Senator NEWLANDS. It is not upon the lines I propose. It preserves simply the present system which I claim is a faulty system. What is to be the action of this committee? Suppose you propose as a substitute for this bill the bill which I have offered, with the Sacramento and the Mississippi River appropriations in it? Then it goes into conference between the House and the Senate. Now, we will assume that the House disagrees, and the conferees disagree, and the House supports the House conferees; still you have a chance to retire from your substitute bill and to let the House bill go through. You can't imperil legislation at this session, in my judgment, upon this matter by providing for a comprehensive system. We have struggled 12 years for a comprehensive plan, and we have struggled along the lines indicated and urged a general measure, and we have found that men who are interested in the specific projects are so wrapped up in them that they will not consider a general measure. In 1906, or thereabouts, Mr. Roosevelt organized the Inland Waterways Commission. He realized then the unsatisfactory character of the rivers and harbors bill, and the dissatisfaction of the country with the kind of legislation that was going on and organized the Inland Waterways Commission and put on it Mr. Burton as chairman. was a member of that commission with Mr. Burton and Senator Bankhead and Senator Warner, the Chief of Engineers, the Chief of the Reclamation Service, the Chief of the Forestry Service, and one or two or three chiefs of other scientific services that relate to water, and we made a thorough investigation of this question, visiting every section of the country-the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, the Pacific coast, and other sections and thoroughly familiarized ourselves with the whole question from the legislative point of view. want to say that before the report of that Waterways Commission was made I had presented a bill including this scheme of general legislation, and when that committee sat in deliberation for weeks and months here under the leadership of Mr. Burton we sent in a report calling for the coordination of services, cooperation with States, and calling for investigation of plans and works. Let me read you a few sentences from that report-recollect that was over 10 years ago. [Reading:]

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A. We recommend that hereafter plans for the improvement of navigation in inland waterways, or for any use of these waterways in connection with interstate commerce, shall take account of the purification of the waters, the development of power, the control of floods, the reclamation of lands by irrigation and drainage, and all other uses of the waters or benefits to be derived from their control.

B. We recommend that hereafter both local and general benefits to the people shall be fully considered in any such plans for the improvement of navigation in inland waterways or for any use of these waterways in connection with interstate commerce; and that wherever practicable Federal agencies shall cooperate with States, municipalities, communities, corporations, and individuals with a view to an equitable distribution of costs and benefits.

C. We recommend that hereafter any plans for the navigation or other use of inland waterways in connection with interstate commerce shall take full account of transfer facilities and sites and of the location of tracks, grades, bridges, dams, depots, and other works on navigable and source streams, with a view to equitable cooperation between waterway and railway facilities for the promotion of commerce and the benefit of the people.

D. We recommend that any plans for improving the inland waterways shall take account of the present and prospective relation of rail lines to such waterways and shall ascertain so far as may be whether such waterways when im

proved will be effectively used in the face of railway competition; and that the relations between railways and waterways be further examined with the purpose of devising means of rendering the two systems complementary and harmonious and making such fair division of traffic that rates and management may be coordinated economically and with benefit to the country.

E. We recommend the adoption of means for ascertaining regularly all facts related to traffic on the inland waterways and for publishing the same in a form suitable for general use.

F. We recommend the adoption of means for ascertaining and rendering available, at such rate as to meet public necessities, all requisite data related to the physical character and general utility of the navigable and source streams of the country.

G. We recommend that hereafter any plans for the use of inland waterways in connection with interstate commerce shall regard the streams of the country as an asset to the people, shall take full account of the conservation of all resources connected with running waters, and shall look to the protection of these resources from monopoly and to their administration in the interests of the people.

H. We recommend that the Congress be asked to make suitable provision for improving the inland waterways of the United States at a rate commensurate with the needs of the people as determined by competent authority; and we suggest that such provision meet these requisites, viz, expert framing of a definite policy; certainty of continuity and coordination of plan and work; expert initiative in the choice of projects and the succession of works; freedom in selection of projects in accordance with terms of cooperation; and the widest opportunity for applying modern business methods.

