HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



569 



public than to take it for groceries or hotels, but the capacity to 

 have groceries or hotels in many communities would have to be 

 dependent on the exercise of the power of condemnation to -make 

 the cases parallel. 1 



In 1894 Clemens Herschel proposed the following amendment 

 to the constitution of the State of New York. With the amend- 

 ment made/ section 7 would read as follows : 



Compensation for property taken. When private property 

 shall be taken for any public use, the compensation to be made 

 therefor, when such compensation is not made by the State, shall 

 be ascertained by a jury, or by not less than three commissioners 

 appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law. 

 The necessary use of lands for the construction and operation of 

 works serving to retain, exclude or convey water for agricultural, 

 mining, milling, domestic or sanitary purposes is hereby declared 

 to he a public use. Private roads may be opened in a manner to 

 be prescribed by law ; but in every case the necessity of the road, 

 and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the opening 

 thereof, shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and 

 such amount, together with the expenses of the proceedings, shall 

 be paid by the person to be benefited. 



Unfortunately, owing to the prevalence of a too conservative 

 spirit, as well as a lack of appreciation of the benefits to follow, 

 this amendment did not pass, although the eight States previously 

 cited have similar provisions, as well as most of the countries on 

 the continent of Europe. 



The same year the writer was a member of a committee of the 

 Rochester Chamber of Commerce appointed to consider some of 

 the phases of this amendment as introduced by Nathaniel Foote, 

 delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Rochester. The 

 writer set forth the value of such an amendment, but the commit- 

 tee considered that the Rochester Chamber of Commerce ought not 

 to advocate the amendment because it was at that time endeavor- 

 ing to secure the passage of an act whereby Genesee river storage 

 would be constructed by the State. To this it was said that there 

 was no probability of the State ever building Genesee river 

 storage, but a too conservative spirit prevailed, and the sense of 

 the committee was that such amendment ought not to pass. 



lFrom circular letter addressed by Clemens Herschel to the delegates 

 to the Constitutional Convention of 1894. 



