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Show 392 supply with towns on or in the vicinity of the project, having a water right from the same source.23 Rainy River and James River Veto Messages.-Of historic importance is the 1908 veto of the Rainy River bill. Having earlier indicated to Congress his views of the need for com- prehensive consideration of water-resource problems,2* Presi- dent Theodore Roosevelt was explicit in vetoing the Rainy River bill which would have granted extensive privileges for nonfederal development.25 His message asserted that the nav- igability of inland waterways should be improved "upon a con- sistent unified plan by which each part should be made to help every other part." Slack water for navigation, he said, may be provided by a dam which may "develop power of sufficient value to pay in whole or in part for the improvement of naviga- tion at that point, and if there is any surplus it can be spent upon improvements at other points in accordance with the gen- eral plan." 26 The President called for substitution of a definite policy which would provide, among other things, for some designated official to have the duty of seeing to it that in approving future plans, the maximum development of navigation and power would be assured. Or at least that developments not be per- mitted which would ultimately interfere with better utilization of the water or complete development of the power. 83 § 4, 34 Stat. 116, 43 U. S. O. 567. 84 In his 1903 veto message relative to a bill granting consent for private construction of a power dam at Muscle Shoals, President Roosevelt asserted that power should be developed at, and aid in, financing federal navigation improvements. Moreover, he stated that the "entire subject of granting privileges of the kind referred to in this bill should be considered in a com- prehensive way." See 36 Cong. Rec. 3071 for text of message vetoing H. R. 14051, 57th Cong., 2d sess. (1903). 28 Sen. Doc. No. 438, 60th Cong., 1st sess.; 42 Cong. Rec. 4698 (1908). But the bill was passed over the veto. Act of May 23, 1908, 35 Stat. 273. 28 But he was not recommending federal control over power development solely for the purpose of financing river-improvement works. For in point- ing out the power potential of our navigable streams, he declared that "This natural wealth is the heritage of the people. * * * We are now at the beginning of great development in water power. Its use through electrical transmission is entering more and more largely into every element of the daily life of the people." IMd. |