ead Largest Delegation ' To

ead Largest Delegation ' To

BO'8.$ting the largest delegatiO'n to' the lOth annual cO'nventiO'n O'f the NatiO'nal ReclamatiO'n AssO'ciatiO'n being held in PhO'enix, these eight leaders O'f the Kansas cO'ntingent annO'unced they are here in a cO'n- certed drive to' Qbtain fO'r that state its first federal reclamatiO'n prO'jects. Its prO'gram includes irrigatiO'n to' forestall a recurrence of destructive Hdust bowl" cO'nditions, flO'O'd contrO'I to' protect army air and cavalry PO'sts and reclamatiO'n toO place the Sun FIO'wer cO'mmO'n- wealth again in the tO'P rank O'f wheat, cO'rn, hO'g and beef prO'ducers.

State Sen. J O'e R. Beeler is O'fficial representative O'f GO'v. J?ayne Ratner O'f Kansas to' the huge cO'nclave, and GeO'rge Knapp, Iiansas

Reclamation Conclave Here

state water engineer, is O'n the grO'und with a stO'rebouse O'f statistics and data to' supPO'rt the Kansas cause for sO'me O'f the milliO'ns gO'ing intO' reclamatiO'n prO'jects. FrO'nt rO'w, left to' right are: Charles BIO'sser, member O'f the Kansas legislative committee; Paul Apple- gate, directO'r O'f the Kansas ReclamatiO'n AssO'ciatiO'n; 'SenatO'r" J O'hn Grey, president O'f the assO'ciatiO'n; back rO'w, left to' l'ight; Dr. E.

PO'rter Arens, state directO'r O'f the NatiO'nal Reclamati·on AssO'ciatiO'n;

State Water Engineer' Knapp; SenatO'r Beeler; F. R. Fair and Jack NichO'lson, directO'rs O'f the Kansas ReclamatiO'n AssO'ciatiO'n. (Gazette

Staff PhO'tO').

Projects Study Is

Pledged,

o

~

Reclamationists i

Act Despite ~ Warfare

(Additional Stories, Pictures, s1

Page 10) t~

D

forward with its reclama- tion program in the western a

sta tes despite the hovering ~

:war c lou d s was expressed L here yesterday by O. S. Warden, Great Falls, Mont., president of the it National Reclamation Association, ~ at the opening of its 10th annual

convention. o.

Mr. Warden said any curtailment of construction facilities by the de- f.

fense program would be made up by greater effort in engineering ~

~tudies of projects that may be undertaken when the emergency is past. Delegates From 17 States

1

The opening session of the con- vention, attended by nearly 900 delegates from 17 states, sawall of the associatiol).'s directors but one re-elected. Nebraska replaced C.

E. Alter of Alma, Neb., with Harry Strunk, McCook.

Directors re-elected are Hugo B.

Farmer, Yuma, Arizona; J. R.

Fauver, Exeter, Calif.; Judge Clif·

ford H. Stone, Denver, Colo.; N. V. J

Sharp, Filer, Ida.; E. Porter Ahrens '11

Scandia, Kan.; Mr. Warden, Mont.;

A. M. Smith, Carson City, Nev.; E.

W. Bowen, Tucumcari, N. M.; Har- ry E. Polk, Williston, N. D.; Frank Raab, Canton, Okla.; Robert W.

Sawyer, Bend, Ore.; W. D. Buchholz, Newell, S. D.; R. E. Baskin, Sey- mour, Tex.; Ora Bundy, Ogden, I Utah; J. A. Ford, Spokane, Wash., n and Perry W. Jenkins, Cora, Wyo. jl Welcome By Osborn, Shupe c After hearing hearty welcomes () J

~rom Governor Osborn and Mayor a Reed Shupe, the association devot- c

~d the remainder of the opening session to Mr. Warden's address, d reports of the secretary and treas- t urer; reports from the state cau- cuses on election of directors and 10 a ceremony in honor of George r H. Maxwell, Phoenix, founder of r

the National Irrigation Association, t predecessor to the National Recla- s .mation Association.

Mr. Maxwell was presented with r

{l certificate expressing the grati- c tude and the indebtedness of the t reclamation association t.o the work be started.

uThe grim war clouds ovel' the world," Mr. Wal'den told a packed audience in tbe Fiesta room of Hotel Westward Ho,

<10 not bide tbe rainbows in tbe

reclamation sky. We h a v e worked even harder during tbe past year than ever before.