I. We recommend that the Congress be asked to authorize the coordination and proper development of existing public services connected with waterways; and we suggest that such enactment might provide that the President of the United States be authorized, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint and organize a National Waterways Commission, to bring into coordination the Corps of Engineers of the Army, the Bureau of Soils, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Corporations, the Reclamation Service, and other branches of the public service in so far as their work relates to inland waterways, and that he be authorized to make such details and require such duties from these branches of the public service in connection with navigable and source streams as are not inconsistent with law; the said commission to continue the investigation of all questions relating to the development and improvement and utilization of the inland waterways of the country and the conservation of its natural resources related thereto, and to consider and coordinate therewith all matters of irrigation, swamp and overflow land reclamation, clarification and purification of streams, prevention of soil waste, utilization of water power, preservation and extension of forests, regulation of flow and control of floods, transfer facilities and sites and the regulation and control thereof, and the relations between waterways and railways; and that the commission be empowered to frame and recommend plans for developing the waterways and utilizing the waters, and as authorized by Congress to carry out the same, through established agencies when such are available, in cooperation with States, municipalities, communities, corporations, and individuals, in such manner as to secure equitable distribution of costs and benefits.

I concur in the report of the commission, but desire to emphasize my belief that it is of the highest importance that in dealing with subjects relating to the respective powers, rights, and interests of the Nation, States, municipalities,

corporations, and individuals large powers and a comparatively free hand should be given to an administrative body of experts in the full development of projects, lest the complexity of the transactions, the time necessary to secure congressional approval, and difference of view as to purpose of method may result in indecision and delay, the worst enemies of effective development.

An ample fund should be provided, to be reinforced from time to time either by legislative appropriation or by bond issue, and the administrative board or commission should be given the power not only to investigate projects but also, when determined to be feasible, to enter, with the approval of the President, upon their immediate execution; but the power should be limited so as to prevent such administrative body from entering into any contract unless there are sufficient unappropriated moneys in the fund to meet the cost thereof.

Unless some method of construction and development insuring prompt decision and execution and continuous and consecutive work by a body of experts is adopted, I fear that the best of projects may be wrecked in the shoals and quicksands of legislation.

FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS.

It has been said here, and urged apparently as a matter of merit, that the flood-control bill of Mr. Humphreys does not include irrigation. It ought to include irrigation. There is an enormous stretch of country from here to here [indicating on map of the State of California] with the Sacramento River running from north to south and the San Joaquin River running from south to north, flowing into San Francisco Bay through the same outlet; there is a vast area of arid land running away to the south, for the north is better watered by rains than the south, and here we are planning to force all that water down into the bay without utilizing it. It seems to be regarded as one of the merits of this flood-control bill that it does not associate irrigation with it. I say it is one of the demerits of the bill and you should embrace not only the irrigation of arid lands, but the reclamation of swamp lands and the development of water power. There ought to be a splendid scheme of storage reservoirs inaugurated by the Government for that purpose. Such investigations and plans would be provided by my bill, which was approved by Theodore Burton, also by Mr. Taft when he was Secretary of War, afterwards approved by Mr. Stimson, afterwards approved in a most emphatic and enthusiastic way by Mr. Baker, and approved by a cabinet committee composed of the Secretary of War, the Secretary of Commerce, of the Interior, and of Agriculture, who were appointed by President Wilson to look into this matter and make their recommendations.

The CHAIRMAN. Wouldn't it be advisable to put your substitute bill before the committee?

Senator NEWLANDS. Yes; I can do that.

(Thereupon, at 12.10 p. m., the committee adjourned to meet at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 1916.)

RIVER REGULATION, FLOOD CONTROL, AND WATER CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1916.

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10.30 o'clock, a. m., in the committee room, Capitol, pursuant to adjournment, Senator Duncan U. Fletcher presiding.

Present: Senators Fletcher (chairman), Shields, Vardaman, Bankhead, Sheppard, Kirby, Sherman, Watson, Harding, Kenyon, Jones, Nelson, and Smith of Michigan.

The committee resumed the consideration of the bill (H. R. 14777) "An act to provide for the control of the floods of the Mississippi River and of the Sacramento River, Cal., and for other purposes.'

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. Senator Newlands had not finished his statement yesterday, and perhaps we had better let him finish it before we hear from the riparian interests. We will hear from the riparian interests after he has finished his statement.

STATEMENT OF UNITED STATES SENATOR FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS, OF NEVADA-Resumed.

