ACQUIRING LAND FOB PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS, ETC. 23 



supply of water in navigable streams. They hold that the matter is one over which 

 the States have exclusive jurisdiction, and that if the right exists it is the duty of the 

 State to assume the responsibility of meeting it. 



Second. Another view is that while it is neither the right nor the duty of the Fed- 

 eral Government to purchase the forests it may properly cooperate with the States 

 or with private owners in their preservation by furnishing expert advice and assist- 

 ance in their proper utilization and administration. 



Third. Still another view is that when it is shown that the forests of a given water- 

 shed have a direct and substantial connection with the navigability of the navigable 

 rivers flowing from that watershed the Federal Government ha the right to exercise 

 jurisdiction over the forests therein, although they remain in private ownership, and 

 prescribe the method which shall be followed in utilizing the forests within such 

 watershed. 



Fourth. The last, and doubtless the most generally advocated plan, proposes that 

 the Federal Government shall buy all the land that may be necessary to protect the 

 watersheds of navigable rivers and exercise over the forests growing upon them all 

 the rights and privileges of absolute ownership. 



The bill now before the House was drawn with a view to meeting, in a measure at 

 least, each of these four proposed plans. The first section proposes to give the con- 

 sent of Congress to each of the several States of the Union which may wish to dp so 

 to enter into such agreement or compact, not in conflict with any law of the United 

 States, as it may deem desirable or necessary, with any other State or States for the 

 purpose of conserving the forests and the water supply of the States entering into 

 such agreement or compact. It has been often urged, by those who insist that the 

 Federal Government should purchase the forests under consideration, that the 

 problem is interstate, and in view of the constitutional inhibition against a State 

 entering into any agreement or compact with another the proper treatment of the 

 problem is made impossible to the States alone. If section 1 of this bill becomes a 

 law this obstacle to cooperation between and among the States will be removed. 



Section 2 of the bill appropriates the sum of .$100,000 to enable the Secretary of 

 Agriculture to cooperate with any State or group of States, when requested to do so, 

 by supplying expert advice on forest preservation, utilization, and administration, 

 and upon reforestation of denuded areas. It also authorizes the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture to enter into agreement with the owners of any private forest lands situated 

 upon the watt" shed of a navigable river, to administer and protect such forest land 

 upon such terms as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe. It is believed that 

 under the authority given in this section many thousands of acres of forest lands will 

 be brought as effectually within the jurisdiction of the United States for all the pur- 

 poses of scientific forestry as if these lands were actually owned by the Government. 



Section 3 of the bill provides for the appointment of a commission to be composed 

 of five Members of the Senate, to be appointed by the presiding officer^ thereof, and 

 iivr .Members of the House of Representatives, to *be appointed by the Speaker. 



Section 4 makes it the duty of this commission to investigate all questions tending 

 to show the direct and substantial connection, if any, between the preservation of 

 the forests within the watersheds of the navigable rivers having their sources in the 

 White Mountains and Southern Appalachian Mountains, and the navigability of said 

 rivers. And in case the commission shall determine that such direct and substantial 

 connection exists, it shall then be its duty to ascertain to what extent, if at all, it 

 may be necessary for the Government of the United States to acquire land within 

 the" watersheds referred to, the number of acres of such land, and the probable cost, 

 or whether it may be desirable, if within the power of the United States to exercise, 

 without purchase, such supervision over such watersheds as may be necessary to 

 conserve the navigability of the rivers proceeding therefrom. 



Under the provisions of this section all the questions arising out of the proposal 

 that the Federal Government purchase the forests or that it exercise jurisdiction 

 over them without purchase, may be carefully studied and fully considered. It is 

 true that by an act of the last Congress the Secretary of Agriculture was authorized 

 to report and did report upon the watersheds of the Southern Appalachian and 

 White mountains, the purpose of the report being to present to Congress "the area 

 and natural conditions of said watersheds, the price at which the same can be pur- 

 chased by the Federal Government, and the advisability of the Government pur- 

 chasing and setting aside the same as national forest reserves for the purpose of con- 

 serving and regulating the water supply and the flow of said streams in the interest 

 of agriculture, water power, and navigation." 



Without intending any reflection upon those who prepared this report, it may be 

 fairly said that it does not present such detailed and accurate information as any 

 careful business man would insist upon having before entering upon a policy which 



