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Board of Directors of the Sierra Club, 809 Market Street San Francisco, Cal. Dear Sirs:-- Will you permit me very
respectfully to suggest whether the Sierra Club might not now profitably set on foot a campaign with the purpose of procuring
the recession of the old Yosemite Valley Reservation to the United States Government at the next session of the Legislature.
The policy of establishing the great Yosemite National Park and the adjoining Sierra forest reservation has now been thoroughly
cindicated, and it is beyond contention that the government protection of such reserves, as in the case of the Yellowstone
National Park, is very much more effective than state control. It seems to me that in view of the fact that the administration
of the Yosemite Valley has been a source of continual criticism, both in relation to the treatment of the natural features
and in the relation of the commissioners to the commercial internets connected with the Valley, the Club has in the nature
of its character and purpose a certain responsibility toward public sentiment in this matter. I am of those who think that
perhrps such a desirable result as the merging? of the old reservation into the newer ones, and its control by the general
government, could be brought about without a campaign of recrimination and personal criticism, though for that matter I do
not know that in the public interest the should shirk from such a contest if necessary. It is as true now as it was five years
ago that this reservation has not been taken care of in a way commensurate with its importan? and no expert has ever been
consulted as to the management of 06343