235 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Other glaring- eyesores -with -which we are 
afflicted in the name of business enterprise. 
The rubbish of the home is a constant men- 
ace to its attractiveness and health. The 
dump of the village is equally obtrusive 
and dangerous. 
“In each home lingers the memory of 
friends and loved ones gone before. In the 
village the visible memorial of those that 
have gone is in the little cemetery, a place 
often sadly neglected. Here again is defi- 
nite work to be done.” 
The general discussion of the sub- 
ject of definite work for small com- 
munities was opened by President J. 
Horace McFarland of the American 
Civic Association. He cited several in- 
stances where successful campaigns 
were waged against posters. A note- 
worthy success was achieved by the au- 
thor Kirke Munroe, who, with the as- 
sistance of many boys attacked and de- 
molished such objectionable advertise- 
ments along a beautiful drive between 
Miami and Cocoanut Grove, Fla. Mrs. 
Caroline Bartlett Crane, of Kalamazoo, 
was cited as another example of a pro- 
pressive citizen who did a great deal of 
good in civic improvement. 
He told also of the recent decision of 
the Court of Appeals of New York in 
the case of Donahue vs. The Keystone 
Gas Co., at Olean, N. Y., where the 
plaintiff recovered $150 damages for 
three fine maple trees killed by gas. 
The decision being to the effect that 
when one had access to a certain set of 
circumstances or appearances they could 
not be changed without being a cause 
of damage. 
Niagara Evening 
The evening session was devoted ex- 
clusively to the consideration of the 
preservation of Niagara Falls. It was 
of international interest and signifi- 
cance and attracted an audience which 
completely filled Sayles’ Hall. While 
not so intended perhaps, it assumed 
something of the nature of a joint de- 
bate between the forces at work toward 
preserving the Falls for posterity in all 
their beauty and grandeur and interests 
whose efforts have been directed toward 
utilizing its immense natural water 
power for commercial purposes. Presi- 
dent J. Horace McFarland of the Am- 
erican Civic Association occupied the 
chair in the absence of Charles J. Bona- 
parte, president of the National Muni- 
cipal League. The chairman outlined 
the plan of the meeting, showing that it 
was proposed to furnish both sides of 
the controversy an opportunity to set 
forth their respective ' positions and 
.then presented to the audience, Gen. 
Francis V. Greene of New York, vice- 
president of the Ontario Power Com- 
pany. 
Gen. Greene, in responding, said that he 
should show on the screen stereopticon pic- 
tures of the falls and their surroundings 
now and 30 years ago, and would leave it 
to his hearers to judge whether the volume 
of the falls appeared to have been dimin- 
ished or not. Gen. Greene gave a very 
comprehensive description, illustrated with 
stereopticon views, of present conditions re- 
garding Niagara Palls, and of the great 
power plants there. ‘‘The falls are there,” 
he said, “and, in my humble judgment, you 
and your children’s children will continue 
to see them just as they are now, as they 
were 30 or 40 years ago, and as they will 
be 30 or 40 years hence. The only difference 
is that there are parks on both sides of 
the river; that there are facilities for ac- 
cess and transportation which did not for- 
merly exist; that there are now tunnels 
under the falls for those who like to hear 
the mighty roar at close quarters, and there 
are other facilities for the accommodation 
of visitors.” Gen. Greene then went on to 
describe in detail the work that had been 
done by the great power companies who are 
now utilizing, he said, about 300,000 horse- 
power of the 600,000 which will probably 
eventually be made use of. This latter 
power will be but one-fifth of the amount 
that could be used effectively, the entire 
power of Niagara being estimates at the 
wonderful figure of between 5,000,000 and 
6,000,000 horse-power. The series of illus- 
trations presented gave a very clear idea 
of what has been going on at Niagara. 
Gen. Greene’s pictures and his descrip- 
tion of the work which the company with 
which he was connected had done ap- 
peared to be graciously received by the 
audience, an occasional ripple of decorous 
applause greeting some statement that the 
power company had been philanthropic as 
well as businesslike. 
H. H. Mac Rae of the Electrical 
Development Company of Toronto fol- 
lowed Gen. Greene. He disdai.ucd c;i 
behalf of the company any intent to de- 
tract from the beauty or the majesty of 
the cataract. He furnished a series of 
views in illustration of the position 
taken by the company. John L. Romer, 
in behalf of the Niagara Falls Hy- 
draulic Power & Manufacturing Com- 
pany, furnished an array of statistics, 
dates, etc., calculated to show that this 
company’s use of water for power pur- 
poses from its canal, some distance fur- 
ther down stream than other companies 
did not work any injury to the falls. 
