April 23, 1964 (24 pages)

4 j SMALL TOWN : SMALL WORLD EDITORIAL CONSERVATION FUND COULD SAVE THE OUTDOORS Should the outdoors be free? This question is one that merits serious consideration, and is one that Congressman Wayne N.Aspinall of Colorado addressed himself toin speaking before the Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. It has not always been a topic for political speeches, for public consideration. In the final days of Spanish rule of California, about 150 years ago, the population of the United States was only 7 million, the density of population was only 4.3 persons per square mile, and only seven per cent of the people lived in settlements with 2500 or more population. Today, exclusive of Alaska, and in spite of the: greatly expanded area of the United States, our country has a population of 62.5 persons per square mile, and today 115 million of our people live in what the Census Bureau classifies as "urban" places. The outdoors is no longer a five minute walk from the doorstep of most of our population. It is now a long drive through town and past suburbia. Those of us who still have the outdoors within walking distance or just a short drive away from home can be thankful. But we must also recognize the problem that exists for others, and we must be wary lest it confront us in the near future, too. The conservation movement in the U.S. began with the recognition of the need for parks, forests, water power and irrigation. It was a movement against waste anddespoliation, a movement in favor of wise use. In some cases it was for multiple use, such as the national forests. But today the outdoors is getting scarcer and scarcer. And it costs more and more to preserve andrestore it. Also, there is a need today for recreational use of the outdoors that is far greater than at any time in our country's history. Therefore, there is under Congressional consideration atthis time a Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill. The bill, toa large part, is an outgrowth of the work of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. The commission took a long look into the future, and it made various recommendations. Some of these have already been included in adopted legislation. Others are included in the bill under consideration. The stated purpose of the legislation is "toassistin preserving, developing, and assuring accessibility to all citizens of the United States of America of present and future generations.. .Suc quality and quantity of outdoor resources as may be available and are necessary and desirable for active participation in such recreation and to strengthen the healthand vitality of the citizens of the United States..." The bill proposes three permanent sources of money for the Land and Water Conservation Fund: 1. That portion of the gasoline tax which is derived from fuels used in motorboats---about $25 million a year. 2. Proceeds from the sale of surplus government real estate---about $50 million a year. 3. Proceeds from admission and user fees collected from those who make recreational use of our national parks, national forests, and other installations ---about $60 or $70 million a year. This money will not finance federal land acquisition for recreation, but it will go a long way toward helping get a realistic program under way. Because the states play a major role inrecreation, 40 per cent of this money willgo to the states as matching funds to speed state planning and development of recreation. This will spur the states on in their own recreational developments and take some of the burden off the federal government. The recreational field is large, the need is great. It will take cooperative action by state, local and federal government to hope to achieve the goal set forth in the Land and Water Conservation Bill. CongressmanAspinall admitted to his audience in Washington that the bill is not yet a finished: product. Changes in the bill will be made before it reaches the point of final legislative decision in Congress. : But he labels the bill, “or something reasonably like it", an absolute must in his judgment. Although the recreation he outlines does notcall for the outdoors to be entirely free, due to admission or user fees, we agree with Aspinall. The most important consideration is that sufficient outdoors be free for the use of Americans as they seek recreational relief from the hustle of modern living. We who have the outdoors at our city doorsteps shouldapplaud efforts to develop recreational facilities that can continue to be at our doorsteps in the years of crowding growth that are immediately ahead. LY Baerrsices eedefabeiae likes rade Atmiaeryy CALIFORNIA ONE MAN BUILDS A MONUMENT AMIDST DRABNESS You can find the community of Watts several miles down the Harbor freeway from central Los Angeles. It is an ugly place, smog-bound, without apparent beginning or end Much of the housing 1s sub -standard-"deteriorated" is the official term, 1 believe. Yet people