The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-11-24
Ex-GOv. VOORHEES,
TO VOTE AGAINST
PATERSON GRANT
President of Water Board De-
tends Announced Policy OF
State Conservation.
[speeial to the Newark start

lfkLAN I'm NOV. r.
application for a water supply from the
4 Wanaque watershed will be refused by
the State Water supply Commission Is
evident from a statement made oy
former Governor Foster NJ. voorhees,
to tho other members OF the commis-
sion in which he sets out that he Is
still a strong Believer in a State con-
~sersation IA
1t Is understood that the commission
is almost unanimous in indorsing
President Voorhees, plan and that Pat
erson viii not, at least for some tiine
to come, receive permission to con-
struct its proposed water reservoir
nea Midvalc. In discussing Pater-
son application President voorhees,
said;
Unless / can BIO convinced that this
is ~pressingly urgent and that Pater-
sons need for an immediate supply is
SO imperative as to require favorable
action at this time, l am forced to
confess that | shall feel it best for the
interests of all concerned that my vote
be cast against the grant. In so vot-
ing l shall act without prejudice for
or against any other community or
rival applicant for the waters of the
Wanaque shed and will respect the
rights of my colleagues to vote as their
best Judgment may suggest.
When an application for the waters
of the Kikeout was before the com
mission a year ago, its members an
nounced what seemed to them ut tina
time the wisest policy to pursue, anne
~, the refusing of all grants until some
comprehensive plan could be devised
for the conservation of all of the waters
of northern New Jersey for the equal
benefit of all. At least they felt that
no grants should be made until that
time when the plan which they had in
view should be conclusively shown to
be impracticable.
mo reason has yet been shown why
tho hope of the realization of this plan
In the not very distant future should
be abandoned, nor has any one yet
had the courage to urge that it is out
side of the range of possibilities. Other
states have accomplished what this
commission seeks to accomplish, and
there is no good reason why the plan
should not become effective in our own
State.
Entertaining the view that it is JOS
sible of accomplishment, I voted
against a recent application for these
same waters hy another municipality.
/ was not Convinced when that ap,,i-
cation was presented and so fo%rcefully
urged, that the necessity for granting
it was so great that by Withholding the
grant until some broad plan could he
adopted whereby the interests Of the
various municipalities of the State
could be equally provided for, or until
the plan under contemplation should
be reluctantly abandoned, great in
jury would result to the applicant.
There were those who publicly mis-
represented my motives and charged
me, and those who voted with me, with
being subservient to private interests
and that in our subserviency we be-
trayed tile rights of g great COM
inunity. 1t is sufficient to say that tie
interests CT the single municipality
must always yield to those of the many
and we should in the long run recognize
that this fact will merit and receive
the approval of the people of the State.
I'm my opinion with all due defer
ence to the views OF the remaining
members of the commission, and 10 the
views of others who may entertain
contrary notions. / think the commits
sion should maintain the attitude of a
year ago. I do not believe it is high
time to depart from the policy thep
declared. 1t seems TO me to be the. ore
which the Legislature who enacted the
law and the one which those who fav-
ored its enactment would have us now
| assume.
For yeare. first corners, pro-
gressive and fortunate enough to
be able to do so. took the choicest and
most economical sources of supply and
left to others, whose interests in time
might equal or perhaps become even
more urgent, fields fewer and more ex-
p~ensive of development. In the light
of the demands of the twentieth CEN
fury, this would seem to be a short
sighted policy. The Legislature arose
to the interests of the hour and in
a~ugurated a new policy. 1t sought to
conserve the few waters uhappropri-
ated, in order that other communities
less fortunate might And in them a
source of supply as their interests
might arise n that mont should be
without means to obtain such supply
because others had preempted them.
Il am willing to grant that progress
toward the accomplishment of this
plan has been slow-far slower than it's
advocates would wish-but this has
been due partly to many new n COM
plicated questions calling for solution
and partly to the necessary ascertain
ment of the legal rights of those
already occupying the various water
sheds. In our opinion, these questions
are not incapable of satisfactory solu-
ton, and the plan under consideration
is not so far without the n of pos
sibility that 1t must be regarded as
visionary or impossible of completion.
Whether this plan should comprise n
great single reservoir or a series of
smaller and connecting reservoirs scat
tered throughout the watersheds of
the state may be left for solution to a
later time, when the various questions
which now confront the commissioners
as to rights are finally determined by
the courts of the State; but of the i'm
portance of the plan, II the far
reaching and beneficial results which
must certainly follow its realization,
there can be no question in the minds
of any who regard the future needs
of the many fast-growing communities,
adding with an astounding increase to
their population day by day, and of
those new settlements which are rap
idly springing into existence through
out the northern section of Il State