"We were especially deter- mined that there should be an adequate fund for engineering investigation, and a somewhat larger item for the building of Case-Wbeeler projects in the Great Plains area where tbe migration of destitute farmers has not stopped."

With continuing patience and]

work, he said, reclamation ,;vill 1

blanket the West.

Mr. Warden said new issues have arisen in the western states, but he expressed confidence in reclama- tion and declared that if the $2,- 823,364,318 expended in the 17 western states between July 1, 1933, and June 30, 1941, had been devoted to recllfmation, "the expenditure could have brought all the waters of the West into beneficial use be- fore this time." .

Recognizing the danger of con- troversies over federal power au- thorities and reg u I a t ion over streams, Mr. Warden suggested that a law be enacted by congress providing for construction and de- velopment of reclamation projects, including power, by the army, bu- reau of reclamation and the depart- ment of agriculture, and projects recommended each year by a small representative committee.

- - - - 0 , - - - -

PAGE SIX

Hails Benefits Of Reclamation

Proiects In U. S.

(Continued From Page One) the way from the headwaters of the stream to the confluence or the sea."

Warden, publisher of the Great Falls Tribune, said he had no thought 'Jf compromises. Rather, he said, the organization should strive for an acceptable middle-ground, using agencies that will construct and operate in fairness to the peo- ple but without contentions be- tween the government and the state.

He suggested a way out:

The 17 states of the association would be well satisfied with a law providing for construction and de- velopment of land and water re- sources-including incidental power -by the agencies heretofore em- ployed-the army, the bureau of reclamation and the department of agriculture-with a statute provid- ing clearly what each is to do, the projects to be recommended year by year to the President, the budget and the congress. These recommen- dations would be made .by a small, evenly representative and econom- ically conducted commission, named by the President with the senate's approval.

"This sort of a federal law, I be- lieve." said Warden, "the National Reclamation Association would wisely support. We may as well un- derstand . . . that the government will not invest or advance millions of money,· then walk away and leave it."

SUGAR BEETS

There is another question de- manding attention, not new but still urgent, said Warden: Sugar beets, a cash crop in a non-surplus indus- try.

Half a dozen states wish to plan a progressively increased. acreage, he declared. Past conventIOns have advocated an orderly expansion of sugar beet acreage within the United States and legislation favor- able to the industry by quota regu- lation and adequate tariffs.

"Four fifths of our troubles over domestic sugar production appar- en tly arise from the circumstances that two-thirds of the Cuban sugar industry is owned by United States capital," Warden declared.

"We are scrapping with our own people. They are resourceful too ..•

Ever since 1934 through tariff re- duction, increasing purchases, and even an export-import bank loan to assist Cuban sugar production, we have been a better neighbor to Cuba than we have to the American farmer ...

"I think the present sugar act is an un-American contrivance that has favored Cuba too much, has prevented the building of factories in new reclamation areas, and has held western farmers in a vise so they have not been' able to raise sugar beets at all ...

"What we need is a new sugar law permitting dependable e~~an­

sion over a period, and reaching all 'the way in its ,provisions from the beet field to the mouth of the con-

!Umer."

Warden also touched on reci- procal trade treaties which, he said,

hav~ injured American agriculture and the home stock grt>wing indus- try.

"If the farmer hasn't been sold

all the way dowll tlle ~lver, surely nothing has been done to help him paddle up the stream," he re- marked. "Fifty million acres would be cultivated if we produced at home these r:"oducts that we are bringing into the home market."

PURCHASED AREA Warden called attention to the fact that the United States paid

$40,000,000 to France, Mexico and Russia for Its 17-state western ranch. After 100 years or so, its assessed valuation is well above

$17,000,000,000, and the people in those states spend a billion dollars a year with eastern friends.

"Reclamation," he said, "will en- able us to buy billion dollar unit number two at the end of another generation-a market of economic value greater than the foreign trade we have ever had, over all the seas, and with all foreign coun- tries. everywhere, at any time •..

"Tt is hardly enough to say that the heart of reclamation beats with pride when it cornel; into the record that we are storing 41,000,000 acre- feet of water in 73 reservoirs-300,- 000 gallons for each person who lives in the west •.• "

John J. Dempsey, Undersecretary of the Interior, and John C. Page, commissioner of the bureau of rec- lamation, will be the principal speakers at Thursday's sessions,

whiJ..~ Clifford Kaynor, publisher of the Ellensberg, Wash., Daily Rec- ord, and Ralph Bradford, secretary of the United States Chamber of Commerce, are scheduled for ad- dresses on Friday. Sen. Carl Hay- den, Democrat, Arizona, speaks at the closing banquet Friday night.

