Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1916 — MOST IMPORTANT BILL NOW BEFORE CONGRESS [ARTICLE]

MOST IMPORTANT BILL NOW BEFORE CONGRESS

How Water Power Legislation Will Build Up the West.

By HENRY L. MYERS,

United States Senator From Montana. In my opinion the bill now before congress for leasing power sites on the public la:.:1s is more important and fraught with more possibilities of good, more benefit to our country, than any other piece of legislation which will be considered at this session of congress. Tliis bill proposes to make available for development.and use the cheapest source of electricity—water power. It offers a new hope of wonderful development and marvelous possibilities for new industries to the great west. Tlie water powers of that part of the country are among its greatest resources, and to the present time they have been almost wholly neglected. We have stopped developing water powers because the laws have not been adapted to their development. The proposed legislation will encourage water power development, offering reasonable terms and conditions to investors, while It fully protects the public rights in this national asset. It opens the door to development on fair terms to investor and consumer alike and puts up the bars against speculation in or exploitation of the public need for individual or corporate greed. A few of the uses to which electrical power has been put successfully in recent years and will be applied more successfully in the next few years to come are: Cheap electricity for fuel and power, light and heat in the cities and on the farms. Reclamation by Irrigation of vast areas of land now idle and useless. Establishment of new industries, around which will grow new towns and cities, creating employment for hundreds of thousands of people and new markets for agricultural products. New steel and Iron industries in new sections. Cheapened production of metal from low grade ores. Cheaper agricultural fertilizers and consequent larger agricultural crops. One of the greatest benefits which will arise in the west from this legislation is the Irrigation of arid lands which are not now susceptible to irrigation by the gravity system. It is estimated that there are at least 10,000,000 acres of arid lands located in the far western states lying above the reach of gravity water that can only be reclaimed through water raised by pumps operated by cheap hydroelectric power now latent and wustiug in the various streams from which the water would be pumped. In other words, we can make tbe water pump itself on to the land. Given water, these lands will produce every fruit, vegetable and grain that is native to the temperate zone and are capable of supporting a population of 2,000,000 people. With a bill of this kind enacted into law and in successful operation I believe capital will become interested to such a degree in water power development and power will be produced so cheaply that there will be no excuse for a single quarter section of land in the western states remaining arid and unproductive. Statesmen, economists and theorists have long sought a way for reducing high cost of living. In this legislation I believe lies a direct road to this end.

I am assured that capital is waiting only for fair legislation of the kind contained in this bill to invest in great water power development that will accomplish all the benefits to which I have referred. The establishment of electrochemical plants for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen located in these western states, where there are mountains of lime, phosphates and other minerals and ores awaiting cheap power for their manufacture into useful products, means among other things cheaper fertilizer for the whole country. Here is the opportunity for the farmers of the United States to have put into their hands the greatest possible agency of restoring the fertility of their lands, increasing their crops and making this country the storehouse of the vyorld for agricultural products. Legislation of this character will enable both the government and individuals to engage in the business of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. This will not only aid in the production of fertilizers, but it may be utilized by the government in the manufacture of munitions of war. Now we are dependent for our nitric acid, an essential in explosives, upon the nitrate of soda we get from Chile. If by war or any other cause we should be cut off from this source of supply the United States would have no way of obtaining at short notice the materials of which to make gunpowder. Imagine the nearsightedness of such a situation brought about by our neglect of our water powers and our failure to encourage the great electrochemical industries which other nations have created to furnish them with this highly necessary munition of defense, This message is not only a development measure and a conservation measure in the true sense of these words, but it Is a highly important part of the preparedness program which should be adopted by congress for the purpose of putting this country In a position to defend itself again** possible invasion by a foreign foe.