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Sierra Club Bulletin 



EDITORIALS 



The Hetch-Hetchy The press of the country is almost unani- 

 SiTUATioN mously of the opinion that a perilous prece- 



dent has been set by the passage of the Raker 

 Hetch-Hetchy bill. It is the first time that permission has been 

 given to a municipality to invade a national park. Had this been done 

 under spur of a real public necessity it would not be a serious mat- 

 ter. The Sierra Club has always stood ready to approve the diversion 

 of any part of the Yosemite National Park if it could be shown that it 

 is the only place from which San Francisco can derive a satisfactory sup- 

 ply of water. But the Board of Army Engineers, in passing judgment up- 

 on evidence collected by the city for the express purpose of showing the 

 necessity of the project, found that "there are several sources of water 

 supply that could be obtained and used by the city of San Francisco 

 and adjacent communities to supplement the nearby supplies as neces- 

 sity develops." They add further that the water "from any one of these 

 . sources is sufficient in quantity and is, or can be made, suitable in 

 quality. * * * xhe determining factor is one of cost." Since the 

 truth of these statements is unquestioned the passage of the Hetch- 

 Hetchy bill must be regarded as the first act in a movement to break 

 down our national park policy, and to expose the parks to commercial 

 exploitation by municipal politicians and engineers. 



When the Park was established in 1890 the committee reporting the 

 bill said: "The rapid increase of population and the resulting destruc- 

 tion of natural objects make it incumbent upon the Government, in 

 so far as may be, to preserve the wonders and beauties of our country 

 from injury and destruction in order that they may afford pleasure as 

 well as instruction to the people." As watchful guardians of the peo- 

 ple's playgrounds. Secretaries Hitchcock and Noble condemned the 

 project as subversive of the purposes for which the Park was es- 

 tablished. One Public Lands Committee after another did the same. 

 But the project was kept alive, under one pretext or another, in an- 

 ticipation of a more favorable political wind. Last summer the city's 

 representatives entered into an agreement with the representatives of 

 the Turlock and Modesto irrigationists, which however was never con- 

 firmed by their principals, and then the Hetch-Hetchy bill was adroitly 

 "caucused" and agitated as a party measure. During the summer 

 session the measure was rushed through the lower house, chiefly on 

 the misrepresentation that a water famine was impending. The ab- 

 surdity of this plea is apparent in the fact that water enough for two 

 years was on hand; that the Calaveras dam, now in course of con- 

 struction, is designed to provide for the need of decades to cope, and 



