190 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



the Geological Survey as follows : larger demand for 

 power; reaction from retarded growth during the 

 war period; stabilization of construction costs after 

 the war; and the Federal Power Act of 1920. 



"While it is unfortunate," writes Mr. Merrill, 

 "that so many years were required to work out the 

 details of the national policy and that development 

 was meantime largely suspended, it is fortunate that 

 so small a part of our water power resources passed 

 out of public control, and it is undoubtedly true that 

 the delay resulted in the formulation of a wiser pol- 

 icy than would otherwise have been possible and in 

 one better adapted both to protect the public interest 

 and to meet the needs of industry." One reason un- 

 doubtedly was the location of many most desirable 

 waters at high altitudes which, until recently, had 

 been too far from the market for profitable utiliza- 

 tion. Western population was spreading fast. 



But the Federal Power Act came at last. It 

 was, after all, extremely simple. 



"The principle of retaining in public ownership 

 and control rights and resources to be used in the 

 public service," Mr. Merrill wrote of it in 1922, "in 

 order that returns therefrom shall be based on actual 

 investment and that service may thereby be rendered 

 at the lowest reasonable rate, is the fundamental ele- 

 ment in the federal water-power policy as embodied 

 in the act of 1920. The other provisions of the act 

 are largely for the purpose of supplementing and 

 supporting this basic principle." 



