The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1910-01-21

cations or the executive and the oues-
ton as to what the executive is to
DO Is under the circumstances, full Of
dlthculty. 1t seems to me that 1t Is
the DUTY of congress now, by a statute,
10 VaLdate the Withdrawals which
nave been made by the secretary of the
interior and the president and to use
the secretary Of the interior temporar-
lily to withdraw lands pending submits
sion to congress of recommendations as
to legislation to meet conditions or
emergencies as they arise
Public Land Along Streams.
With respect to the public land
which lies along the streams Offering
opportunity to convert water power
into transmissible electricity, another
important phase of the public land
question is presented. There are val
liable water power sites through all
the public land states. The opinion
Is held that the transfer Of sovereignty
from the federal government to the
territorial governments as they become
states, included the water power in
the rivers except so far as that owned
by riparian proprietors. I do not
think 1t necessary to go into discussion
or this somewhat mOoted question OF
law. 1t seems to me sufficient to say
that the man who owns and controls
the land along the stream from which
the power is to be converted and trans
mitted, owns land which is indispens-
able to the conversion and use of that
power. | cannot conceive how the
power in streams flowing through pub
lie lands can be made available at all
except by using the land itself as the
site for the construction of the plant
hXy Sryht ch NO "a
converted and securing a right Of way
thereover for transmission ines. I'm
der these condition, If the government
owns the adjacent land-indeed, If the
government is the riparian owner-it
may control the use of the water power
by imposing proper conditions on the
disposition Of lne land necessary in the
creation and utilization of the water
power.
Value of Water Power.
The de- slopment in electrical appli-
ances for the conversion Of the water
power into electricity to be transmitted
long distances has progressed so far that
it is no longer problematical but 1t is
certain Inference that in the future the
power of the water falling in the streams
to a large extent will take the place of
natural fuels. In the disposition of the
domain already granted, many water
power sites have come under absolute
ownership, and may drift into one own
ership, so that all the water power under
! private ownership shall be a monopoly.
| If, however, the water power sites now
| owned by the government-and there are
! enough of them-shall be disposed of to
| private persons for the investment Of
| their capital in such way as to prevent
| their union for purposes of monopoly
| with other water power sites, and under
conditions that shall limit the right OF use
to not exceeding thirty years with renewal
| privileges and some equitable means of
| fixing terms of rental and with proper
means for determining reasonable grad
uated rental, it would seem entirely pos
| sible to prevent the absorption Of these
most useful lands by a power monopoly.
AS long as the government retains con-
troll and can prevent their improper union
with other plants, competition must be
maintained and prices kept reasonable.
Soils Must Be Conserved.
/ In considering the conservation Of the
natural resources of the country, the fea-
ture that transcends all others, including
! woods, waters, minerals, is the soil of the
country 1t is incumbent UPON the gov
|
the resources of the country that produce
the food of the people. To this end the
conservation of the soils Of the country
should be cared for with all means at the
governments disposal. Their productive
powers should have the attention Of oul
scientists that we may conserve the new
soils, improve the old soils, drain we
soils, ditch swamp soils, levee river over
flow soils. grow trees on thin soils, pas
ture hillside soils, rotate crops on al
soils. discover methods for cropping DIR!
land soils, find grasses and legumes To-
| all soils, feed grains and mill feeds OIL
the farms where they originate, that TIL
soils from which they come may be en-
riched.
A work Of the utmost Importance to in
form and instruct the public on this chic
branch Of the conservation OF our re
sources is being carried on successful,
in the department of agriculture but
ought not to escape public attention tina
state action in addition to that of the de
partment of agriculture las for instanc
in the drainage of swamp lands) Is es
sential to the best treatment of the soil
in the manner above indicated.
The act by which. in semi-arid parts Q
the public domain, the area Of the home
stead has been enlarged from lbo 10 81
acres has resulted most beneficially !
the extension of, dry farming" and !
the demonstration which has been mad
of the possibility, through variation !
the character and mode of culture,
raising substantial crops without tn
presence of such supply of water a
} has been heretofore thought to be nece:
sary for agriculture.
No one can visit the far west and tn
country of arid and semi-arid lands witt
. out being convinced that this Is one
the most important methods of the cor
servation of our natural resources thu
the government has entered upon.
would appear that over 80 projects ha'
been undertaken, and that few
these are likely to be unsuccessful b.
cause of lack of water. or for other re;
sons, but generally the work which hs
been done has been we'll done. and man
important engineering problems hay
been met and solved.
: Funds Inadequate fer Service.
q One of the difficulties which h;
, arisen is that too many projects
. view of the available funds have bet
. set on foot The funds available und
e the reclamation statute are inadequa
!, RI comnIete these projects WITHIN