2l8 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



task to reconcile their boasts in that 

 direction with their objections to this 

 proposition. So, if we are looking for 

 precedents, I think we can find them, 

 world without end, amen. 



What interest do I have in this 

 proposition ? I have the honor to 

 represent the capital district of the lit- 

 tle State of South Carolina little in 

 area, but great in her possibilities, and 

 great in her history. I am in the cen- 

 tral part of the State. I am one hun- 

 dred and fifty miles from any of the 

 forests that we are now talking about. 

 "What interest, therefore, have I? I 

 will tell you. There is not a wheel of 

 industry in the city of Columbia, the 

 capital of my State, that is not de- 

 pendent upon the rainfall in the South- 

 ern Appalachian Mountains. There is 

 not a foot of rich, alluvial, bottom land 

 on the Congaree or the Santee River 

 that is not dependent upon the rainfall 

 up there, and dependent upon the 

 sponge-like humus of those mountains 

 to protect it from the overflow of the 

 river. That is my interest. 



I am here to protect myself against 

 the State of North Carolina. Every 

 navigable stream in the State of South 



'.-> 



Carolina has its origin in North Caro- 

 lina, in these very mountains that we 

 seek to set aside as a forest reserve. 

 South Carolina, therefore, is at the 

 very mercy of North Carolina. What 

 reason, says North Carolina, do I have 

 for desiring Congress to set aside 

 large appropriations to establish re- 

 serves to protect the forests of North 

 Carolina? But we of South Carolina 

 know that the forests of North Caro- 

 lina are a necessity to the people of 

 South Carolina, and if these forests 

 are destroyed, what redress have we 

 in our own State? None, except the 

 appeal that we are making to Con- 

 gress to exercise the power vested in 

 it, and to discharge its duty in aiding 

 a great National undertaking. 



The three States of Georgia, North 

 Carolina and South Carolina have 

 capital invested in cotton mills, I am 

 informed, amounting to forty million 

 dollars, with an annual output of one 

 hundred million dollars. These mills 



are absolutely dependent upon water 

 power to keep them running. Three 

 hundred thousand of our population 

 are dependent upon these mills for 

 their daily bread. Is not that a big 

 problem? Is not that getting to the 

 point that Mr. Jackson reached in one 

 of his famous veto messages, that the 

 problem must be National before the 

 Federal Government had the power to 

 deal with it? I think so. 



And I rather agree with Mr. Jef- 

 ferson in his statement relative to the 

 power of Congress to erect lighthouses 

 in aid of navigation. Mr. Jefferson 

 held that we did not have that power ; 

 but the Congress of the United States 

 thought otherwise, and kept on and on 

 making appropriations until Mr. Jef- 

 tVrson finall\ >aid and I quote him 

 literally- "The thing is so valuable 

 that it justifies the infraction of the 

 Constitution." and Mr. Jefferson was 

 quite right there. Mr. Monroe's ob- 

 jection in his famous veto of the Cum- 

 berland Gap road was based upon the 

 fear that the Federal Government 

 would usurp the jurisdiction of the 

 State Government, and that was a fear 

 that we can right readily understand 

 when we take into consideration the 

 history of that period ; but we in this 

 bill guard against the objection that 

 Mr. Monroe found to the Cumberland 

 road proposition ; by making it neces- 

 sary, or making it a condition prece- 

 dent, upon the part of the State Legis- 

 lature to give us the authority to go 

 into a State before we do go into it. 

 Then, as I said a moment ago, Mr. 

 Jackson, in putting the final quietus 

 upon this Cumberland road propo- 

 sition, said that he vetoed it because it 

 was a local and not a National propo- 

 sition ; that the Federal Government 

 had no power except over National 

 propositions. And I take it that there 

 is not a sensible man, woman, or ten- 

 year-old child in America who under- 

 stands the situation with reference to 

 the propositions pending before Con- 

 gress in these bills that will not con- 

 cede that we have a National and not 

 a local proposition. 



Why, my friends, the water power 



