The Washington herald., 1916-05-04

! II will be as big and influential an organI-
Zation MS It has ever been"
Mr.. Pinchots statement continued:
1T was the old story; special interest
up-public interest down. The water
power men used their control to drive
through an Endorsement OF the iniquitous
Shields and Myers bills. which propose
to give away In perpetuity the last great
natural asset still in the public hands.
BY so doing they killed public con-
| fidence in the Conservation Congress
and put an end to its usefulness
I'm the past the Conservation Con-
gress has done good work. Formerly II
was an open forum in which great ques-
tIons were discussed in the light of the
public welfare 1t has now become an
annex to the water power lobby, OF
whose activities Washington has seen 20
much during this past winter
THE committee on water power, whose
| recommendations the Congress accepted
was completely controlled by representa-
tives. among others of the Utah Power
Company. the Georgia Power Company
| the Alabama Power Company, the Cen
eraI Electric. and the Aluminium Com
pany, of America which has great in
| terest in water power.
Hits Water Power Lobby.
| The proceedings today hurt the Con-
gress much more than they helped the
| water power men. The assiduous gentle.
men who knew exactly what they wanted
and got it may find that they have over
shot the mark. The more the water
power lobby comes out into the open. the
easier It is to beat. 1t came out today
where all men could see It That fact
/ will be of real assistance to the men who
are fighting the Shields and Myers
| water power bills
The debate started when B. NJ. Hall
| chairman OF the water power committee
moved that the majority report of th'
committee, which recommended the In
dorsement OF private development b.
adopted.
f. c. Finney offered a minority report
opposing the Shields and Myers bills
now pending in Congress. on the grount
that they would take the water powe
resources out of the hands Of the peopl
Of the country and place them unde
control Of private corporations.
The clause in the majority report whicl
led the other faction to OFFER a minority
| report, read:
| Objectionable Feature.
I'm view OF all the acute necessities o
the present we urge such action by tn
Congress of the United States as will re
suit in immediate water power develop
ment, and inasmuch as H. X. 4OS as re
ported by Mr.. Myers, chairman of tn
Committee on Public Lands of the United
States Senate, with amendments. or
| March II. 1915, rendering available waite
powers on public lands, and S. 1881, a
passed by the United States Senate ol
| March S, 1916 Commonly known as tn
| Shields" bilD relating to navigabl
streams contain provisions adequatel!
safeguarding the interests Of the publi
and the rights of investors, we hereb!
indorse both Of these measures in princi
pie and express the hope that they may
be speedily enacted into law"
With the stormy debate about waite
power still fresh in their minds, the dele
gates last night viewed motion picture
| of the water falls, spillways and noun
tain streams of the West. presented b!
DR.. c. J. Blanchard. of the Reclamation
Service, and DR.. g. E. Condra, Of tn
| University OF Nebraska.
The convention closes today.