820 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 885 



from protection of the streams in their 

 middle courses where they may be used for 

 power development without impairment — 

 indeed with promotion' — of navigability 

 below, and from the general conservation 

 of the natural water for all other uses (in 

 fact it would appear that this act was 

 passed in direct response to a popular de- 

 mand based on manifest equities and recog- 

 nition of the public good rather than on 

 any narrow construction of common-law 

 or statutes or decisions). 



25. Sundry enactments by the congress 

 during recent decades serve to establish 

 what may be considered an inchoate na- 

 tional policy touching the development of 

 water-power on navigable streams whereby, 

 (1) when a franchise is given a private 

 corporation to erect dams the federal gov- 

 ernment reserves the right to use without 

 charge so much of the power developed as 

 may be required for specific purposes, a 

 reservation which may be deemed in the 

 nature of consideration (and recently this 

 was extended by making the consideration 

 specific and limiting the term of the fran- 

 chise) ; (2) when works are constructed co- 

 operatively between the federal govern- 

 ment and prospective power users the gov- 

 ernment reserves rights of administration 

 and for specific uses, and also limits the 

 tenure of the lease or franchise to a speci- 

 fied period; and (3) when the dam is con- 

 structed at federal cost the leasing of 

 power developed thereby is authorized 

 under conventional restrictions as to ad- 

 vertising, etc.^° The policy so initiated is 



" Not only does each open reservoir for power 

 development hold back the flow of the stream and 

 so shorten the low-water season, but each serves to 

 saturate the adjacent soil and subsoil and rock 

 with an additional volume of water subserving the 

 same end — a volume often comparable with that 

 of the pond itself. 



" The first case is covered by the provision of 

 the general "Act to regulate the construction of 



not only naturally susceptible of exten- 

 sion with growing knowledge concerning 



dams across navigable waters" (1906) to the 

 effect that "The person owning such dam . . . 

 shall grant to the United States a free use of 

 water-power for building and operating ' ' any 

 constructions which may at any time be required 

 "in the interest of navigation" (U. S. Stat, at L., 

 Vol. 34, p. 386) ; and this provision is reaffirmed 

 in special laws of various dates. The second case 

 is exemplified by "An Act to enable the Secretary 

 of War to permit the erection of a lock and dam 

 in aid of navigation in the Tennessee Eiver near 

 Chattanooga, Tennessee, and for other purposes" 

 (U. S. Stat, at L., Vol. 33, p. 309), in which it is 

 provided in Section 4 "That in consideration of 

 the construction of said lock and dam, free of cost 

 to the United States ... the United States hereby 

 grants . . . such rights as it possesses to use the 

 water-power produced by said dam, and to convert 

 the same into electric power or otherwise utilize 

 it for a period of ninety-nine years: Provided, 

 that it or they [the grantees] shall furnish the 

 necessary electric current while its or their power 

 plant is in operation to move the gates and operate 

 the locks and to light the United States buildings 

 and grounds, free of cost to the United States: 

 And provided further, . . . That the Secretary of 

 War is hereby authorized to prescribe regulations 

 to govern the use of the said water-power and 

 the operations of the plant and force employed in 

 connection therewith." The third case is covered 

 in the provision of the Eiver and Harbor Act 

 approved June 13, 1902 (U. S. Stat, at L., Vol. 

 32, p. 358), under the item for "Improving Cum- 

 berland Eiver, Tennessee, above Nashville," as 

 follows: "And the Secretary of War is hereby 

 authorized, in his discretion, to grant leases or 

 licenses to the highest responsible bidder for the 

 use of the water-power created by said dam, at 

 such rate and on such conditions and for such 

 periods of time as may seem to him expedient . . . : 

 Provided, that any lease or license so granted 

 shall be limited to the use of the surplus water 

 not required for navigation . . .: Provided further, 

 that before leasing or licensing such water privi- 

 leges, or issuing permits for the construction and 

 operation of such canals, or otherwise disposing 

 of any water-power or privilege, the Secretary of 

 War shall first advertise the same in one or more 

 daily papers at Nashville, for sixty days imme- 

 diately preceding, stating specifically the right or 



