PARK AND CEMETERY. 
194 
THE NIAGARA HEARING BEFORE SECRETARY TAFT 
By J. Horace McFarland 
Pi'esident American Civic Association 
In many respects the hearing held for five hours be- 
fore Secretary Taft, on Monday, November 26, was 
the most notable contest between capital and the people 
that this country has ever known. On one side were 
the representatives of the people, including the officers 
of the American Civic Association, as well as capable 
and public-spirited men from The American Scenic 
and Historic Preservation Society, the Chamber of 
Commerce of the State of New York, the New York 
State Reservation at Niagara, and The IMerchants’ 
Association of New York City. There was also the 
New York State Geologist, Dr. John M. Clarke, who 
has been a close observer of Niagara from the scien- 
tific standpoint for thirty years. 
On the other side were solidly massed not only all 
the power companies concerned in the use of the peo- 
ple’s water for private profit at Niagara, but represen- 
tatives of various communities that are willing to bene- 
fit by the spoliation of Niagara. The president of the 
trolley company that charges a high fare in Buffalo 
spoke of his love for the Falls. An assistant secretary 
of the treasurer, also a resident of Buffalo, and in- 
volved in various financial interests there, spoke of 
his love for the Falls. Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson, 
who is not onl}^ the counsel of one of the power com- 
panies, but general counsel of the United States Steel 
Corporation, of the United States Rubber Co., presi- 
dent of the Northern Pacific Railway Co., and a direc- 
tor in a dozen other railway companies, nearly wept as 
he declared his love for the Falls. He was assisted by 
several other less powerful, but no less earnest gen- 
tlemen, every one of whom disclaimed the slightest 
idea of touching the majesty of the Falls. The most 
eminent, or, at least, the most expensive array of pri- 
vate counsel in the United States was there. Mr. Stet- 
son himself is said to have $50,000 a year from J. Pier- 
pont Morgan, but he was only one of the galaxy of 
golden legal stars. 
One thing was certain : all these gentlemen, inter- 
ested in the power companies, loved Niagara Falls! 
One of them coyly confessed that his idea was that 
the works of man in respect to Niagara Falls were 
more attractive than the works of God, and that we 
ought to be glad to have the dignity of the Falls added 
to by the power houses, and the turbines, and the 
wires, and the noise. Mr. Stetson made a most impas- 
sioned statement of his love of the Falls, in course of 
which he said he would give every dollar he possessed 
if the Falls could be restored to their pristine glory all 
the way from Buffalo to Lewiston. It was a safe bluff, 
and distinctly entertaining. He did not say that he 
was willing to use one drop of water less, or to give 
up a claim to one single watt of electricity to be 
brought in from Canada because of his love for the 
Falls ! Perhaps it was, after all, a true financial love 
that actuated him. 
There was one thing upon which all these gentle- 
men, who were pleading for special private advan- 
tages against the general public possession, were fully 
united. That was the iniquity of the American Civic 
Association and the general cussedness of its unfortu- 
nate head. Sentimentalism came in for some slurs-, 
nothwithstanding the frequently expressed love for 
the Falls. Our statements were conclusively shown to 
be glaringly inaccurate, from their point of view, and 
the vast amount of water required to develop 160,000 
horsepower we now know to be a mere trickle, accord- 
ing to these public-spirited gentlemen who love Niag- 
ara Falls ! 
Much has been printed as to the attitude of Secre- 
tary Taft at the time of this hearing. He did show 
vexation at an implied criticism of his engineers, but 
he was speaking from a consultation of some of the 
literature sent out to arouse the people, in which the 
comparisons as to the use of water were made upon 
a different idea from that which the engineers of the 
