Parks Quotes
In the 1930s, the only practical way to get to and around a National Park was to have an automobile or horses nearby. It was very difficult for the poor and the middle class to enjoy the parks. In poor economic times, it was hard to justify tax money being spent on national parks which would only benefit the upper classes. FDR however, had a more futuristic, egalitarian vision that became a reality with the development of the National Highway System under Dwight Eisenhower. At one time, camping in a National Park was a luxury that only the rich can afford. Today it is a very inexpensive vacation that even all but the poor can afford.
The Smithsonian in 1888 had started a “Department of Living Animals” and had 172 at the time whereas earlier all animals were stuffed. At the time no one was quite sure whether or not there would be any public interest in a zoo. This initial request for $200,000 to buy property on which to place the zoo was turned down as historically zoos were created by royalty and the very rich and didn’t seem democratic to many members of the House. Others however, saw the role of democracy as bringing to ordinary people what had historically been available only to royalty and the wealthy. See {629321} . The Speaker was not an enthusiast for the zoo and the House had voted it down in the previous session, but there had been a surge in popular opinion and Congressmen had been extensively lobbied by advcates for the upper and working classes. The Speaker was a realist as the quotation indicates, but he was not as tactful as later speakers were.
