ance with the terms of repayment prescribed in the act of Congress approved June 17, 1902, entitled "An act appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands in certain States and Territories to the construction of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands," and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, hereinafter referred to as the reclamation law. SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior is empowered to receive applications for the right to use for the generation of electrical power portions of the water discharged from said reservoir and available for the generation of electrical power at said dam, and, after full hearing of all concerned, to allocate to such applicants such portions of such power privileges as, in his judgment, may be consistent with an equitable distribution thereof among the various interested States and among the various interested communities in each State. The said secretary, in making such allocation, may give consideration to the plans of the various applicants, having regard to their relative adaptability to utilize such power privileges in the public interest, and at reasonable cost to the communities served: Provided, That subject to such allocations he shall give preference to applications made by political subdivisions. SEC. 3. That the said secretary is authorized to make leases of the power privileges so allocated, limited to fifty years, on such terms and under such regulations as he may prescribe, and to fix what he may find to be a reasonable compensation therefor. Upon or after the expiration of any such lease, or renewal thereof, the United States may take over the property of the leasee which is dependent for its usefulness upon the continuation of the lease, and if it shall do so, shall pay to the lessee its net investment in the property taken, not exceeding the fair value thereof at the time it is so taken, with reasonable severance damages to property of the lessee not taken. Such net investment, or fair value and damages, if not agreed upon, shall be fixed by a proceeding in equity in the district court of the United States in the district in which such property, or some part thereof, is situated. If the United States does not exercise its right to take over such property, the Secretary of the Interior may renew the said lease for not more than fifty years, or in his discretion may make a lease under the terms hereof to a new lessee, upon the condition that such new lessee shall pay to the former lessee such net investment and damages determined as aforesaid. If such property is not taken over by the United States, or such new lessee, or such lease renewed, the said secretary shall extend such lease from year to year until such property is so taken over or such lease renewed. Compensation for leases, renewals, exten sions, and new leases shall be fixed with a view to the United States receiving such payments and revenue therefrom, as with the payments and revenue from rights disposed of under section 4 hereof, will cover all expenses of operating and maintaining the said dam and incidental works and in addition thereto reimburse the United States for the entire cost of such dam and incidental works within a period of not to exceed fifty years from completion thereof. SEC. 4. That any such political subdivision, instead of entering into a lease, may, as the consideration for such power privileges as may be allocated to it as above provided, pay to the United States in annual installments, during such period not exceeding twenty-five years as may be agreed upon, a total sum which shall bear the same proportion to the cost of constructing such dam and incidental works and acquiring lands and rights of way for said reservoir and incidental works, as the water allocated to such political subdivision bears to all the water available for the generation of power at said dam, together with a like proportion of the annual expense of operating and maintaining such dam and incidental works, and interest at the rate of 5 per centum per annum on the unpaid portion of such proportionate part of such cost. Any or all of the installments of such proportionate part of such cost may be paid in advance. The right to use for the generation of electrical power the water so allocated shall continue after the completion of the payment of such proportionate part of such cost so long as such political subdivision shall pay annually such proportionate part of such expense of operating and maintaining such dam and incidental works. The said Secretary is authorized, on such terms and under such regulations as he may prescribe, to make any contracts which may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this section. The title to said dam and incidental works and reservoir site shall forever remain in the United States. Until the completion of said dam and incidental works the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to use any money received under this and the preceding section for the construction of said dam and incidental works. SEC. 5. That the right to develop power from the water in any canal constructed under this act, at points along such canal, shall belong to the districts, communities, and lands which contribute to the construction costs of such canal and appurtenant structures, in proportion to their contributions: Provided, That so long as any money is owing to the United States on account of the construction of said canals and appurtenant structures the Secretary of the Interior shall control the disposition of said rights to develop power, and the net proceeds from any power development in said canals shall be applied upon such construction charges and covered into the Treasury of the United