come to Watts from all over the world, and drive up and down the grimy streets searching for a fantastic monument, a soaring and intricate work of folk art created by one man. There are no signs in Watts to tell you where are the Watts Towers. When you ask a gas station in downtown Los Angeles for directions to the Watts Towers, you will be asked, “What's that?” Fromthe freeway you might be able to spot the Towers ifthe smog were not so thick. Ask a pedestrian in Watts where the Towers might be found and he will tell you, "Up that way somewhere, by the railroad tracks, e The.three Towers rise up a hundred feet on a narrow wedge of a lot beside the railroad. Trains passing by slow _down for them so that their mortared embellishments won't be shaken off. They are made out of steel rods, wire, and various scrap metals, and decorated with old plates, bottles, tiles, seashells, and what-have-you. What are they? Nobody can say, but they are beautiful, many-colored, They were built by one man, Simon Rodia, a native of Italy who came to the United States SMALL SUB-TOWERS AND INTRICATE CONSTRUCTIONS are woven around the base of the central monuments, all the work of one man. at the age of 12 and worked in a variety of unskilled jobs. When he was 40, he began-work on his Towers-slowly, steadily, lovingly, for 33 years. In 1954 he decided they were finished, deeded them to a neighbor, and moved away, "I no have anybody help me out," Rodia said of his masterwork, “I was a poor man. Had to do a little at a time. Nobody helped me, I think if I hire a man he don 't know what todo, A million timesI don't know what to do myself. I never had a single helper. Some of the people say, what was he doing..some of the people think Iwascrazy and some people said I was going to do something. I wantedtodosomething in the United States because I wasraised here you understand? I wanted to do something for the United States because there are nice people in this country." There are also people in this country who had no use for Simon Rodia's Towers, Los Angeles city building officials saidthey were unsafe and ordered them removed. But a citizens committee formed to purchase, preserve and protect the Towers made the bureaucrats eat their words, They staged a test of the Towers" strength with a special apparatus designed by engineers, in October 1959. The Towers didn't budge. And thus they remain, Towers of beauty and strength + -pogr ‘eg Idy’**1083NN ey.L***OT 28ed OT a8eg _Page 11 The Nugcet. 104A kant t Ce 4

4 j SMALL TOWN : SMALL WORLD EDITORIAL CONSERVATION FUND COULD SAVE THE OUTDOORS Should the outdoors be free? This question is one that merits serious consideration, and is one that Congressman Wayne N.Aspinall of Colorado addressed himself toin speaking before the Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. It has not always been a topic for political speeches, for public consideration. In the final days of Spanish rule of California, about 150 years ago, the population of the United States was only 7 million, the density of population was only 4.3 persons per square mile, and only seven per cent of the people lived in settlements with 2500 or more population. Today, exclusive of Alaska, and in spite of the: greatly expanded area of the United States, our country has a population of 62.5 persons per square mile, and today 115 million of our people live in what the Census Bureau classifies as "urban" places. The outdoors is no longer a five minute walk from the doorstep of most of our population. It is now a long drive through town and past suburbia. Those of us who still have the outdoors within walking distance or just a short drive away from home can be thankful. But we must also recognize the problem that exists for others, and we must be wary lest it confront us in the near future, too. The conservation movement in the U.S. began with the recognition of the need for parks, forests, water power and irrigation. It was a movement against waste anddespoliation, a movement in favor of wise use. In some cases it was for multiple use, such as the national forests. But today the outdoors is getting scarcer and scarcer. And it costs more and more to preserve andrestore it. Also, there is a need today for recreational use of the outdoors that is far greater than at any time in our country's history. Therefore, there is under Congressional consideration atthis time a Land and Water Conservation Fund Bill. The bill, toa large part, is an outgrowth of the work of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. The commission took a long look into the future, and it made various recommendations. Some of these have already been included in adopted legislation. Others are included in the bill under consideration. The stated purpose of the legislation is "toassistin preserving, developing, and assuring accessibility to all citizens of the United States of America of present and future generations.... .Suc quality and quantity of outdoor