Source: https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1138513
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 20:50:43+00:00

Document:
131 out the Nation when it enacted the 1936 Flood Control Act containing this declaration of policy:22 It is hereby recognized that destructive floods upon the rivers of the United States, upsetting orderly proc- esses and causing loss of life and property, including the erosion of lands, and impairing and obstructing naviga- tion, highways, railroads, and other channels of com- merce between the States, constitute a menace to na- tional welfare; that it is the sense of Congress that flood control on navigable waters or their tributaries is a proper activity of the Federal Government in coopera- tion with States, their political subdivisions, and locali- ties thereof; that investigations and improvements of rivers and other waterways, including watersheds thereof, for flood-control purposes are in the interest of the general welfare; that the Federal Government should improve or participate in the improvement of navigable waters or their tributaries, including water- sheds thereof, for flood-control purposes if the benefits to whomsoever they may accrue are in excess of the estimated costs, and if the lives and social security of people are otherwise adversely affected. In 1944, Congress provided that the words "flood control", as used in this 1936 declaration, shall be construed to include "channel and major drainage improvements." M During this same period, as we have already noted, the Supreme Court removed any possible doubts as to power of Congress under the Commerce Clause to legislate in the inter- est of flood control.24 In the 1940 New River opinion, "flood * Act of June 22,1936, § 1, 49 Stat. 1570, 33 U. S. C. 701a. See also Act of June 15, 1936, 49 Stat. 1508, modifying the 1928 project for the Mississippi River. For statistics on loss of life and property in the United States from floods 1924-1940, see The River and Flood Fobecasting Seevice op the Weather Bttbeau, Department of Commerce, p. 8, tab. 2 (September 1941). * Act of December 22, 1944, § 2, 58 Stat. 887, 889, 33 U. S. C. 701a-l. ** See supra, pp. 18-19. See also Jackson v. United States, 230 U. S. 1 (1913) ; Hughes v. United States, 230 U. S. 24 (1913) ; Cublins v. Mississippi River Commission, 241 U. S. 351 (1916); Eouck v. United States, 201 Fed. 862 (O. A. 8, 1912); Cape Qirardeau d T. B. T. R. Co. v. Jordan, 201 Fed. 868 (O. A. 8,1912).

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