US Presidency
1908

The Congress should recognize in fullest fashion the fact that the subject of the conservation of our natural resources, with which this Commission deals, is literally vital for the future of the Nation. Numerous bills granting water-power rights on navigable streams have been introduced. None of them gives the Government the right to make a reasonable charge for the valuable privileges so granted, in spite of the fact that these water-power privileges are equivalent to many thousands of acres of the best coal lands for their production of power. Nor is any definite time limit set, as should always be done in such cases. I shall be obliged hereafter, in accordance with the policy stated in a recent message, to veto any water-power bill which does not provide for a time limit and for the right of the President or of the Secretary concerned to fix and collect such a charge as he may find to be just and reasonable in each case