192 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



censes already had been filed, involving installations 

 exceeding twenty-one million horse-power. 



"This amount," he stated, "is more than twice 

 the existing water-power installation of the United 

 States, and more than six times the aggregate of all 

 applications for power sites under federal control in 

 the preceding twenty years. Up to June 30, 1922, 

 the Commission had authorized 58 preliminary per- 

 mits and 49 licenses, of which 18 were for transmis- 

 sion lines. The 58 permits involve an estimated in- 

 stallation of 2,406,000 horsepower, and the 31 li- 

 censes for power projects, of 1,945,000 horsepower, 

 or a total of 4,351,000 horsepower. Of the projects 

 covered by the 31 licenses, 27, involving an esti- 

 mated installation when completed of 1,952,000 

 horsepower and investment of not less than $200,- 

 000,000 were either completed or under construction 

 at the close of the fiscal year. This is thirty per cent 

 more than was constructed under federal authoriza- 

 tion in the twenty years preceding the passage of the 

 Federal water power act." 



One of the issues during the contentious years 

 preceding the passage of the bill was the right of the 

 government to charge for the use of streams for 

 power. Notwithstanding that Presidents Roosevelt, 

 Taft, and Wilson had vetoed all bills for projects 

 using navigable rivers which did not pay tolls to the 

 federal treasury, vigorous opposition developed 

 from companies East and West, based on the com- 

 mon law rights of riparian owners. 