resources as may be available and are necessary and desirable for active participation in such recreation and to strengthen the healthand vitality of the citizens of the United States....." The bill proposes three permanent sources of money for the Land and Water Conservation Fund: 1. That portion of the gasoline tax which is derived from fuels used in motorboats---about $25 million a year. 2. Proceeds from the sale of surplus government real estate---about $50 million a year. 3. Proceeds from admission and user fees collected from those who make recreational use of our national parks, national forests, and other installations ---about $60 or $70 million a year. This money will not finance federal land acquisition for recreation, but it will go a long way toward helping get a realistic program under way. Because the states play a major role inrecreation, 40 per cent of this money willgo to the states as matching funds to speed state planning and development of recreation. This will spur the states

on in their own recreational developments and take some of the burden off the federal government. The recreational field is large, the need is great. It will take cooperative action by state, local and federal government to hope to achieve the goal set forth in the Land and Water Conservation Bill. CongressmanAspinall admitted to his audience in Washington that the bill is not yet a finished: product. Changes in the bill will be made before it reaches the point of final legislative decision in Congress. : But he labels the bill, “or something reasonably like it", an absolute must in his judgment. Although the recreation he outlines does notcall for the outdoors to be entirely free, due to admission or user fees, we agree with Aspinall. The most important consideration is that sufficient outdoors be free for the use of Americans as they seek recreational relief from the hustle of modern living. We who have the outdoors at our city doorsteps shouldapplaud efforts to develop recreational facilities that can continue to be at our doorsteps in the years of crowding growth that are immediately ahead. LY Baerrsices eedefabeiae likes rade Atmiaeryy CALIFORNIA ONE MAN BUILDS A MONUMENT AMIDST DRABNESS You can find the community of Watts several miles down the Harbor freeway from central Los Angeles. It is an ugly place, smog-bound, without apparent beginning or end Much of the housing 1s sub -standard-"deteriorated" is the official term, 1 believe. Yet people come to Watts from all over the world, and drive up and down the grimy streets searching for a fantastic monument, a soaring and intricate work of folk art created by one man. There are no signs in Watts to tell you where are the Watts Towers. When you ask a gas station in downtown Los Angeles for directions to the Watts Towers, you will be asked, “What's that?” Fromthe freeway you might be able to spot the Towers ifthe smog were not so thick. Ask a pedestrian in Watts where the Towers might be found and he will tell you, "Up that way somewhere, by the railroad tracks, e The.three Towers rise up a hundred feet on a narrow wedge of a lot beside the railroad. Trains passing by slow _down for them so that their mortared embellishments won't be shaken off. They are made out of steel rods, wire, and various scrap metals, and decorated with old plates, bottles, tiles, seashells, and what-have-you. What are they? Nobody can say, but they are beautiful, many-colored, They were built by one man, Simon Rodia, a native of Italy who came to the United States SMALL SUB-TOWERS AND INTRICATE CONSTRUCTIONS are woven around the base of the central monuments, all the work of one man. at the age of 12 and worked in a variety of unskilled jobs. When he was 40, he began-work on his Towers-slowly, steadily, lovingly, for 33 years. In 1954 he decided they were finished, deeded them to a neighbor, and moved away, "I no have anybody help me out," Rodia said of his masterwork, “I was a poor man. Had to do a little at a time. Nobody helped me, I think if I hire a man he don 't know what todo, A million timesI don't know what to do myself. I never had a single helper. Some of the people say, what was he doing...some of the people think Iwascrazy and some people said I was going to do something. I wantedtodosomething in the United States because I wasraised here you understand? I wanted to do something for the United States because there are nice people in this country." There are also people in this country who had no use for Simon Rodia's Towers, Los Angeles city building officials saidthey were unsafe and ordered them removed. But a citizens committee formed to purchase, preserve and protect the Towers made the bureaucrats eat their words, They staged a test of the Towers" strength with a special apparatus designed by engineers, in October 1959. The Towers didn't budge. And thus they remain, Towers of beauty and strength + -pogr ‘eg Idy’**1083NN ey.L***OT 28ed OT a8eg _Page 11 The Nugcet.. 104A kant t Ce 4