---....,0----

A pig in Portugal weighs more than 1,000 pounds and is still grow- ing.

SPONSORS OF AVA ADMIT

THEY ACTED IN IGNORAN.CE :

Adams Elicits · Confession From Lilienthal That · TVA EX£lerts Drew Up Measure Without Field

rnves~~~ Q! ~~~~~~ ^0/

Washingtotf, March t.-CA. P.)-Hearings

berore~ate

committee of which Senator Adams (Dem.) of Colorado isa mem- ber disclosed that Tennessee valley· authority legal' experts, in drafting the bill to create a simiiar authority iIi the Arkansas valley, did so without a field study of the Arkansas valley.

Instead, their work was based on~ avid E. Lilienthal, vice chairman of

"almost eight years of experience in the TVA, when Lilienthal test.ified . . . " d u r i n g senate subcommittee hearings admmIstermg the TVA act, on on the independent offices appropria- which the AVA proposal was pat- tion biII for 1942 (H. R. 2788).

terned. Adams launched his examination

Senator Adams, opponent of the with a reference to Gordon R. Clapp,

I A VA bill ^~S. UO)..- qlJeitioned closel _@eta m"nager pf.. the,-[XN-A~ -'1l .

was in the hearing rOom. Like many: other member. of congress, Adams' received' a copy of an A VA 'bill (H. R. 1

1823) introduced in the house, i.den--i

tical to the seQate measure, from: Representative Ellis (Dem.) of Ar-i kansas, house sponsor of the meli.s~ ^I ure. A letter from Ellis suggested th(l.t comments' be referred to Clapp.

EXPERIENCE OF .TVA USED ON AVA BILL.

Adams ~sked Lilienthal if Clapp had "enough to do to occupy his full time," and, when the witness .replied ' Clapp had "more to do than 'he can possibly do,'" Adams continued:

"How can he find the time then to enter upon a program to authorize an Arkansas valley authority., Mr. Clapp seems to find time to take Upon him~

self the program of. a p4Ln. for an Arkansas valley authority which 1s

~ kw'a ~ h ..... ._.

"-Ot..-kli---_

ADAMS REVEALS TV A EXPERTS

F · ^' AILED TO INVESTIGATE AREl

~: ~;k!~:iS~~; ~~p~~:n~~a~;~~ab~~

almost eight years of eXl?e!lenCe m .

. administe~ng the TVA act," Lilien-~

thaI said, in dosing his. te~timony ,

L11ienthal Confesses, Under Exa' minatioii, Th

Measure Was Drafted on Roosevelt's Orders Only on. Basis of SQuthern Experience.

(Continued From Page One.) Adams-They. did, however, dra' out of his jurisdiction. -I wondered he bill without knowing what th where he got the spare time." facts were. They either investigate Lilienthal. replied: "Well, l do not it and based it upon that. inv~stig!l believe Mr. Cla,pp. can . be held te- tion, or they drew tl~e bill wlthou sponslble for that: The TVA was I investigation; which' is true?

request eeL by. a member of congress, Lilienthal-We drew the bill .with with the approval of the president to out any field investigation; slmpl~

draft the legal framework for .a bill settipg up a regional authority in a~

providing for an Arkansas authority." cordance -with the congressman The member was later identified as views.

Ellis. The witness said the request f(

The TVA vice chairman then said TVA's assi$tance came "upon beha.

Clapp was not sponsoring legislation ~ of the president, trom a member () but "to make the situation perfectly· congress."

clear, because TVA has been operat- Later in the' hearing, in respons·

lng as a regional agency for eight to Adams' question whether the TVJ -year ,we er'e reque.tea to maKe ha haa pas expenenc-e In tne uppe.

available the experience of our va- reaches of the Arkansas valley, thf rious departments in the preparation witness asserted that "we (the TVA) of' a bill providing for another re have been operating under a statut(

gional authority." concerned with the problems of watel

ADMITS ONLY PARTIAL controL" .

STUDY OF PROBLEMS. "Irrigation?" Adams asked.

