Niagara Falls 



1914 have gone into the making of the State Reservation at Niagara 

 Dow and the preservation of the integrity of the Falls. 



Another evidence of the " value " of the expenditure of money 

 and labor in the interests of Niagara is to be found in the very 

 character of the work that has been done. It has been educational 

 work in the highest sense of that term, for it has involved not 

 merely the establishment of an entirely new principle in the 

 United States but the development of a sentiment as well. Cer- 

 tainly, if it was worth while to blaze the way in the matter of the 

 public preservation of scenic beauty, as the State of New York 

 did in the establishment of the Niagara Reservation, it was even 

 more worth while to arouse and educate public sentiment up to its 

 present lively appreciation of that beauty. This is exactly what 

 the fight for the preservation of Niagara Falls has very largely 

 helped to do. How universal the appeal of Niagara is, is evi- 

 denced by the fact that never, since the establishment of the 

 Reservation, has the expenditure made by the State been criti- 

 cised. In fact, the creation of the Niagara Reservation was 

 undoubtedly one of the most popular things the Legislature of the 

 State of New York ever did. 



The third answer to the question as to the " value " of past 

 endeavors to protect Niagara is found in the universal uprising of 

 sentiment against the depletion of Niagara among all classes 

 except the commercial interests which would derive pecuniary 

 gain from the impairment of the Falls. This evidence is entirely 

 different from that which has thus far been adduced. The 

 absence of protests against the expenditure of money might pro- 

 ceed from indifference and, in a sense, is a negative argument ; but 

 the open and vigorous protest against the depletion of the Falls 

 is an active and positive argument. The attendance of so many 

 visitors a year might be explained on the ground of a certain 

 degree of self-interest or self-gratification — albeit of a very high 

 order; but the outcry of people throughout the whole land, the 

 majority of whom never saw, and, in all probability, never will 



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