Page:The Preservation of Places of Interest or Beauty, 1907.djvu/10

 either ancient or modern, have a money value, easily realized. Museums and Art galleries are constructed for their preservation, and their marketable value makes it unnecessary to enforce any duty in relation to their safe keeping. Places of interest or beauty, on the contrary, have but a very limited market value. They must be enjoyed in situ, and cannot be acquired by a millionaire for the purpose of adorning his place of abode. They are in most cases worthless to the landowner as a source of profit, and he often asks, why should I spend money in protecting something which is cumbering my ground, and from which I can get no return? Hence the motives which lead naturally to the preservation of movable things of interest and beauty do not protect, but rather endanger immovable monuments and beautiful places.

Indeed, the dangers which beset such monuments and places are manifold, and arise from the progress of the nation. The land of a country is a limited commodity, and is an ever-present factor in the production and distribution of material wealth. It must therefore be put to different uses from time to time, as a nation lives and grows; and each generation will naturally deem of supreme importance that use of land which its day demands. Absorption in the needs and views of the time will therefore tend to the neglect or destruction of the results of prior uses. Take the case of an ancient walled town. The walls are useless to the town of to-day; they may be irksome, preventing the homogeneous growth of the town, restricting communication, perhaps occupying land wanted for other purposes. The individual landowner or builder finds them a mere incumbrance, and his desire for private profit prompts him to pull them down. It requires an active public opinion in favour of their retention as a link