Senator'Adams-Wlthout any study "Not irrigation," Lilienthal replieci of the Arkansas valley? "Reclamation?" pursued the sene Lilienthal-Of course, we studied tor and Lilienthal said, "No; navigl' its problems somewhat. Our legal . tio~, flood control and 'Powe~ ^pr<

~epartment, concerned with-the draft-j duction."

lng, consulted our engineers. LILIENTHAL DENIES Senator Adams~I know; you had TVA SPONSORS BILL.

engineers w1;ln ~acl1ime, under the: "But," said Adams, "you presum pay of the Tennessee valley author- to draw a bill ''Yhicq seeks to put i Sty, to go up and study the Arkansas I the hands of an authority regulatio

"HeY situation then In an emretrV' 'of water rights in the state of Colt to regulate our affairs. rado which up to now and have gee:

LiUenthal-Nobody in TVA is tr~ for seventy years under the contro ing to regulate the Arkans~ .. valle: of the state and whiCh have nothing

Senator Adams-I am talkmg abo~ to do with navigation or power."

the Arkansas in Colorado. Peop. "I hope I. have made this clear,'~

went clear up to the' upper reachl Lilienthal answered. "We are no~

of the Arkalfsas' rive;:,-·u.p to Le~, sponsor~ng this legislation or any ville, in ~ endeavor to. desl~ other similar .pro~osal.".

a plan to regulate the water rIghts J~~ 'He said the TVA was simply trying Colorado. '. to comply wlth the request of a mem-

Lilienthal-No, senator, I think yo ber of congress in drafting the AVA are not correct. No one went out fror legislation "on a subject that we feel

Knoxville. we are fa~iUar with.

DIVISION OF PRESS INTELLIGENCE 304 COMMERCIAL BLDG

.1^{1 V'} ,~_;. ^{{ ;} f3 (3:~

4:

~N~o~' ________________ -4I _ _ __

SYMBOL Tribune (I) Tulsa, Okla.

DATE

Little. TV A' May Curtail State Rights

A congressional proposal to cre- ate a "little TVA".' in eight south- western states "will undo all our work toward Arkansas river navi- gation," N. R. Grah~ ch~rged Saturday.

Graham is founder (If the sdUth- west Valleys' association, whi~h through years. ,BI·· ~mpai~ing has brought the '~nigajAOIf'1ogram to

I the survey sta .. / J

"Such a as~' h one pro- posed ~ con ess," aid Gr.aham,

"would rob klaho :' and other southwest sta s of its vested rights.

It would giv control of all our water resources. to a federal board of three men." ,

The little TV~roposal was introduced by ~ .. ' Clyde Ellis, Democrat, Ark., wh roposed that the Arkansas and d rivers and

,their subSidiaries be included. Dams

would be constructed as hydro- electric projects and the power gen- erated would be distributed over the southwest.

"Under this bDI," Graham said,

"Oklahoma couldn't build a bridge without federal permission; why a farmer 'In tire Arkansas basin couldn't even 'build a pond with- out permission."

Graham said that should the measure be a.pproved jurisdiction over the Arkansas river and tribu- taries would pass to the board.

"Then U. S. army engineers who are surveying the river to 'deter- mine its navigation possibilities would have to quit, unless the board ordered them to continue.

"And such a board, interpreted primarily in the production of power, probably wouldn't be much inter- ested in.navigation."

Graham was one of two emis- saries Governor Phillips sent to a

"ecent conference in Denver, Colo.,

'~lled by the governor of Colorad

~ tudy the proposal.

2 ^'l'he Pos.~ Pbon~~Ma;n 2121 THE

fr-°'" 15ii' AT .. ;"S .... "·T·"ii' AT"'''II

~ ... , ... Beaistered u. S. Patent Office ... .;

T

-

J

What "improvement. of navigation" is contemplated on the Arkansas river in Colorado, for example? THERE ISN'T ANY NAVIGATION TO IMPROVE. Nobody will. seriously claim that the Arkansas river in Colora.do either is navigable or can be made navigable, or that there is any intention to make it navigable.

Dragging into the title the claim that it is "for the promotion of national defense" shows how hard put the sponsors of the 'A VA bill are for reasons to justify the measure. How is creation of a federal bureaucracy to control a.ll the water of the Arkansas river going to help national defense? That won't provide warships for the navy, nor warplanes for the,army, nor munitions of any kind.

The closest approach to an explanation of how the AVA could affect national defense is Senator Johnson's argument that pro- duction of a lot of cheap power might facilitate the establishment of newin<4tstrial plants. in the Arkansa-s--vaHey. Suppose-it would.

The war probably will be ended long before any power is produced by the AVA even if the bill is adopted at this session of congress.

