Guide to the works of J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937). Scholar. Preacher. Founder of Westminster Theological Seminary. Leader in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
In a recent letter to the New York Herald-Tribune, Mr. J. Gresham Machen of Princeton, N. J., and Northeast Harbor, criticizes the development of Lafayette National Park. Dr. Robert Abbe of New York and Bar Harbor replies to Mr. Machen’s letter. The two letters follow:
Mr. Machen writes:
To the New York Herald Tribune:
Will you permit me to express my deep interest in your editorial on “A National Park for the East” in your issue of to-day, and at the same time to utter a word of caution? With the general purpose of the editorial I am in the most complete agreement; preservation of the forests of our country for the future benefits, recreational as well as economic, of the people is one of the pressing needs of the hour. But I am very doubtful whether this purpose will be served by the transformation of the existing national forests into national parks. One example of the difference between the two has been under my observation for years, and the comparison is altogether to the disadvantage of the national parks.
The reservation on Mount Desert Island, Me., is a national park (“The Lafayette National Park”). And the management of it, with the best intentions in the world, is ruining the natural beauty of the region; it is taking the wild, tree-fringed shores of the Maine streams and lakes into a cheap imitation, like that of Central Park, New York. Sometimes I am tempted to think that the Park Commission is more destructive than the lumberman.
The White Mountain Reservation in New Hampshire, on the other hand, is a national forest; and so far it has been managed with admirable wisdom. The region is thoroughly accessible to lovers of nature, there is cheap accommodation in hotels and camps, plenty of good forest paths and trails (which the Appalachian Mountain Club and other similar organizations are permitted to maintain), provide an opportunity for exercise; but the mountains are not scarred by excessive road building nor are the forests ruined by landscape gardening. If such regions are treated in the manner exemplified in the Lafayette National Park it will be a great loss not only for this generation but for future generations. The best way to kill the love of nature in our people is to take away the little bit of natural beauty which we have left; and the best way to discourage recreation is for government to go into the business of it.
J. Gresham Machen. Princeton, N. J., Dec. 5, 1924.
[Dr. Abbe’s reply, referred to above, was continued on another page of the original newspaper and is not reproduced in the available scan.]
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