finds out whether or no he has been used as a tool by drink. Examiner newspaper clipping REFORM
IN THE YOSEMITE. Governor Budd has found a popular line of work in attacking the special priveliges in the Yosemite. The
condition of that mountain paradise, held in trust by California for the lovers of beauty of the nation and of the world,
is a scandal to the State and its people. The whole valley, whose superb vistas would raise the mind of a Plute above his
daily grasshoppers to lofty thoughts, is a nest of petty jobbery. Every law passed for the preservation of its natural beauties,
and for the protection and comfort of visitors, has been broken. The contrast between the squalid maltreatment of the central
valley and the superb condition of the National Park surrounding it, which is kept in order by federal troops, has led to
the Eastern agitation for the retrocession of the Yosemite from California to the United States. Unless we experience a revival,
not only of State pride but of State conscience, that may be the best thing we can do. Gen. Barnes newspaper clipping I
remember that Governor illegible once sent me a commission as Yosemite Commissioner. I looked it over and then sat down and
wrote him a letter, thanking him for his courtesy, but declining the office. I told him that I found upon investigation that
the Yosemite Commission was composed of gentlemen who went upon a junketing trip to the valley at the expense of the State
once a year, and that the rest of the time John P. Irish ran the Commission. I declined to accept office in such a body. True,
I have been Colonel and illegible I think the proposed railroad from Merced to the foot of the Yosemite will be built owning
to the wonderful removal of mining about Coulterville? Horseshoe bend Mariposa Granat. What do you say about right of way
through the park? Ever Yours John Muir