Source: https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1138510
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 22:36:38+00:00

Document:
128 and levees.4 Speaking of the inefficacy of local efforts in con- nection with levee construction, this 1875 report said:5 In fine, then, the experience of one hundred and fifty years has utterly failed to create judicious laws or effec- tive organization in the several States themselves, and no systematic co-operation has ever been attempted be- tween them. The latter is no less important than the former, for the river has no respect for State boundaries * * *. The foregoing sequence of events led to the establishment of the Mississippi River Commission in 1879, with Congress delegating to it the duty of considering such plans as would improve navigation of the Mississippi, "prevent destructive floods," and promote and facilitate commerce, trade, and the postal service.6 But until 1890 Congress restricted appropria- tions for the Commission to improvement of navigation, ex- pressly prohibiting the use of funds on levees for reclaiming lands or preventing injury to lands by overflow.7 Between 1890 and 1917, however, appropriation statutes permitted Com- mission expenditures not only for navigation improvement, but also to serve broader interests of commerce.8 Otherwise, federal interest in flood control during this period prior to 1917 'H. Exec. Doc. No. 127, 43d Cong., 2d sess. (1875). 'Id. p. 19. 8 Act of June 28, 1879, § 4, 21 Stat. 37, 38, as amended, 33 U. S. C. 647. As to later extension of geographic limits of the Commission's jurisdiction, see supra, p. 98. ' Act of March 3, 1881, § 1, 21 Stat. 468, 474; Act of August 2, 1882, § 1, 22 Stat. 191, 208; Act of January 19, 1884, 23 Stat. 1; Act of July 5, 1884, § 1, 23 Stat. 133, 146; Act of August 5, 1886, § 1, 24 Stat. 310, 328-329; Act of August 11, 1888, § 1, 25 Stat. 400, 421. If Congress had doubts as to its power to make appropriations for flood control, they were not shared by President Arthur, who, in recommending favorable consideration by Congress of an 1882 Commission report on flood control, said: "The constitutionality of a law making appropriations in aid of these purposes cannot be questioned." 8 Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 95 (1896). 8 For a listing of the relevant statutes, see Laurent, A Compilation op the More Important Congressional Acts, Treaties, Presidential Mes- sages, Judicial Decisions, and Official Reports and Documents Having to do With the Control, Conservation, and Utilization of Water Re- sources, TVA Legal Department, pp. 68-69 (1938).

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