In his address in answer to the fore- 
going speakers. President McFarland, 
speaking on the work of the American 
Civic Association, said in part : 
“It may properly be asserted that the 
function of the American Civic - Association 
has been to arouse the American public to 
the serious assaults being made upon Ni- 
agara Falls. 
“It was at the convention of the Amer- 
ican Civic Association in October, 1905, that 
national attention was first called to what 
was going on at the great cataract. At the 
Cleveland convention the question of na- 
tional interest in and jurisdiction of the 
falls was first raised, and in consequence 
of the arguments there presented vigorous 
telegrams were sent to President Roosevelt 
and to Earl Gray urging international ac- 
tion. 
“Realizing the necessity of direct and 
concrete work, the officers of the Ameri- 
can Civic Association communicated with 
other associations and persons known to 
be interested in saving Niagara Falls. The 
publication of President Roosevelt’s mes- 
sage was the first intimation to the power 
interests at Niagara Falls that any possible 
interference could be made with their 
“vested rights” to use for private gain the 
flood of Niagara belonging, to all the people. 
“It being realized that Congress must act, 
connections were soon established with 
Hon. Theodore E. Burton, chairman of the 
rivers and harbors committee of the House, 
and with several other interested Congress- 
men and Senators. A campaign of arouse- 
ment was inaugurated and the press of the 
country responded instantly and admirably 
to the call. Appeals to our members and 
to others interested throughout the session 
of the Fifty-ninth Congress brought about 
a great pressure upon that Congress. In- 
deed, the beginning of the present activ- 
ity dates from an appeal to the American 
people, through a widely circulated maga- 
zine, to write to President Roosevelt. They 
did so write in thousands, and later these 
same people, as well as thousands of others, 
also wrote to their Congressmen. All 
through the first half of 1906 the agitation 
and effort were maintained. 
“When the bill came toward passage in 
the final days of the long session, late in 
June, it was in a much better shape than 
when it eventually passed. One of the sup- 
posed friends of the measure — Senator Knox 
of Pennsylvania — came to the rescue of one 
of his infiuential constituents, the Pittsburg 
Reduction Company, with a forced insertion 
of 2,400 cubic feet per second additional and 
a requirement that factories ‘the buildings 
for which are now in process of construc- 
tion’ were not to be interfered with. Under 
this provision the worst desecration Niagara 
has yet had has proceeded to completion 
this year. The three great ugly ventilating 
stacks of the Aluminum Company of Am- 
erica stand on the mutilated escarpment of 
Niagara Falls as a monument of Senator 
Knox’s fidelity to his constituents. 
“Promptly upon the signing of the Burton 
bill by President Roosevelt, which bill 
placed the custody of Niagara Palls in the 
hands of Secretary Taft, that capable offi- 
cial arranged a hearing, first, at his office, 
and then at Niagara Palls, where the Am- 
erican Civic Association was the only repre- 
sentative of the public. Argument was 
made toward restriction to the ’ minimum 
amount of the water to be diverted for the 
going plants and for the complete exclu- 
sion of electricity generated in Canada. 
“The best summary of the work of the 
American Civic Association in regard to 
Niagara preservation is given in the state- 
ment that through its effort?, in conjunc- 
tion with the other interested forces, the at- 
tempted diversion, as reported by the Inter- 
national Waterways Commission March 'IB, 
1906, of 60,000 cubic feet per second has 
been changed to a maximum present esti- 
mated authorized diversion of 32,650 cubic 
feet per second, and this under rigid Federal 
control and not under lax State control. 
“That the work of the association has 
been recognized by the people is obvious in 
the changed attitude not only of the power- 
developing companies, but of the people of 
Niagara Falls. Several of the power com- 
panies had from the first kept in mind the 
scenic conditions. The Niagara Falls Power 
Company had erected a dignified and hand- 
some building. It has also created a suburb 
of the citv of Niagara Falls (which, for 
the most part, is sordidly ugly, and in some 
parts squalid) that is a credit to any com- 
munity. This suburb, known as Echota, 
houses those in the employ of the Niagara 
Falls Power Company and its associated 
interests. 
“The future work of the American Civic 
Association and of all those interested in 
preserving as nearly unharmed as possible 
this great scenic heritage (and I take it 
that this side of the contest includes at 
least 95 per cent of the American popula- 
tion) must be toward the securing of a 
treaty with Canada to avoid further dese- 
crations and, I hope, toward the creating 
at Niagara of a great public park, in con- 
nection with which all existing power de- 
velopment may continue, but back and out 
of sight, so far as the immediate vicinity 
of the falls is concerned. 
“That under such handling the city of 
Niagara Falls may become as beautiful as 
the cataract which gives it name is majestic 
and unique, that all existing industrial en- 
