If not, each, if an
American, should write to the President, and, if a Canadian, to Earl
Grey, then Governor-General of Canada. Very soon after the magazine had
reached its subscribers' hands, the letters began to reach the White
House; not by dozens, as the President's secretary wrote to Bok, but by
the hundreds and then by the thousands. "Is there any way to turn this
spigot off?" telegraphed the President's secretary. "We are really being
inundated."

Bok went to Washington and was shown the huge pile of letters.

"All right," said the President. "That's all I want. You've proved it to
me that there is a public sentiment."

The clerks at Rideau Hall, at Ottawa, did not know what had happened one
morning when the mail quadrupled in size and thousands of protests came
to Earl Grey. He wired the President, the President exchanged views with
the governor-general, and the great international campaign to save
Niagara Falls had begun. The American Civic Association and scores of
other civic and patriotic bodies had joined in the clamor.

The attorney-general and the secretary of state were instructed by the
President to look into the legal and diplomatic aspects of the question,
and in his next message to Congress President Roosevelt uttered a
clarion call to that body to restrict the power-grabbing companies.

The Ladies' Home Journal urged its readers to write to their congressmen
and they did by the thousands. Every congressman and senator was
overwhelmed. As one senator said: "I have never seen such an avalanche.
But thanks to The Ladies' Home Journal, I have received these hundreds
of letters from my constituents; they have told me what they want done,
and they are mostly from those of my people whose wishes I am bound to
respect."

The power companies, of course, promptly sent their attorneys and
lobbyists to Washington; but the public sentiment aroused was too strong
to be disregarded, and on June 29, 1906, the President signed the Burton
Bill restricting the use of the water of Niagara Falls.

The matter was then referred to the secretary of war, William Howard
Taft, to grant the use of such volume of water as would preserve the
beauty of the Falls. McFarland and Bok wanted to be sure that Secretary
Taft felt the support of public opinion, for his policy was to be
conservative, and tremendous pressure was being brought upon him from
every side to permit a more liberal use of water. Bok turned to his
readers