Transcription:
Hon. John W. Noble, Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D.C. Sir: The report being current that you propose to
send United States troops to guard the Yosemite National Park, the undersigned, citizens of California, wish to enter a respectful
but emphatic protest against the proposed measure. Among other grounds on which we base our protest are the following: 1.
The presence of an armed soldiery in the Yosemite Park would be an insult to the people of California. It would be a standing
advertisement to the world at large that Californians are of such an undisciplined and unruly nature that, even in the ordinary
affairs of civil life, they must be suppressed by the cavalry sabre, the infantry rifle, and bayonet, or the machine gun of
the artillery. 2. The use of a military force as guardians of the Park would be entirely foreign to the purpose for which
the people, by their taxes, support an army. That purpose is to defend the people, in case of need, against their enemies
in arms, and not to override the people themselves in the 06357