Arizona republican., 1913-06-10
Highest Tribunal Adds An other to the Series of Pro gressive Decisions Ken dered Within the Past Few Months
LATEST DEALS WITH
 WATER POWER CASES
Taken in Connection With Decision in White Slave Case Marks Great Ad- vance in Long Fight for Conservation
Especial to The Republican, )


 WASHINGTON, D. C., June 9.-The supreme court of the United States has added another to the series of pro- gressive decisions which have come from it n recent morths. This one upholds the Roosevelt Pinchot coaten- ton regarding the rights of the fed eral government in water power cases. The decIsion was rendered in what is known as the Chandler-Dunbar case, where when the government con demned for public use the property of the corporation the company sought to recover a sum in lieu of it's possible earnings from the water power as well as pay for the land condemned The lower court gave the company S55O,0J0 on this contention, but the supreme cour+ has now reversed that finding in a decision whJch goes to tEe root Of the whole ma tier and settles finally what may de done. It is a striking fact tha. in every case involving the contentious of the Roosevelt {, 'min-s. tration on conservation questions which the supreme court has decided thus far, that administration has been upheld.
 The Roosevelt administration made many new applications of existing laws in the course O. is efforts to protect the public interest against the CT croachments of land and timber grab bers and other opponents of conserve tiOn. These new applications of the law were made partly because congress refused to pass the laws that were needed to safeguard the property of the people; partly because full use had 11 r1fl lo.xx~ T. ready on the statute books. Thus the law which regulated the sale of coal lands provided that these lands should be sold for mot less than" a fixed price per acre. whici, was far less than most of them were worth. But the law did not say that :he price should be limited to the least that could be charged. although that was the prac- tice until Roosevelt changed it. What he did was to find out what the public coal lands were actually worth, and make the men who bought them pay a reasonable price for what they got Thereupon he was charged by these men with executive usurpation. illegal ity and disregard of the cinstitution.
 In most cases the men who made such charges did nothing but talk. Ir some cases, however. suits were brought to break down the new inter pretation of the law, and effect a re- turn to the old plan under which the private interests uniformly got the bet ter of the public. These suits have worked their way through the courts and one by one they have brought about a final decision upon the le- gaIity of the Roosevelt position. From first to last the Roosevelt position nas been sustained in every decision ol every court of last resort. It is mos remarkable record.
 The Roosevelt administrator mad' the stJcxmen and the water powe men in the rational forests pay thu government for what they got Tn supreme court has since declared thG it was right when it did so.
 The Roosevelt administration asset ed that no claimant to public land h2; any vested right in it until he got hi patent The supreme court has sin" dt cided that it was right
 The Roosevelt administration maI regulations baCer the law governin Indian lands, coal lands, and the ma tional forests The right to do so Wa attacked, among others, by the stat of Colorado, but the supreme court ha sustained the Roosevelt position.
 The Roosevelt administration pu forth the theory that the president the steward of the public welfare, an must do everything necessary to pro mote that welfare that is not actuall forbidden by law. This theory wa bitterly fought by all manner of me who had got rich, who desired to ge rich. at the public expense, and by re actionaries like Taft, but the suprem court has since sustained it.
 The reclamation act was attacke and sustained. The guardianship the federal government over the per sons. property and rights of the Indian was attacked by the democrats of Ok Iahoma and sustained The right of tf president to make withdrawals of pull lie lands, questioned by President Ia after it had been exercised by Pres
 dent Roosevelt, was confirmed by al of congress.
 Now comes the decision in u Chandler Dunbar case, in which u supreme court sustains the Rooseve contention that neither the priva
 owner of lands through which runs
 navigable stream, nor the state whit