New-York tribune., 1886-03-10
HOU 10 PEE>hhTL NIAGIEL

The NIAGARA Commission asks tor thlt} 6dd
thousand dollars fo3 an elevator and some
twenty-five thousand more 10 cNrcnd on drives
and walks; and the Committee on Approrrla-
tions are debating whether they shall have one
or the other or neither or both. McanWmle II
does not seem 10 have occurred To the "lhcia
mind that the one thing the Commission cauupt
afford to do OF be without Is some one to tell
them what ;hcy want. We are al. lclIcIatiug
ourselves upon the fact that the rum oi Niagara
has been aycrtrd; that the State has redeemed
this worlds wonder from baScI use and drdl-
Gated il forever to minister 10 all that Is noble
and gcnerou, i'm the emotion and sentiment ot
men. Surely so priceless Possession deserves
10 he treated with some singlcncsS of purpose.
And vet 1t does not appear that the Commi'-
s.onrIs have adopted any comprehensive and
consistent design to work upon, or indeed that
they have felt that any design was needed.
There would be no objection 10 "prcscrving
a crazy quilt after this fashion-putring in a
new patch here and mcndlng another there
without any regard to their relation To the
whole or to each other. But until some cohpc-
tent person prepares COhrrcn, plan Tor laying
ont and managing the reservation, thl' erection
of steam lift here and carving out road
there and bnildng Il museum ioi snakes ana
beetles somewhere else and planting cedar oil
Lebanon or bed of gefanlums where journey
man landscapcr thinks they would look pretty
and other frittering and pottering "as 1t seems
to be necessary is altogether about IA lngcn-
ions and elective a scheme for destroying the
scenery of Niagara as could be devised.
II rcdnircs no great amount of genius To OBJ
literatc the unique charm of this spot Almost
any hard headed, "practical man con!d rum
tiff he had money enough. The fact Is that
any project for spending money on details be-
fore some plan for treating the whole as unit
has been adopted is vicious in its very essence.
Better spend NJ money whatever except 80
much as i, needed fpI keeping things rs they
are until this harmonious design is prepared.
The time will not be wasted, for Nature VIII be
kindly healing the wounds already made. 1t
would be better to exclude visitors from certain
pOints--0r even, if that were necessary, to eX-
clude them entirely for year than 10 start III
to improve patch here and there by putting IN
unrelated or inconsistent bits Of job work. The
serious danger of such Il course il that even if
IN after time some thoughtful man should be
put in charge he might not be strong enough to
disregard what had already been done at great
cost so that the whole work would go on for
ever wrong.
Mr.. Frederick Law Omsted called tho first
meeting to consider the danger that threatened
Niagara. He has aided the movement at every
stage by his counsel He is one of the few iy-
ing men with an original aptitude for such
studies who has devoted his life To the kind of
work that is now needed at Niagara. The
thought that spontaneously suggests itself to
nine-tenths of the men and women who helped
to secure the Reservation is to ask Alr. Olm-
sted to prepare design for it, This is the
natural thing to do and the Commission is not
at all likely to do more sensible thing.