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Show 401 White River and Coosa River Vetoes.-In 1912, Congress passed a bill authorizing a nonfederal power dam on the White River a short distance upstream from where certain federal navigation improvements had been completed and others were contemplated, and downstream from the point then generally considered to be the "head of high-water steamboat naviga- tion."88 The dam would have increased navigable capacity above it, and could have been so constructed as to form a part of an extension of the projected downstream federal improve- ment. The Army Engineer River and Harbor Board had rec- ommended against present prosecution of the navigation proj- ect because of "lack of present commerce," but the Chief of Engineers had reported that future conditions might lead to an extension of the federal improvement as far as the dam site. President Taft vetoed the bill, noting three principal objec- tions. First, since the dam was "capable of becoming a part of this general Federal improvement," he opposed a provision which would have permitted the dam to become the property of the State of Arkansas upon expiration of the federal permit, saying:57 To introduce a diversity of title into a series of dams which may all become eventually a part of a single im- provement directed at the same end would, in my opin- ion, be highly objectionable. Next, he pointed to the conflict between this provision and the policy of the General Dam Act of 1910 which would vest control and title in the Federal Government at the expiration of the permit. And finally, he noted the absence of a provi- sion for imposing a charge for the privilege granted, such charge to be used in the interest of furthering navigation in the River. Less than three weeks thereafter, President Taft vetoed a bill for nonfederal power development at a point on the Coosa River where "comprehensive plans" by the Army Engineers 88 H. R. 20347; H. Doc. No. 899, both 62d Cong., 2d sess. (1912), 48 Cong. Rec. 10318 (1912). K H. Doc. No. 899, p. 2. |
