Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-01-20
FEAR A MONOPOLY.


The great corporations are acting
with foresight, singleness of purp )se,
and vigor to control the water power
of the country. They pay no atten-
tion to state boundaries and are not
interested in the constitutional law
affecting navigable streams except
as it affords what has been aptly
called a twilight zone. - where
they may find a convenient refuge
from any regulation whatever by
the public, whether through the
national, or the state governments.
1t is significant that they are op-
posing the control of water power on
the Desplaines river by the state of
Illinois with equal vigor and with
like arguments to those with which
they oppose the national government
pursuing the policy advocate. Their
attitude is the same with reference to
their projects upon the mountain
streams of the west, where the jurisdi-
ction of the federal government as the
owner of the public lands and ma
tional forests is not open to question.
They are demanding legislation for
conditional grants in perpetuity of
land for reservoirs, conduits, power
houses. and transmission lines to re-
place the existing statute which
authorizes the administrative officers
of the government to impose condi-
tions to protect the public when any
permit is issued.
Several bills for that purpose are
now pending to subject lands owned
or held by the United States to con-
demnation in the state courts, and the
bills, II. R. 1885 and s 1861,
respectively, to grant locations and
rights of way for electric and other
power purposes through the public
lands and reservations of the United
States. These bills were either
drafted by representatives of the
power companies, or are similar in
effect to those thus drafted. On the
other hand the administration pro-
poses that authority be given to issue
power permits for term not to exceed
fifty years, irrevocable except for
breach of condition. This provision
to prevent revocation would remove
the only valid ground Of objection to
the act of 1901, which expressly
makes all permits revocable at discre-
tion. The following amendment to
authorize this in national forest was
inserted in last year, agricultural ap-
preparation bill:
''And hereafter permits for power
plants within national forests may be
made irrevocable, except for breach
of condition. for such tenn, not ex-
ceedng fifty years, as the secretary of
agriculture may by regulation pre-
scribe, and land covered by such
permits issued in pursuance of an
application, filed before entry, loca-
tion, or application subsequently ap-
proved under the act of June IL, 1905,
shall in perpetuity remain subject to
such permit and renewals thereof.
The representatives of the power
companies present in Washington
during the last session agreed upon
the bill above mentioned as the most
favorable to their interests. At their
request frequent conferences were
held between then and the representa-
tives of the administration for the
purpose of reaching an agreement If
possible. The companies refused to
accept anything less than grant in
perpetuity and insisted that the slight
change now imposed by the forest
service was oppressive. But they
made no response to the specific pro-
posal that the reasonableness Of the
charge be determined through an in
vestigation of their business by the
bureau of corporations,