OCR Text |
Show 394 sidered as parts of a comprehensive policy of waterway control in the interests of all the people. In addition, the Commission observed that wherever water may be the chief source of power, monopolization of the elec- tric energy generated involves monopoly of:30 power for the transportation of freight and passengers, for manufacturing, and for supplying light, heat, and other domestic, agricultural, and municipal necessities, to such an extent that unless regulated it will entail monopolistic control of the daily life of our people in an unprecedented degree. There is here presented an urgent need for prompt and vigorous action by State and Federal governments. No less emphatic was President Roosevelt's letter transmit- ting this report to Congress. Observing that the report rested upon the fundamental concept that every waterway should be made "to serve the people as largely and in as many different ways as possible," the President added:31 Every stream should be used to its utmost. No stream can be so used unless such use is planned for in advance. When such plans are made we shall find that, instead of interfering, one use can often be made to assist another. Each river system, from its headwaters in the forest to its mouth on the coast, is a single unit and should be treated as such. The President asserted that it was not "possible to deal with a river system as a single problem" since uses of waterways were dealt with by agencies scattered through four federal depart- ments.32 Moreover, he observed that the report noted that national policy had theretofore been one of "almost unrestricted disposition and waste of natural resources," and that the report emphasized "the fundamental necessity for conserving these resources upon which our present and future success as a 80 m. pp. 21-22. 81 Id. p. iv. 82 Ibid. |