The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1916-05-04
WATCH HOW YOUR CONGRESS-
MEN VOTE ON THIS!

has been driven through the Senate,
butt 1t 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 water
power bill in it's place.
Everything l said about the Shields
bill in my letter to you was con-
firmed in the debate. According to
its own supporters, tbs bill turns over
to the power interests water power
equivalent to twice the mechanical
power of every kind now used in the
United States, or enough to meet the
needs of two hundred million peo-
pie. This it does in perpetuity, al
though pretending to limit the grant
to fifty years. Small wonder there
is pressure to get it through.
On March FL 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 water
power, but wisely and in fact sets a
limit of fifty years. Nevertheless, it
is not yet a good bill. For example,
it gives away the public water pow
ers without compensation. There is
no reason why the water power corr
porations should not pay for what
they get. The rest Of us do. The
House bill should be amended ac-
cordingly.
If the House corrects it's 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
confereeS. The manages of the
water power campaign believe that
a majority of the conferees will be
friendly to them, and will report a
bill in their interest. They will then
try to rush the conference bill
through, probably in the confused
and crowded final hours of the ses-
sion. Such plan has often served
the specific 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
amendment giving preference to the
applicant for a public water power
who offers the best terms to the pub
lie. One of the supporters of the
Shields bill, Senator Nelson, of Min
nesota, after referring to the amend
ment as ''bad and Vicious went on
to say: 1T is something that We
can eliminate in conference.
We might let it go in and then dis
pose of it in conference" (Con-
gressional Record, March s, 1916,
page 4285.)
We. can beat this plan only by
letting the people understand the
facts. This the power interests have
set out to prevent by confusing the
public mind with interested state
ments and personal attacks.
/ am asking for your help once
more to get the House to pass a
good bill, and then to stand by it,
no matter what the conferees may
do. If the House stands firm, the
people will win this fight. But the
House needs to know that the peo-
pie are behind it.
Let me call your attention again
to the Ferris bill, a good bill dealing
with water power on public lands
and national forests, which has twice
passed the House. An undesirable
substitute, the Myers bill, now before
the Senate, gives the public water
powers away in perpeuity. Under it,
the power interests could occupy and
exploit the Grand Canyon itself, the
greatest natural wonder on this con-
tinent.
The water power interests want
everything or nothing. In the last