It is the habit in Washington, D. C., now to try to tack a

"national defense" tag on every kind of legislation for which no other legitimate excuse can be found. The' American people are thor6ly sold on the idea of an adequate national defense. But they are not so credulous as to accept as a national defense measure every bill that the promoters try to put in this class.

And what are these "OTHER PURPOSES" for which the AVA is designed? Obviously, one of them is the development of power. As a matter of fact, that appears to be the principal pur- pose of the bill. But- for some strange reason, power is not men- tioned directly in the title. Proponents of the bill declaim against the· iniquities of the power trust a.nd talk about the millions of dollars electric consumers will be saved if the AVA pla.n is adopted.

Why didn't they put "power deveiopment" into the title of the bill? The " OTHER PURPOSES" mentioned ca.n cover· anything that the A V A ever makes U'D its mind to do.

SYMBOL

Y)

Journal

(~

Salem, Ore.

',A Fight for State°1{fghts

Governor Sprague has just ret~lrned from Denv€r, Colo"

where he attended a ^° seventeen-state conference called by Govern,or Ralph L. Carr~prompted by a recent decision of the Umted States supreme court, which upheld the contention of the Federal Power commission that the power of the fed- eral government to control the waters of our lakes and streams· extended not only to llavi,gable, but un-navigable wat~rs. It was further prompted-' by a desire to protest agamst the pr?posal ?e~~,J!(mgress to create the Arkansas Valley Auth~rIty whl.cli w,?-uld ,\vork to deprive the several states of theIr sovereIgnty'; ;.... ^{,! \}

The AVA bill provides for thl eXclt~deral control of the plan.

ning, cO,nstructlon and operation ~-'~11 ~1rrigation and flood con- trol Pl'oJ~cts within the states conce\ned. It would SUbject to federal con- trol all rIghts to appropriate and ap~y to beneficial use the waters of the

'litates-thus nullifying their present' power to control and regulate the'

use of all such watcI:s.;...and it would tend~d .th~tlctivities of the-United States Reclamation serVice which has done h splendid work in the construction of irrigation projects and the, 1 mation of the arid lands

of the west. '

. It was conte,nded at the cOl1fe}'enc~ hat all such legisla- tlO~ should prOVIde for comprehensive d veJopment of river basllls through cooperation between the federal and state go~ernments, each operating within its constitutional limi- tabon~, and that !e~islatiol! should be enacted which would co-ord~nat~ the eXlsbng federal agencies, now engaged in the inve:;;bgatlOn, construction and operation of projects for the development and utilization of our water resources.

Colorado was the first to cry out against the encroach- ments of the federal government upon the rights of the states to control the development of our water resources. Her pro- test d~tes back to t~e days of Theodore Roosevelt and Gif- ford. Pmchot, w~en It was contended that, through its own- ershIp of lands mcluded in our national forests, the federal gover.nment could, by indirection, control the development of

~ll prIvate power projects and collect fees for the use of land and water for such purposes. III this long fight which has been pretty muc~ a IQsing one, Colorado, too oft~n, was left to c.arry on the fIght alone. She is now making a last stand

~mst federal encroachment upon What was long considered an ccepted as the sovereign rights of the states. She lias called or help and the western states have responded. JIlint-

!y, ^th~ ay make some progress, but the New Deal j'et-up, Includ!ng. he reorganized supreme court, is a pretti tough orgamzatlO to buck. However, we wish them lUCky'

~entjnel (ID) Grand Junction, COlo.

. As a result of the co f .• II d 1

1 . ' n Cl ence ca e :1Y Governor Carr

t~ lelem 13,_western states were represented a set of resolu' Ions was dIspatched to all membe f th ' - sional delegation in Wash' t Trsh~ . e wes~ern congres- T 11 r mg on. ese I esolutlOns not only

b

t~I~ea~~f~~ sf:f~~!t:igh~~o~u~rrtati~ns whereby the alleged an teed control over their w1~er 1':s le~o.v.ed al?d st~tes gual'-

lie~e that proponents of t& AVA~ctgJ. It IS lo.gICal t? be- legIs}ators from states not s'o directt o~.a~]

Wlll

~ov~~~.e it~~;:ct~~ ~.~~~~~io:~~~l~.ifJ~~~i~a~ti~~u~~ ~h~

tht e

ty seek. A vlgorous fight against the A ~Awbyr ~enetflts s a es need not assume' b lI' . es ern .. ~ilWi11ingness to. cooperate ef~~Othe Pgr~~~:!fopnusbltl?at i1m

f ply an

'(' c we are. ~

.4''' ...

