The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-12-01
Plnch0t Tells Of Conservation
interesting Letter Written by Chief S. Forester to Dr. ly-
man Abbott Is Made Public Today

water power can best be done by pr:-
waite interests acting under public con.
troll. but it is neither good sense nor
good morals to let these valuable priv
ileses pass from the public ownership
for nothing and forever
| 4. Why is ii important To protect
the water powers:
| IL is of the first Importance to pre-
vent our water powers from passing
into private ownership as they have
been doing. because the great source
| of power We know is falling water.
Further more. il is the only great ur-
failing source of power. Our coal the
experts say. is likely to be exhausted
during the next century. our natural
gas and oil in this Our rivers. if the
forests on the watersheds are properly
handled will never cease to deliver
power. Under our form of civilization.
IT few men ever succeed in con
trolling the sources of power. they will
eventually control all industry as well.
II they succeed in controlling all in
dustry. they will necessarily control
the country
-. How must IL be done?
The essential things that must be
done to protect the water powers for
the people are few and simple. First,
the granting of water powers forever.
either on non-navigable or navigable
streams, must absolutely stop. Ii is
perfectly clear that one hundred fifty
or even twenty-five years ago our pres
ent industrial conditions and industrial
needs were completely beyond the i'm
aglnation OF the wisest of our prede-
cessors. 1t is just as true that we can
not imagine or foresee the industrial
conditions and needs of the future.
Water powers must and should be de-
veloped mainly by private capital. and
they must be developed under condi- |
lions which make investment in them |
profitable and safe. But neither pro- |
lit nor safety requires perpetual rights. |
as many of the best water power men |
now freely acknowledge.
Second, the men to whom the nee |
pie grant the right to use water power
should pay for what they get. The |
water power sites now in the pubI,-
hands are enormously valuable. There |
terests should be allowed to use them
for profit without making some direct |
payment to the people for the valu-
able rights derived from the people |
There are other ways in which public |
control of water power must be exe--
cised, but these two are the most i'm
portant
6. Does the same principle apply to
navigable streams as to non-navigable?
Water power on non-navigable
streams usually results from dropping
a little water long way In the
water is dropped many hun
dreds of feet upon the turbines which
move the dynamos that produce the
electric current Water power on
navigable streams is usually produced
by dropping immense volumes of water
a short distance, as twenty feet. fifteen
feet, or even less. Under the consti-
tuition the United States exercises di-
rect control over navigable streams
1t exercises control over non-navigable
and source streams only through its
ownership of the lands through which
they pass, as the public domain and
National Forests. 1t is just as essen
tial for the public welfare that the peo-
pie should retain and exercise control
Of water power monopoly on navigable
as on non-navigable streams.
These answers to your questions will,
hope. give you the information for
which you wrote. Conservation is a
moral issue. because it involves the
lights and the duties to themselves, to
heir descendants. and to the whole fu-
,ure progress and welfare of this ma
ion. Very sincerely yours
CLIFFORD PINCHOT