142 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



stood and determined. The power to 

 regulate commerce comprehends the 

 control for that purpose, and to the 

 extent necessary, of all the navigable 

 rivers which are accessible in a State 

 other than that in which they lie. 



"For this purpose they are the public 

 property of the Nation and subject to 

 all the requisite legislation by Con- 

 gress. This includes the power to keep 

 these open and free from any obstruc- 

 tion to their navigation interposed by 

 the States or otherwise ; to remove such 

 obstructions where they exist; and to 

 provide, by such sanctions as they 

 deem proper, against the recurrence of 

 the evil and for the punishment of of- 

 fenders." 



In this case money was appropriat- 

 ed by Congress to improve Savannah 

 harbor by improving the navigability 

 of the river, and to that end this dam 

 was built. Would an appropriation 

 to buy forest lands, which protect and 

 provide a continued water-storing area 

 on the watersheds of the Connecticut, 

 Merrimac, and other rivers, be any- 

 thing else than a direct and necessary 

 means for the improvement of the nav- 

 igability of these interstate streams? 



In Monongahela Co. i-s. U. S., 148 

 U. S. 312, Congress passed an act to 

 purchase the dam and locks of the 

 plaintiff, or, in event of failure to pur- 

 chase, to condemn and take over the 

 property, and the right of the United 

 States to dam the river, or to take over 

 the dam already built, was not ques- 

 tioned. 



As Congress has power under the 



Constitution to dredge navigable riv- 

 ers, it would seem to follow necessar- 

 ily that it has power to take such 

 measures as will prevent the necessity 

 of dredging. It is evident that the 

 wasteful cutting of mountain slopes 

 allows the soil to wash into the rivers ; 

 that navigation is threatened by the 

 filling up of the channels; that this 

 can be prevented to a large extent 

 by the reforesting of the mountain 

 slopes. If so, then the means to be 

 taken for this purpose for example, 

 the purchase of lands on the water- 

 shed of these rivers will be wholly 

 within the discretion of Congress and 

 not open to legal objection. A light- 

 house is not an active part of the 

 Government, but only an instrument 

 which it uses under the power given it 

 by the commerce clause of the Consti- 

 tution. The holding of forest lands 

 for the protection of the water supply 

 of navigable rivers is an instrument 

 also under this same clause of the 

 Constitution. 



The Kansas-Colorado cause is not 

 inconsistent with these principles. 

 That cause only decides that the recla- 

 mation of arid lands is not one of the 

 powers granted to the General Gov- 

 ernment, and it was not claimed to be 

 a means by which an express power 

 was to be carried into execution. It 

 was the very end sought for. The 

 Supreme Court decides that this end 

 is not legitimate ; but it is careful not 

 to say that, if this reclamation were a 

 means appropriate to a legitimate end, 

 then it would be unconstitutional. 



