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Show 159 jurisdiction at one time. Bennett later introduced the same bill in the Senate, but neither chamber took an interest. 4 84 The Deseret News editorial page endorsed Burton and Lloyd's legislation. "It is a case of trying to commit to law what heretofore has been left to a little known 'gentleman's agreement,'" it obscrvcd. 48 ~ But The Salt Lake Tribune editorial page, decrying Johnson's "land grab" as "arbitrary in the extreme," called for enforcing, or tightening, the current law to prevent such presidential proclamations: "Mr. Johnson explained that the largest proposals were dropped because of the fear he might be straining his legal authority by issuing the proclamations during the last hours of his administration. I lowcvcr, since a legal point is involved, what difference docs the nwnbcr of acres make? A land grab is still a land grab despite the sizc.',4 86 The Antiquities Act allowed presidents to set aside national monuments to protect "historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest." However, "the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.'"' 87 711e Salt lake Tribune argued that if the ac1 were amended, it should be clarified that proposed monuments not exceed the boundaries necessary to protect the historic or scientific interest. "If imminent and substantial loss to the national heritage can be shown we would hate to sec rescue efforts curbed by what could tum out to be an 0 ~Deseret News, '" Land Grab' Measure Introduced,'' February I I, 1969, 83. 415 Deseret News, '"The Case for Limiting Land Withdrawals," January 25 , 1969, AID ~u Salt Lake Tribune, ""Mr. Johnson's Arbitrary Land Grab," January 22, 1969, 14 01 An Act/or the Presen-ation of American Antiquities, U.S. Code 431-433 , U.S. S/(J{11/es at large 34 (1906):225. |