Senator NEWLANDS. Pursuant to the suggestion of the chairman, I have prepared, so that it can be printed, a substitute for the socalled Humphreys-Ransdell bill, H. R. 14777, and for the so-called Newlands-Broussard bill, S. 5736, both of which are pending before this committee.

(The bills referred to are here printed in full, as follows:)

[H. R. 14777. SIXTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.] AN ACT To provide for the control of the floods of the Mississippi River and of the Sacramento River, California, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for controlling the floods of the Mississippi River and continuing its improvement from the Head of the Passes to the mouth of the Ohio River the Secretary of War is hereby empowered, authorized, and directed to carry on continuously, by hired labor or otherwise, the plans of the Mississippi River Commission heretofore or hereafter adopted, to be paid for as appropriations may from time to time be made by law, not to exceed in the aggregate $45,000,000: Provided, That not more than $10,000,000 shall be expended therefor during any one fiscal year.

(a) All money appropriated under authority of this section shall be expended under the direction of the Secretary of War in accordance with the

plans, specifications, and recommendations of the Mississippi River Commission, as approved by the Chief of Engineers, for controlling the floods and for the general improvement of the Mississippi River, and for surveys, including the survey from the Head of the Passes to the headwaters of the river, and a survey of the Atchafalaya Outlet so far as may be necessary to determine the cost of protecting its basin from the flood waters of the Mississippi River either by its divorcement from the Mississippi River or by other means, and for salaries, clerical, office, traveling, and miscellaneous expenses of the Mississippi River Commission.

(b) That no money appropriated under authority of this section shall be expended in the construction or repair of any levee unless and until assurances have been given satisfactory to the commission that local interests protected thereby will contribute for such construction and repair a sum which the commission shall determine to be just and equitable, but which shall be not less than one-half of such sum as may have been allotted by the commission for such work: Provided, That such contributions shall be expended under the direction of the commission, or in such manner as it may require or approve, but no contribution made by any State or levee district shall be expended in any other State or levee district except with the approval of the authorities of the State or district so contributing.

(c) Any funds which may hereafter be appropriated under authority of this act for improving the Mississippi River between the Head of the Passes and the mouth of the Ohio River, and which may be allotted to levees, may be expended upon any part of said river between the Head of the Passes and Rock Island, Illinois.

(d) No money appropriated under authority of this act shall be expended in payment for any right of way for any levee which may be constructed in cooperation with any State or levee district under authority of this act, but all such rights of way shall be provided free of cost to the United States: Provided, That no money paid or expense incurred by any State or levee district in securing such rights of way, or in any temporary works of emergency during an impending flood, or for the maintenance of any levee line, shall be computed as a part of the contribution of such State or levee district toward the construction or repair of any levee within the meaning of paragraph (b) of this section.

That the watercourses connected with the Mississippi River to such extent as may be necessary to exclude the flood waters from the upper limits of any delta basin, together with the Ohio River from its mouth to the mouth of the Cache River, may, in the discretion of said commission, receive allotments for improvements now under way or hereafter to be undertaken.

Upon the completion of any levee constructed for flood control under authority of this act, said levee shall be turned over to the levee district protected thereby for maintenance thereafter; but for all other purposes the United States shall retain such control over the same as it may have the right to exercise upon such completion.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, CALIFORNIA.

SEC. 2. That for controlling the floods, removing the débris, and continuing the improvement of the Sacramento River, California, in accordance with the plans of the California Débris Commission, the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed to carry on continuously, by hired labor or otherwise, the plan of said commission contained in its report submitted August tenth, nineteen hundred and ten, and printed in House Document Numbered Eightyone, Sixty-second Congress, first session, as modified by the report of said commission submitted February eighth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, approved by the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army and the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, and printed in Rivers and Harbors Committee Document Numbered Five, Sixty-third Congress, first session, in so far as said plan provides for the rectification and enlargement of river channels and the construction of wiers, to be paid for as appropriations may from time to time be made by law, not to exceed in the aggregate $5,600,000: Provided, That not more than $1,000,000 shall be expended therefor during any one fiscal year.

(a) All money appropriated under authority of this section shall be expended under the direction of the Secretary of War, in accordance with the plans, specifications, and recommendations of the California Débris Commission, as approved by the Chief of Engineers, for the control of floods, removal of débris,