NIAGARA AGAIN IN DANGER
THE COMMERCIALIZING OF GREAT SCENERY
ONE need not be afraid of exaggerating the peril to the beauty of Niagara in allowing its waters to be used for commercial purposes when a man of such moderation and public esteem as Senator Burton of Ohio says, as he did in the Senate on the fourth of March:
I want to say, Mr. President, that in all my experience in either house of Congress I have never known such an aggregation of persons to come here seeking to rob and to despoil as those who have come here after this power. If there is any one who wishes them to succeed he must answer to the country for it. They not only desired the water above the Falls, but they now desire to withdraw the waters below in the rapids, which are second in beauty only to the Falls themselves. Persons have come here under the guise of public spirit, or even of philanthropy, when it was but a thin veil to conceal a scheme to get possession of the waters of the Niagara River. We ask that for a year this law be continued to stay the hand of the despoiler.
The law referred to was the Burton Act under which for three years the assaults of the commercial interests have been stayed. Even with a concession to the companies of 250,000 horse-power instead of 160,000, Mr. Burton, owing to a filibuster by Senator O’Gorman, was not able to secure the desired extension, and the Falls seem to be at the mercy of those who are interested in turning great scenery into dividends. We are much mistaken if the new administration does not find some way of thwarting this form of vandalism. Meanwhile it is well that public opinion should be directed upon senators and representatives.
Of the damage that has already been done Senator Burton says: “... The ruthless hand of the promoter has been laid upon this river; and thus the cataract has been diminished in size and the scenic effect has been impaired not only by diminishing the flow and the quantity of the water, but by structures on the banks.” A question of jurisdiction has been raised as between the State of New York and the National Government, though the river as a boundary line has long been the subject of an international treaty. The fact that the taking of water for commercial purposes whether on the Canadian or the American side has virtually the same effect on the river makes joint action of the two countries imperative.
The willingness to destroy or impair great scenery by commercializing it, whether at Niagara or in the Yosemite National Park, makes it necessary that the fight for our natural treasures should be kept up with vigilance. Happily, the good judgment of the late Secretary of the Interior, Warren L. Fisher, has blocked the attempt of the city of San Francisco to destroy the wonderful Hetch Hetchy valley by converting it into a reservoir of water for drinking and power purposes,—which confessedly can be had elsewhere in the Sierra “by paying for it,”—the Secretary wisely holding that such a diversion of the valley from the original purpose of its reservation is too important a matter to be determined by any power but Congress. Three Secretaries of the Interior—Hitchcock, Ballinger, and Fisher—are thus on record against the ruthless project of the city authorities, and we believe it will not be more successful with Secretary Lane. Should its advocates go to Congress, it must be remembered that the same principle underlies the defense of Niagara and of Hetch Hetchy—the conservation of great scenery for the ultimate benefit of mankind.
