Letter from R[obert] U[nderwood] Johnson to John Muir, 1893 Feb 21.

February 21st, 1893.R. W. GILDER, EDITOR.R. U. JOHNSON,ASSOCIATE EDITOR. C. C. BUELASSISTANT EDITOR.John Muir, Esq.Martinez, California.Dear Mr. Muir:-I thank you for your letter of the 14th inclosing Mr. McAllister\u27s.I do not care three straws on what basis the Yosemite is receded if only it be receded. I think it would be better to recede it on general principles rather than to go into the scandal; but one thing must be clearly understood,- that if it is not receded at the present session of your* Legislature , I shall have a Congressional investigation set on foot at the extra session, and thus the scandal will be transferred from Sacramento to Washington. The idea of waiting two more years for public opinion to be worked up, with the chances of another white-washing report at the end of it, does not appeal to me.Robinson and Mackenzie seem to be working together, but I fear you have all left the introduction of your bill too late, so that you have no rallying point. As I have said all along, nothing can take the place of the actual introduction of the bill. Nobody can say whether or not he is for or01432 J.M.2.R. W. GILDER, EDITOR.R. U. JOHNSON,ASSOCIATE EDITOR. C. C. BUELASSISTANT EDITOR.against recession until the bill is introduced. I have had too much experience to make a mistake about this. A campaign never begins until a bill is introduced.Glory halleluiah! The Secretary of the Interior is carrying out his great measures of forest preservation, and has already proclaimed the Sierra reservation from the Yosemite National Park south to the end of the Sierra, also the two big reservations of the mountains from Los Angeles to San Bernardino, also Mt. Rainier and a million acres about it., and also, on my suggestion, the country contiguous to the Grand Cañon of Colorado. I suppose the next thing to do is to have the Sierra reserved north of the Yosemite National Park.[illegible]I think, now that Irish is continuing his abuse of Noble, that you fellows ought to be able to lay him out: with the argument that Noble has done the greatest thing that could be done by the government for the State of California.You of course know that this whole policy has grown out of your three articles printed in The Century , which in turn grew out of our talk by the camp-fire on the upper Tuolumne. Of course I had no idea that Noble was going to01432 J.M.3. R. W. GILDER, EDITOR.R. U. JOHNSON,ASSOCIATE EDITOR. C. C. BUELASSISTANT EDITOR.do so much, but the suggestion back of all these reservations was your own.The are of (illegible)a statesman is to see what is wrong and then go to work to remedy it.Good luch to the Re-cessionists.Always faithfully yours,R. K. Johnson0143