Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1916-04-20
Clifford Pinchot Says
Peoples Rights Are
Being Extraordinary
Noted Conservationist characteristics
Shields Bill as Ubiquitous in
the Extreme.
Milford, Pa, April 10, 1916.
Editor The Saturday News:

Milford, Pa, April 10, 1916.
Editor The Saturday News:
The iniquitous Shields bill, giving
away the waterpowers on our navi-
gable streams, about which l wrote
you on February Is, has been driven
through the senate, but it has not
passed the house. There is still a
good chance not only to stop this raid
on public property, but to pass a 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 w~aterpower equiva-
lent to twice the mechanical power
of every kind now used in the United
States, or enough to meet the needs
of two hundred million people. This
lit does in p%erpetuity, although pre-
tending to limit the grant to fifty
years. Small wonder there is pres
sure 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 per
petual grant of public w~aterpower,
but wisely and in fact sets a limit Of
fifty years. Nevertheless, it is not
yet asgood 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 house bill should
be amended accordingly.
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
conferees. The managers of the Wa
terpower campaign believe that a
majority of the c%onferees 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 SEES
sion. Such d 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 am
iendment giving preference to the ap-
plicant for a 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
bad and vicious" went on to say:
FIT is something that we can elimin
late in conference. IS We might let
4 - op ia, arI thn, die nnGna of IL in nnn-
| ference Congressional Record,
March 8, 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 the public
mind with interested statements 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 mat.
ter what the conferees may do. II
the house stands firm, the people will
win this fight. But the house needs
10 know that the people are behind it.
Let me call your attention again
to the Ferris bill, a good bill deal
ing with waterpower on public lands
and national forests, which was twice
passed by the house. An undesir-
able substitute, the Meyers bill, now
before the senate, gives the public
waterpowers away in perpetuity
Under it, the power interests could
.Ioccupy and exploit the Grand Canyon
itself, the greatest natural wonder on
this continent.
The w~aterpower 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 tc
the public. What the people need is
waterpower development on equitable
terms without further delay. They
can have what they want by letting
the house know it.
Sincerely yours,
Clifford Pinchot