The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-09
UNITING To SAVE 4
BEAUTY SPOT Of NATURE

Editor Advertiser: Probably som
of your readers know personally o
this garden spot which has been s.
well described on several occasions b.
John Muir. In a way he fathered tn
valley and brought it TO the notice Of
others who love nature for her owl
sake.
Mr. Muir, while an enthusiastic OBJ
server, is careful and correct in all his
statements regarding what he sees
and he sees straight - Yet he ha.
said that in many ways -Hetchy
valley is more beautiful place than
Yosemite.
Despite this fact, the San Francisco
authorities before the city had poet
for Mayor decided to obtain Hetch-
Hetchv for reservoir, in order to fur
nish its citizens with pure water.
At once the Sierra Club met, and
Mr.. Muir. its president, with the mem
bers, protested against such irreverenee
and vandalism. But as it goes else
where. the business and money-grab-
hing part of the people, paid little at
tention to the protest of 'fvision-
aries, 3" and it looked as if the little
garden spot which has been kept so
long in God s own care, would be desc
lated and deseerated.
Fortunately there are many outsid-
ers interested in keeping this restful
SPOT out of the hands of its destroyers.
They have been appealed to, and as the
President of our country is a man whn
loves parks and places of natural
beauty as heartily as he dislikes their
devastators. appeals to him have some
weight The other day | received the
following letter which is self explana
tory:
"Dear Friend: Enclosed you will
find description of Hetch- Hetehy val
lev and a brief discussion of the i'm
mediate danger which threatens it now
] ask you land others whom you may
persuade), to kindly address a person
al letter. in your own words, essential
ly as follows:
ITO the President, Washington,
ID. c..
CAS- a lover of the Yosemite Ma
tional Park; 7 most devoutly pro-
test against the use of one of its
most important and beautiful fea-
lures, the Hetch-H etchy, as a res
ervoir.
AN abundance of water can be
had elsewhere to supply San Fran
cisco.
Signed -'
''Thanking Won in advance for your
attention to this personal request, l
am faithfully,
"JOHN MUIR
1t happens in this case that Mr.
Roosevelt has a great deal of influence
with the Department of the Interior
whose head. Mr. Garfield, is man of
and feeling.
And it also happens that Mr.. Roos
evelt thinks very great deal indeed
of John Muir, and looks upon him, as
we all do, with deep affection. He is
the Prophet of the Woods, the one man
who stands today in our own land for
the beautiful in Nature
He interprets her mysteries to us.
He is to Nature what Jesus was to
Religion in the early days, and SO long
as there are persons who are friendly
with the trees; who have the tempera-
ment to get companionship out of in
nature, we shall have gentle
spirits like his.
There are MANY here whose influence
with the President is greater than
mine, and / ask them as lovers of Ma
ture to spend time to write a letter as
outlined by Mr.. Muir in his letter to
me.
The reception of such letters by the
and their acknowledge
ment thereby, may be formal, but they
are often effectual none the less. It is
a satisfaction to know that your re-
quest or protest or appeal has received
g consideration, and it is the right
and the privilege of the obseurest Sit-
izen of this great America to have
real voice in the affairs of the nation.
Some say it does not matter very
much who is President, provided, of
course, he have ordinary character and
ability. But it does. In just such
matters as these, the appeal of COM
mon citizen may determine decision.
And when the President has right
IDEAS such as Mr.. Roosevelt has on
irrigation, for instance, and on the sub
lect of forest reservations, men inter
,sted in furthering these matters get
an honest hearing. Nor it is only the
Governor or great public man of the
State who is always consulted. Even
4 President often appeals to some APP
obscure citizen who is honest,
upright; who has clear, conscientious
md unbiased opinions. A man who
las not time to dip into politics or
religion; who is just and
fair to all.
There is Tom French, farmer, living
N the little village of Memo. He never
leld an office of any public Importance.
He doesn t belong to any church or