States and credited to the various districts, communities, and lands in accordance with their interests in said canals. SEC. 6. That no part of the cost of the construction of said dam or incidental works, or the acquisition of lands or rights of way for said reservoir, or incidental works, shall be charged against any lands to be irrigated therefrom, but the total cost of all irrigation canals and appurtenant structures which may be constructed hereunder shall be charged equitably against such lands, in accordance with the benefits they derive therefrom as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 7. That the dam and reservoir provided for by section 1 of this act shall be used, first, for river regulation and flood control; second, for irrigation and domestic use; and, third, for power. SEC. 8. That nothing contained in this act shall be construed as limiting, diminishing, or in any manner interfering with any right of the States above said reservoir, or of the citizens of said States, to the use of the waters of said Colorado River or its tributaries. SEC. 9. That all lands of the United States found by the Secretary of the Interior to be practicable of irrigation and reclamation by the irrigation works authorized by the terms of this act shall be withdrawn from public entry. Thereafter when such works shall have been so far constructed as to permit the delivery of water to any portion of said withdrawn lands which the Secretary of the Interior shall deem proper to open for entry, such portion of said lands shall be opened to entry in tracts, varying in size, but not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions of the reclamation law, and any such entryman shall pay the proportionate share, as determined by the said Secretary, of the construction cost of the canal or canals and appurtenant structures, constructed for the irrigation and reclamation of said lands, as provided for by this act, such construction cost to be paid in such installments, and at such times as may be specified by the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions of the said reclamation law: Provided, That all persons who have served in the United States Army, Navy, or Marine Corps during the war with Germany, the war with Spain, or in the suppression of the insurrection in the Philippines, and who have been honorably separated or discharged therefrom or placed in the Regular Army or Navy Reserve, shall have the exclusive preference right for a period of three months to enter said lands; and also, so far as practicable, preference shall be given to said persons in all construction work authorized by this act: Provided, That in the event such an entry shall be relinquished at any time prior to actual residence upon the land by the entryman for not less than one year, lands so relinquished shall not be subject to entry for a period of sixty days after the filing and notation of the relinquishment in the local land office, and shall, after the expiration of such sixty-day period, be subject to entry by the first qualified applicant. SEC. 10. That for the purpose of constructing said dam and incidental works, canals and appurtenant structures, and acquiring lands and rights of way therefor, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, from any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such amounts as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this act, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of $70,000,000 to be appropriated from time to time upon estimates made by the Secretary of the Interior and transferred to the reclamation fund established under said reclamation law. All moneys received under leases and contracts authorized by sections 3 and 4 of this act, in excess of the expense of operating and maintaining said dam and incidental works, and not used for construction as provided in section 4 hereof, shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States. All moneys transferred from the General Treasury to the reclamation fund, and used for the construction of any canal or appurtenant structures authorized under this act, shall be repaid by the districts, communities, and lands benefited thereby, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby empowered, after a full hearing of all concerned, to allocate the costs of any such canal and appurtenant structures among the various districts, communities, and lands served thereby, according to the benefits derived therefrom. SEC. 11. That nothing in this act shall be construed as modifying in any manner the existing contract, dated October 23, 1918, between the United States and Imperial irrigation district, providing for a connection with Laguna Dam; but the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to modify the sad contract, with the consent of the said district, or to enter into a new contract or contracts with the said district, or any private corporation or any corporation subsidiary to said district, in order to provide for the construction, in accordance with the terms of this act, of a canal or canals and appurtenant structures, adequate to serve the lands of said district, and other lands that may be served thereby, and to equitably allocate the costs thereof. SEC. 12. That wherever the words "political subdivision" or "political subdivisions" are used herein they shall be understood to include any State, district, municipality, or other governmental organization. The CHAIRMAN (continuing). I will also introduce in the record at this point the letter from the Secretary of the Interior, dated January 19, 1924, to the chairman, relative to the bill, and also an article from the Reclamation Record of February, 1924, relating to the plans of the Secretary to secure and