DIVISION OF PRESS INTELLIGENCE 304 COW~ERCIAL BLDG.

: t,! '.'~

No-: '-'

/J

SYMBOL

r ^"L,

Chie ftain \ (I) Pueblo, Cola.

Circ. 10,375 DATE

Where water power can be developed, let the fed- eral government and the local interests go ahead and develop it. But don't make it possible for the federal government to control streams and waters 500 miles away which can have nothing whatsoever to do with such a power project. Let them create their own dis- tricts in Arkansas for flood control and power-develop- ment. We've done it in Colorado, but never has it been deemed necessary to create an authority over the ri\'cr from its source to its p.nd.

Such legislation must be killed. If any legislation is passed it should be restricted to a particular area, im- med.iately adjacent to the project.

Now Senat9r Johnson Wants To Mix Coal and Water

A

gests that not only should water flow of the Arkansas and its tributaries be brought into the picture, but that the coal fields of the West be included in any such authority for the purpose of controling produc- tion and making cheapeP power possible.

The senator has p~bJaRs. fo:r,gotten that there is already an authority ov~l\ coa~oduction in this coun- try which establishes the\ price pf coal at the mines all over the nation. But just how he would provide th;:t t coal to be used for power purposes would bring a different pric.e at the mj~ thaT},! the same coal fron"

the same mine would bring! on q.;)vholesale basis for in dustrial and domestic· pl1fposes! is rather difficult to understand.

£ernor Carr appear~~'before con~ressional ^mem-

bers and officials of the government -and stated the rcc- ommenaations of the western conference held last week

·in which opposition to the proposed AVA was expressed.

Rather than extending the authority of the propo!?al.

all of the other representatives apparently are in favor of eliminating such authority so far as it would be ap- plied to any stream or portion of a stream which sup- plies the irrigation waters for tbe West.

Irrigation, navigation and power just do not jib'¥:

except under the most favorable circumstances. Onle , definite element must be present and that is a SUl-tt- PL US of water in the streams greatly in excess of the needs of irrigation if'all three purposes are to be served.

It appears that while Senator .Johnson is as much interested in the protection of irrigation rights, he jg abhorrent of the necessity of being on the same side of the fence as Governor Carr and therefore presents all these fantastic schemes about including c~oal resources

~n any riyer authority.

The supreme court of the United States ruled re- cently in a river case that navigability of a river de- t€rmipes whether a stream is to be included under fed- eral authority and control. Navigability is not defined.

but the appearance of a row-boat on a stream or a canoe, according to thi~ case, is evidence enough of navigability.

Make it possible for a 'law to pass ,~ongress grant- ing certain authority over the Arkansas river and w~

I wil,! have one suit after another which will cventual\~'

~o before the supreme court. That court docs not have one member who knows what il'l'ismtion is all about, what water rights mean to an arid country, what re- turn flow means or how water is divided among water users in,accordance with established ,priorities. ImaginE- what would. happen in such a situation. 1t has already happened In the Laramie river case over which there was great debate a year ago and 'which was disposed of with great damage to Colorado water users.

DIVISION OF PRESS INTELLIGENCE 304 COMMERCIAL BLDG.

r- (\(\'}~r"'IC)

~ ;)V{..rJ'~

NO: _____ ---~

~t-f"f)

'.

SYMBOL '# : ~J

?~ r

Tribune (I) Bismarck, N. D.

DATE

All for Commerce

For many years the supreme court of the United States found it legal to do many strange things under authority of the 14th amendment to the constitution.

The intent of that amendment was

La guaranil'e certain rigJ.lts to the slaves, the~l nc:wly freed, but the court found i! i~text reaSOns for decisions '1"1:1 ~Il greatly promoted the growth, f)' c 'rations and, in some instal~. gave them special rights not gl·;;;I.'~d to i11dividuals.

We now ~ seeing a new-and much more dal.":erou~line of deci- sions' based on l he commerce clause of the constitution.

Everything Wllic~ is

,1'

placed in Inteite commerce is be- W'li brought the power of the federal govern ... Legally, at least, every other in rest is being subordi- nated to the needs and privileges of

commerce. '

Most recent evidence of this' trend -and the most drastic-is the so- called New River decision in. which the court held that any stream whfl::ll can be made navigable is navigable

~der the law. .

To the average reJl6er that may seem unimportant. Jifle have no river navigation ~k of in North' Da- kota. Let those whom it concerns do the ,worrying.

