HISTORY AND LEGAL BASIS. 43 



trict as effectually as if he owned every acre of it. In most places 

 the public range of the "West is greatly overcrowded and the com- 

 petition for possession of the water holes has been exceedingly 

 bitter, with the advantage in favor of the large owner, on account 

 of his greater ability to purchase land scrip. Exclusion from the 

 watering places has ruined more than one stock grower and vio- 

 lence has not infrequently accompanied the struggle for their pos- 

 session. This condition of affairs led members of the Land Office 

 and of the Survey to urge that the watering places on the public 

 range be retained in Government ownership and thrown open to 

 the use of all comers. The possibility of the passage by Congress 

 of a grazing law added to the advisability of such withdrawals. 

 The present conditions on the public range are by no means sat- 

 isfactory. They give undue advantage to the large stock raiser 

 and are resulting in the deterioration and in many areas the ruin 

 of the range. Several bills have been introduced in Congress pro- 

 viding for Government supervision of grazing under a leasing sys- 

 tem. If such a law is passed it is highly important that a sufficient 

 number of watering places to permit the administration of leases 

 should remain in Government ownership. On March 29, 1912, pub- 

 lic water reserve No. 1 was recommended by the Survey and approved 

 by the President. Other public water reserves are being created as 

 rapidly as field data can be considered. 



WITHDRAWAL, ACTS. 



The early coal, oil, phosphate, and power-site withdrawals were 

 made by the Secretary of the Interior in the exercise of his executive 

 discretion and without specific authority granted by Congress. The 

 right of the Executive Department to make land withdrawals has 

 been established by numerous court decisions relating to withdrawals 

 covering small areas, but as soon as general withdrawals of large 

 areas were made interested parties began to question their validity. 

 Many claimants asserted their belief in the department's lack of 

 authority by proceeding in disregard and contravention of the with- 

 drawals. This type of action was especially frequent in the oil 

 fields of California and it early became apparent that, unless the 

 validity of the withdrawals was clearly established, millions of 

 barrels of oil would be taken from withdrawn lands while a decision 

 was being obtained from the courts. Accordingly, Congress was 

 urged to pass an act confirming the power of the Executive to with- 

 draw public lands, and on June 25, 1910, a law was approved en- 

 titled "An act to authorize the President of the United States to 

 make withdrawals of public lands in certain cases" (36 Stat., 847). 

 That this act was merely confirmatory of powers already reposing in 



