CHAPTER 488
STATE OF DELAWARE
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, There is a growing consciousness on the part of our people in the value of conserving our natural resources; and
WHEREAS, our citizens should be encouraged to increase planting of seedling trees which in turn replenishes the stock harvested annually as a part of our economy; and
WHEREAS, in addition to the economic value of our woodlands, the beauty and shade provided by our trees and forests which we enjoy at this time of year, adds color to our countryside and serves as shields for our birds and other wildlife; and
WHEREAS, our forebears, in recognition of the benefits and influence of these bountiful gifts upon the lives and fortunes of our people and their responsibilities to posterity, devised ways and means of communicating to their successors implements of understanding and appreciation of that part of their trusteeship concerned with the perpetuation of forests, trees and birds by providing for the observance of one day of each year as Arbor and Bird Day; and
WHEREAS, Title 1, Section 501, of the Delaware Code, as amended, provides that the last Friday in April of each year shall be designated as Arbor and Bird Day and further provides that the Governor of the State of Delaware "may request its observance by all public schools, private schools, colleges and other institutions by the planting of trees and the adornment of the school and public grounds, and by suitable exercises, having for their object the advancement of the study of arbor culture and promotion of the spirit of protection to birds and trees and the cultivation of an appreciative sentiment concerning them"; and
WHEREAS, this is the ninetieth year that Arbor Day will have been observed in the United States, having been founded in Nebraska in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton; and
WHEREAS, good conservation measures call for the replenishing of our forest lands in order to protect wildlife and make certain that future generations may benefit from our thoughtfulness;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ELBERT N. CARVEL, Governor of the State of Delaware, do hereby proclaim Friday, April 27, 1962, as
"ARBOR DAY IN DELAWARE"
and urge all our schools and civic organizations to hold appropriate exercises on that day to stimulate mass consciousness and appreciation of the aesthetic, physical and economical value of tree and bird life.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I, Elbert N. Carvel, Governor of the State of Delaware, have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of. the said State to be hereunto affixed at Dover, this seventeenth day of April in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and eighty-sixth.
(GREAT SEAL)
ELBERT N. CARVEL, Governor
Attest: ELISHA C. DUKES, Secretary of State