Actually, however, that decision Js of vital importance to us. It puts us on the defensive with regard to the USE of ~ur water resources. And if t,he tendency is carried further it may take away from the states the right to control their other natural' re- sources. To carry the principle fur- ther,. it takes away from the people their rights as Citizens-which \hey thought were guaranteed-and trans-

f.~rs them to the federal government.

~. /

To establish NAVIGATION on a stream it is necessary to c'ONTROL the waters of that stream. And con- trol means REGULATION of the USE of waters.

With that tn mind let us take a look at the Missouri river, the only de- pendably live stream in North Dakota.

It, clearly, is a navigable stream.

Boats are using it during the period of opel)' water from Sioux City. Ta., to its mouth. In the states of the Upper Missouri basin, the water is being used for municipal purposes aild for irrigation.

During the last few years" Mon- tana, alone, has Qrought some 115,000 acres under irrigation. That means enough water to cOfler 287,000 acrp.s to a depth of one foot will be diverted from the river for that purpose each year. Montana irrigation projects need about 30 inches of water a year.

The established principle govern- ing the .use of water is "first in use first in right." This me'ans that th~

person who can make the best use of water ha,s the best right to it, every- thing else considered. Another in- terpretation Of this dictum is that the man who first began using the water has a better right to it than someone else 'who wants to use it for the same purpose.

North Dakota wants to use water from the Missouri river for irrigation purposes .

. It also seeks the right to use water from the Missouri to relieve the tre- mendous water shortage which exists in the central part of the state.

Vnder the constitution of this and most other Western states, the title to all water resources remains in the .state. Rights to use water may be granted by the state and holders of such permits will be protected by the courts, but the state's sovereignty has been unchallenged until .now.

Under this recent decision of the

~upreme court, the state's claim to control of t.he water is denied. Artd citizens of the state also may find themselves denied the use of a na- ,ural resource which they thought

was fre~ to them.

For the water which is diverted

rrom~he Missouri river onto adjacent land is lost from the stream and is no Jonger available to float boats.

Water which is taken from the Mis-

~ouri valley to alleviate a water short- age elsewhere will be gone forevet' Jrom this valley. And if the needs of commerce are paramount the courts could easily deny to this and other states the right to make sucll use of their streams.

Even'the waters of such tributaries as the Knife. the Heart alrd the Can-' llollball rivers-for that matter. Apple creek - could be made navigable.

Hence they are under federal control and inhabitants living along them could be forced to permit the water they carry to go downstream so t~

needs of commerce might be served.

In areas where irrigation is prac- ticed this could be. a direct blow at agriculture, wnTCh n!ls no such rights,

"tnder our constitution as those' ex- )tended to commerce

Yet, everyone kn'ows that iJ;2thl

~.:·.t of the na tion' there would be

c~merce were it not for ap:ric e.

SYMBOL

. +f-r<

I~_, ^L..--.

American (D) Ft. Smith, Ark.

In Defense of AVA

Senator Jo.!l~ democrat of Colorado, Is taking to the Stump in his own state artd other parts of the Arkansas valley in defense of the Arkansas Valley Authority bill recently intro- duced in congress by Congressman Clyde T. El- lis artd Senators John E. Miller and Hattie Cara- way.

Senator JOhnson's tour is of special interest because Governor Carr of his ~tate is the spear- head of opposition to the measure. Recently, the governor called a conference in Denver for the express purpose of o'pposing the A V A bill, and tbe conference did as it was expected to do.

The basis of Governor Carr's opposition seems to be a fear that th~~Uld destroy water rights of Colorado tl n along the Arkansas river and its tributa ·es. mil r objections have been voiced in New' exico.

Senator Johnson ists that water rights of people along tl1e streams "the state's rights over the stream will not b, ' aged by the AVA.

He will speak in Colorado 1sewhere in sup- port of his views in the ext week.

We believe the Arkansas Valley authority should be ,created to co-ordinate the numerous efforts now under way, contemplated. and pos";

sible to utilize the great resources of the affected area. We do not believe it is necessary to destroy the eXisting rights of states or the rights of in- dividual land owners along the streams. We would not favor the destruction of such rights.

It seems obvious that the broad purposes of A V A could be accomplished without any interference with the rights of owners of abutting lands to use the waters for irrigation. The sponsors of the A V A bill believe Governor Carr is wrong and SeJlator Johnson is right in their interpretations of the measure.

It seems obvious that there are great economic possibilities in the valleys of toe Arkansas, the Red, the St. Francis and the White rivers, which are embraced in this bill. Those po~ibilities'

have not been· fully developed. They cannot b.

with a piece-meal attack upon them.

