The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-08-28
THE GOVERNORS CONVENTION.

The convention of Western Cover
nors at Colorado Springs opened
on Tuesday. Judging from the re.
ports, it appears that there is to be
| the same old diversity of ideas and
| the same old urging of Impractical
| propositions that have cropped up
heretofore in these conventions, We
should be glad to see curtailment of
these, and to see the Governors get
down to business.
First of all, the great and i'm
| portant thing is to resist the illegal
| encroachments of the Federal Gov
ernment upon the nnquestioucd right
| OF the States TO control the waters
| within their borders. The Govern
ment Of the United States has under
| taken to usurp the control Of water
| power sites, this not on any claim Of
ownership or rightful jurisdiction over
the flow of the waters, but merely
because Of the Nation riparian
rights. But riparian right has never
controlled the waters. On the use Of
| them, the riparian law under the
old rule, which still prevails so far
as water powers arc concerned, gave
the owner of the bed and banks Of
the stream no monopoly of the water
On the contrary, such use Of the water
as the owner Of the banks made was
subject to the rule that he must re-
turn to the stream the water in un-
diminished flow and untainted by any
| pollution. To undertake the stretch
ing of the riparian right to the con-
| troll Of the water is at once an un-
| lawful extension of riparian rights
and grasping at a control which rests
only with the States, and always has
done. There has never been the
slightest claim that the National Gov
ernment owns or has any right TO
control tho waters within the boun-
daries of tho States, save only as
to the navigation of such waters
Even as to naVgable rivers, the U.
S. Senate voted emphatically in the
| Connecticut river case that the Gov
ernmcnt Of the United States has no
control over the water power develop.
ment, even in a uavjgable river, The
same rule applied without question in
the Keokuk dam in the Mississippi
river, which is probably the greatest
dam in the world, and has developed
the mightiest power of any single power
proposition in the world. The company
has complete control of this water
power and Of the river for the pur-
pose of that development. The com
pany, of course, assures the continued
has made better job Of handling the
navigation at the rapids above that
place than the Government did. The
Government dock and dam is puny
affair indeed compared with the tre-
mendous dam and the huge loci, that
this power company provides for the
purposes of navigation. And that
dam makes slack. water navigation
above the company's works for sixty
five miles, where the Government IS
enterprise was Of doubtful benefit even
for a few miles above its works,
Where the Government spent a million
dollars, or so, the company spent
$25,000,000, and has made thorough
magnificent job of it.
The Governors, it appears, are 90
ing TO rub themselves raw against the
Government on the proposition that
the control Of all the natural resources
within the States be turned over TO
the States This is an impractical
proposition altogether, The Tribune
has pointed out the inpossiblity Of
expecting anything Of the kind, and
the danger involved in the PROPOSE
ton even Jwere it feasible. The
Government will necessarily control
the public domains within the States
precisely as it has done heretofore
The impossiblity Of turning the
natural resources within the States
over TO the State management is evi
dent on the most cursory examination
The moment that is done, it is evi
dent that the administration in power
and its friends would see to it that
the State s resources were appor-
toned out on a partisan basis and
among the officials of the administra
ton and their political supporters II
would make few people enormously
wealthy within the States, but the peo-
pie would he worse of than ever
But. fortunately, it is idle to waste
time over such a proposition as this
for the granting Of such control 70 the
States is out of the question.
There arc other schemes proposed
by various of the Governors, most
of them impractical. There is the
proposition of Governor Hunt Of Ari-
IONA. for instance. who would abolish
State Legislatures and turn tho State