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voirs, or levees, they are in jeoardy. In this case the State must exer- 
cise some power to protect the people and see that these works are main- 
tained. 
SIXTH PROBLEM. 
Federal Action. 
In considering the question of floods the view is successively of City, 
of county, of watershed, of State; and finally the rights and duties of 
the Federal Government come into view. Our present problem is to delimit 
and properly apportion the action and responsibility as between the States 
and the Federal Government. At present the Federal Government controls 
all openings and obstructions in navigable streams. The logic of the situa- 
tion would extend this to the upper reaches, because what happens there 
will affect navigation below. 
For instance, if, due to obstructions, bars pile up on bridges and soil 
is washed down and creates bars below, there is a real counection between 
the upper reaches and the lower parts of the river. 
Again, the Weather Bureau is in the best position to take observations 
of rainfall, and the Geological Survey can best and does make the topo- 
graphic surveys, and the stream gagings. 
Thus in this problem, the complex question of the division of water 
control, as between the States and the Federal Government, is to be de- 
termined in the future. A watershed is a natural unit, and not a political 
unit. There should be some codrdination between the States in the Ohio 
Valley, whose problems are very similar. 