The uses of water for irrigation of lands along the banks of streams, where irrigation facilities are already available, need not interfere with provisions further downstream for similar uses of the same water when it has found its, way back to the main stream. Use of water in the upper reaches of the Arkansas need not preclude the lower valley from. protecting fbel! against millions of dollars damage every year from flood. Use of water for irrigation in Colorado does not disqualify that same water for power pro- duction at any point downstream when power production is economically sound.

Already, many millions of dollars have been and are being spent for various t~·pes of water control and use in the area embraced in the AVA bill. Each of the projects is under a differ- ent control.

Eight states are traversed by the four streams in the AVA bill. No one of the eight states has any powers wha.tever outside its own 'boundaries.

No one of them has, the money to develop its own waters adequately. No one of them can be- rin to do what a federal authority, pattemM on the Tennessee Valley authority. can do for all of

them. .

Instead of fighting the AVA with its promise better days and a higher level of life for all o S, it would be much more sensible to safe- gull. existing rights of individuals and sr-ate . and u . '~e to the full the power which only t e federal vernment has.

"

DIVISION OF

p~S INTELLIGENCE 304 COMMERCIAL BLOO.

Not; 9 9 3 '-1 9 1

SYMBOL ~;-/ ^;

Li

(v,t ^~V

New Mexi~ ~(I)

Santa Fe, N. M.

Cire. 4 ^t 650 DATE

EJ'1Pse of the States

" There is a sentence in the constitution

'of the United States which says that the congress shall have power "to regulate commer-ce wit h foreign nations and among the seVf'~'tRtes and with In- dian tribes.'" ~

Nearly a centnr~ ana a half elapsed before the possibi' e l " 's "commerce clause" ,were discover. Since' then it has been worked ove ' and stretched to a point of which th most extreme loose 'constructionist of, former days could not have dre.amed. The wage and hour and labor relations boards contend that every business manufacturing any- thing that in .any way coul?' be ^{used in}

interstate commerce ,1s..thefefore an In- terstate business Ann subject to federal regulation under ,the laws creating those boards. Intrastate business is' shrinking with~very new ruling.

In its important new river decigion the lmpreme court deflnit~ty-give's the fed- eral government control over any stream which can be made navigable if congress is wi1lin~ to spend the money. This has been interpreted unofficially as includ- ing every creek that flows into a navi- gable stream.

"Lawyers say this new river decision may one day rate with the Dred Scott ease in the history books," writes Her- bert Corey in Nation-'s Businel!s. They are flabbergasted at the lack of popular interest in the case. Before it was ad- judged, 41 states asked permission to argue it through their attorneys general and were refused. The president had:

V!Oed a bill Wh,iCh would give the statIJ8 a 'ght to appear in federal cases"in- vol . g th~~.t!=!roJratives. !

' . - - - 0 - . - '.

DIVISION OF FRESS INTELLIGENCE

304 COMMERCIAL BLDG.

r

9 9

No~ t.J ".1 <I. ~

SYMBOL ". Gazette (1D)

exarkana, Tex.

DATE

O~~!~I~ , ~~e~~O~:~:S~trod~con_

gress a measure that would create an Arkan- sas Valley Authority, vast in territorial area and powerful in its authority to impose upon tile people of the region involved an exten- sion' of tile New Deal's policy of state soclal~

ism.. 1£ this authority should be created it

~ .... ould lllean the expenditure of enormous sums of taxpayers' llloney for thei creation of a power lllonopoly that would wipe out much l)l'lvate business and curtail individual , , initi~

atvie. ..',

This week there ,was 'li~troducea in the Ark~nsas legislature \ memure to create a state Ouachita Valley Ay,thority for opera~

tion throughout southweA.~ Arkansas, in- cluding the counties of ~lumbia, Garland, Hempstead, Lafayette, l\1i1ler, Montgomery, Nevada, Ouachita and Union.

The measure,' as described, would create authority for the conscription of plans and engineering data compiled by privately op- erated institutions at great cost, and also give power of' eminent domain to condemn and take oyer privately- owned and 'operated plants, pipelines, lands and other property within the area.

1\[any states have protested in vain against the encroachments of the federal government and the socialistic trend evidenced bv the entry of the government into comp~tition with private1y operated business on an eyer expanding scale. The proposal now before the Arkansas legislature would embark the, state on the same paternalistic progTam ""

flint now engaged hi by the national go~rn-

D,Cn..t. (' '.,