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Show 517 One can only sigh a t a d i s t a n c e . Muir's impact on Roosevelt had not been as g r e a t as he had hoped i t would be. Even if, in 1903, he had " s t u f f e d him p r e t t y well regarding timber thieves, the d e s t r u c t i v e work of the lumbermen, and other spoilers of the f o r e s t , " the newest t h r e a t to wild lands, in the form of r e s e r v o i r s and p i p e l i n e s , was to be a worse menace. Pinchot d i d n ' t c a r e to see Hetch Hetchy: his decision was not based on the value of the v a l l e y for i t s e l f . He was more i n t e r e s t e d in the w e l f a r e of San Francisco. And the q u e s t i o n of water would again r a i s e the problem of c o n f l i c t i n g l o y a l t i e s in the S i e r r a Club. Even though it might have been p o s s i b l e to compromise, the issue on the east and west s i d e s of the S i e r r a was perceived, by Washington, Pinchot, Roosevelt, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as a simple choice between humans and Nature, between the c i t i e s and the landscape. C o n s e r v a t i o n i s t s and engineers had already planned t h e i r arguments, and the f i g h t would be fought by their r u l e s , and under t h e i r s t a n d a r d u t i l i t a r i a n t e s t for public p o l i c y , "the g r e a t e s t good for the g r e a t e s t number." In 1905, the b a t t l e was won i n Washington by the "resource developers" before Muir even e n t e r e d the fray. HETCH HETCHY F i n a l l y l e t us remember t h a t the conservation of natural r e s o u r c e s . . . is yet but a p a r t of another and g r e a t er problem . . . the problem of n a t i o n a l e f f i c i e n c y , tne p a t r i o t i c duty of i n s u r i n g the s a f e t y and continuance of the Nation. _ nn„ar„nrei - T. Roosevelt, May, 1908; Conference of Governors |