The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1913-05-29
FOR PROGRAM FOR A
FLOOD CONTROL
National Plan Needed. Project for
Water Commission

Water Commission
1t may be that the tale OF the mood
disasters In the middle west was need
ed to bring the Federal government
through administrative program and
Congressional action, to the point OF
attention to the whole broad question
of river control, writes a Washington
correspondent of the New York Even
ing Post. Aside from the measures
Of immediate relief TO the stricken
communities of Ohio, Indiana, ano
other part OF the Mississippi drainage
area. the minds of government officials
I from the President down, are turning
increasingly to the consideration OF
national program of flood control.
During the session of Congress re
Gently ended Senator Newlands O
Nevada, operated an obstinate ane
nearly successful filibuster in aid o.
his project which contemplated ma
tional commission to investigate tht
whole subject OF water conservation
! having in view eventually the expendi'
ture of $50, 000,O 900 year for ten years
along the lines of a comprehensive
scheme of water storage and nooo
control of national scope. the ira
gedies in the middle west have
brought this subject very much to the
front. and 1t Is not improbable that
the national administration will make
this a part of the legislative program
If not at the extra session, at least
at the regular session, which Will be-
gin next December.
The resolution of Senator NeWlands,
which he intended to push during the
special session of Congress, provides
in part as follows:
That the Senate Committee on In
terstate Commerce report at as early
a date as possible during the extra
session upon the following questions:
Whether 1t Is advisable to provide
for the creation of q board of river
regulation which shall bring into Co
operation the departments and ser
vices of the national government
whose duties in any way relate to
waterways In devising and carrying
out comprehensive plans for the pro-
motion of interstate commerce by the
regulation of river flow the mitiga-
ton of destructive floods, by the pro-
motion of storage above and OF bank
and levee protection below, the es-
Establishment of terminal and trans
fer facilities, the coordination OF rail-
and water carriers and the co-opera-
ton of the nation with the states
each within it's jurisdiction, in plans
and works for the full and, so far as
practicable, compensatory develop
ment of the rivers for every useful
purpose, and the establishment OF an
ample fund for continuous work dur
ing a period of ten years.
Whether it is practicable and adj
visable to bring into consideration
under the Interstate Commerce Com
mission the related subjects of In
terstate transportation, interstate
trade, and interstate exchange, by the
creation of three boards in such COM
mission, one relating to interstate
transportation, one relating to inter-
state trade, and one relating to in
terstate exchange, the present Inter
state Commerce commission to con-
stitute the Board of Interstate Trans
portation, the proposed Interstate
Trade commission to constitute the
Board of Interstate Trade, and the
proposed Banking commission to
constitute the Board of Interstate Elk
change, merging into the Board OF
Interstate Trade the present Bureau
of Corporations and merging into the
Board Of Interstate Exchange the con-
troller's office.
or course, at the time this resolu-
ton was introduced by Sen. Newlands,
there was no great calamity to give 1t
impetus; the filibuster which he carri-
ed on almost single-handed had ref
erence to the Connecticut river dam
project, and comparatively little at
tention was paid to the matter. When
it comes up again, 1t will receive a
new kind Of notice, though it may be
modified materially before 1t Is taken
on as an administration project, or
perhaps given other form and pater-
nifty altogether.
Franklin X. Lane, secretary of the
interior, is greatly interested in the
subject and in sympathy with the agi-
tation for the adoption Of a compre-
hensive plan.
1.-THE question has many Sides" Mr.
Lane said, "all of which must be TAX
en- into consideration. 1t is a pro-
blem of reclamation in the large
sense--reclamation of dry areas by the
storage and economic distribution OF
waters now wasted In excessive floods
during the freshet seasons and saw
ing of valley bottoms and swamp
lands more or less constantly under
water. If we are to welcome and
entertain great bodies of additional
population from foreign countries, we
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