Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-12-07
Exposition Ceremonies De-
and SpeeChmaking.
Water Project Fight
BY ERNEST N. SMITH

various nations buildings at the
worlds fair, there is an undue amount
o. speech making and fluctuations.
and in this work OF greeting. Mayor
I,o!rh as the leading man OF San Fran
ci.cO does quite a bit more than his
share OF speech making Indeed he Is
- pressed for time and opportunity
that often his hard worked secretary.
Mr. Rainey is called upon to fill the
lesser engagements and present the
al sent mayors felicitations.
But even the secretary is overwOrk-
cd, and long since all original thought
"a fed-mixed in with former
speeches. 1t has mostly developed
Irto rendition of platitudes, given
Iechanically-and thereby hangs the
tale which set San Franci- co laugh
ing The genial secretary was in
StruCted to attend an annual banquet
gwen to the inmates of the citys
almshouse, and represent the mayor
N all good ways possible. There is
Sd little that one can say in the way
Of greeting or enthusiS tic common
tales upon the world in general at
all dIllISuOuSS DdllIutl, bNI IilI ~
tary did nobly, and ended with this
fl ,endly peroratiOn. and now my
good friends ! leave you after convey
iIg to you all Mr.. Rolph's expressed
regret that he could not be with YOu
tonight, and for myself. wish you all
continued success. long life, and pros
perity."
The Hetch Hetchy Fight.
The efforts of San Francisco to get
ono of the hardest, most interesting.
an0 far reaching fights that any muni-
urality in this country has had TO
put up to get permission to run it
own affairs, ard the retails thereof
are worth noting.
When it was definitely decided by
the voters to get their own water
sltply negotiations were opened with
the Spring Valley Water Go. and that
as,ute corporation tried to gouge the
city out of a good MANY more mil,
lions than the physical properties were
worth. in fact it looked as though the
water in the corporation stock was
greater in quantity than in the re- err
vCirs. Mayor Mccarthy and his crazy
ICw negotiated for months, but were
ont maneuvred by the wiEer business
heads of the Spring Valley, and every
time the city turned down the ask:
lrice, the water company got hold o.
some more lands and on the next deal
raised their price. This went on for
some time until the city in desperation
turned from the Spring Valley ami
I.rt pared to take over the Hetcn
| 'etchy water he'd. a wonderful val
ley in the Sierra mountains near the
state line by Nevada. This was con-
s'defed an ideal property Tor the city
to acquire. and after ConSidel able
negotiations with the government Sec
rotary Garfield in Roosevelt's cabinet
paved the way for the requirement OF
the properties.
Before the deal was contaminated
however the Taft administration set
tie Garfield grant aside, and San
Francis CO had to start over again.
Meanwhile opposition grew. undoubt.
Cdly under the tutelagc Of the Spring
VALLEY and some OF the long haired
nature lovers of the famous Sierr2
Ctub announced that the wonderful
fetch Hetchy valley should never DC
desecrated by a lake to provide a
water supply. These men started 4
pCpular agitation, and were soon join.
ed by representatives OF Oakland ami
the cities across the bay, who claimed
that the water should be kept for
their use if anybody was going to have
it. Oakland dian really need it, but
Joined in the fight just to deprive San
Francisco from making any progress
This growing jealousy has become
more and more apparent OF late
months. and is one of the disappoint-
ing features of the great progress be-
hL made by both cities.
All the parties to the controversy
are now in Washington presenting
their claims before Secretary Fisher
and in spite OF all that the latter can
do the fight is becoming unusually
bitter.
The nature lovers" are the most
uncompromising in their opposition.
They declare this beautiful, out-ot-the-
way and but little visited valley would
be utterly ruined for camping pur-
poses were a lake included in ma
lures handiwork.
Secretary Fisher asked Richard
Underwood Johnson. one Of the ma
ture lovers. if he would prefer TO
have San Francisco distill ocean
water at a cost of 500, 00o,0O0 a year
rather than consent to the Hetch
IIetchy grant.
Il would" declared Johnson.
A Violent Proposal
Fisher inquired further WHETHER II
there was an obstruction AT the mouth
OF the Hetch Hetchy that would create
a lake. would Johnson favor blowing
up the obstruction and draining the
lake TO provide camping grounds
Il would" declared Johnson. firmly.
Such an opposition is ludicrous and
of no particular moment save as an
annoyance. but the rest of the OPP
position is to be reCkOnod with.
The Spring Valley. to save itself,
would defeat municipal water sun
ply at any cost and the tactics used
by the corporation have developed
sturdy defense.