The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-04-15
PINCHOT OBJECTS
TO SHIELDS BILL

mluIOru, "a, Aprll lO.
Mr.. f. R. Harroun,
Editor Silver State,
Winnemucca, New.
The iniquitous Shields bill, giving
away the waterpowers on our naviga-
BILE streams, about which / wrote you
on February Is, has been driven
through the Senate, but it has not
passed the House. There is still good
chance not only to stop this raid on
public property, but to pass fair and
honest waterpower bill in its place.
Everything / said about the Shields
bill in my letter to you was confirmed
in the debate. According to its own
supporters, this bill turns over to the
power interests waterpower equivalent
to twice the mechanical power of ev-
cry kind now used in the United States,
or enough to meet the needs of two
hundred million people. This it does
in perpetuity, although pretending TO
limit the grant to fifty years. Small
wonder there is pressure to get it
through.
On March 81 a substitute for the
Shields bill was reported to the House
of Representatives. Unlike the Shields
BILL this House bill makes no perpetual
grant of public waterpower, but wisely
and in fact sets limit of fifty years
Nevertheless, it is not yet good bill
For example, it gives away the public
waterpowers without compensation.
There is no reason why the waterpower
corporations should not pay for what
they get. The rest of us do. The
Honse bill should be amended accord
ingly.
If the House corrects its own bill
and then passes it, the good bill from
the House and the bad bill from the
Senate will go to conference, and the
differences will be adjusted by the con-
ferees. The managers of the water
power campaign believe that a maiori-
tv of the conferees will be friendly to
them, and will report bill in their
interest. They will then try to rush
the conference bill through, probably
in the confused and crowded final
hours of the session. Such a plan has
often served the special interests in
the past, and it is dangerous. now.
During the debate on the Shields
bill, this course was openly advised
There was under discussion an amend
ment giving preference to the applicant
for public waterpower who offers the
best terms to the public. One of the
supporters of the Shields bill, Senator
Nelson of Minnesota. after referring
to the amendment as tbad and vi
cious," went on to say: cit is some
thing that we can eliminate in confer
enee. We might let it go in
and then dispose of it in conference. I"
Congressional Record, March s, 1916,
page 42S5).
We can beat this plan only by let
ting the people understand the facts.
This the power interests have set out
to prevent by confusing tn public mind
with interested statements and per-
sonal attacks.
l am asking for your help once more
to get the House to pass good bill,
and then to stand by it, no matter
House stands firm, the people will win
this fight. But the House needs to
know that the people are behind it.
Let me call your attention again to
the Ferris bill, good bill dealing with
waterpower on public lands and ma
tional forests, which has twice passed
the House. An undesirable substitute,
the Myers bill, now before the Senate,
gives the public waterpowers away in
perpetuity. Under it, the power inter
ests could occupy and exploit the
Grand Canyon itself, the greatest nat
ural wonder on this continent.
The waterpower interests want ev-
erything or nothing. In the last eight
years they have killed eight water
power development bills that were fair
both to the corporations and to the
public. What the people need is water
power development on equitable terms
without further delay. They can have
what they want by letting the House
know it.
Sincerely yours,
CLIFFORD PINCHOT.