furnish information to the committee on this important matter: THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, Hon. ADDISON T. SMITH, Chairman Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. SMITH: I am in receipt of your request for report upon H. R. 2903, entitled "A bill to provide for the protection and development of the lower Colorado River Basin." Under authority of and appropriations made by Congress, this subject has been under investigation for some time, and a large amount of data and information has been gathered by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Geological Survey, and other agencies. As you are aware, the subject is, however, new to me and I do not feel that I am sufficiently informed to submit an intelligent report immediately. Some additional data are being compiled by the Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Reclamation, and will be filed in a few days. In view of the magnitude of the subject, the voluminous amount of the data gathered, and pronounced differences of opinion as to the best location for a dam, I have appointed a committee of engineers, who have worked over the field to review and collate the data gathered and furnish me, in abstract, data which I should review. Field investigations by this committee are not contemplated. Some of the committee are already at work. I hope to have the report in a few weeks, and will promptly thereafter submit my report on bill to your committee. Sincerely yours, HUBERT WORK, Secreary. [From The Reclamation Record, February, 1924.] COLORADO STORAGE ENGINEERS SELECTED A committee composed of five engineers, four of whom are in the service of the Government and the fifth an outside engineer, is being organized by Secretary of the Interior Work for the purpose of advising on a definite plan for the control of floods on the Colorado River, the develpment of its water power and the storage of water for irrigation of arid lands in the lower Colorado River Basin. The proposed personnel of the committee includes a representative of the War Department, a representative of the Reclamation Bureau, a representative of the Geological Survey, and a representative of the Federal Power Commission, and another engineer, providing he can be found, not connected with the Government. Secretary Work to-day appointed F. E. Weymouth, chief engineer of the Reclamation Bureau, to serve on the committee as a representative of the Reclamation Bureau. Herman Stabler was named to represent the Geological Survey, and Col. William Kelly to represent the Federal Power Commission. The Secretary of War has been invited to appoint an engineer to represent the War Department. In explaining his request for the services of such a committee, Secretary Work said: "The control of the floods in the Colorado River, the development of water power, and the storage of water for irrigation of arid lands in the lower Colorado River Basin have, under authority of Congress, been the subject of investigation for the past two years or more and various bills have been introduced in Congress proposing to authorize the construction of a dam, or dams, in the Colorado River for this purpose. A considerable amount of engineering, water resources, and other data have been collected in the field by engineers of the Reclamation Service and others, and is available. "As an aid in my future action in the matter I desire to obtain the benefit of the advice of some especially qualified men who can review and collate the data already gathered and furnish in abstract form the net results of investigations and their views and recommendations in the matter. It is no contemplated that field investigations will be made by this committee." STATEMENT OF HON. PHIL D. SWING, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Mr. SWING. Mr. Chairman, when I first appeared before this committee on this project, I felt that I had something new to present to them. Since that time, the project has been so much talked about and written about, and this committee has itself acquired so much first-hand information about it, that it is with some hesitancy that I undertake to appear in the light of one who can inform the committee regarding matters of which many of its members are already well informed. But in order that the record in a matter so important may be complete, the proponents of the bill will undertake to present as complete a case as if the committee were unfamiliar with it. The Boulder Dam project, I suppose, has received as much national publicity as any project that has been before the American public. Last year there was an article in the American Legion Weekly entitled the "Biggest job in the world." I started to read it, and found that the article was about this project. Secretary Hoover has designated it as the greatest constructive project before the American people to-day. President Harding, in discussing it, wrote: I should, indeed, be proud if, during my administration, I could participate in the inauguration of this great project by affixing my signature to the proper legislation by Congress through which it might be launched. The project has been taken cognizance of by many national bodies and organizations. The National Association of Real Estate Boards, at their annual meeting in Chicago in July, 1921, indorsed the project. The General Federation of Women's Clubs sixteenth biennial convention in 1922 indorsed the project. Mr. LEATHERWOOD. At what place, Mr. Swing? Mr. SWING. At Chautauqua, N. Y. The American Farm Bureau Federation in Chicago last year in dorsed the project. The American Federation of Labor indorsed the project. Mr. HUDSPETH. If you will pardon me, Mr. Swing, do you mean that they did that in their annual convention? Mr. SWING. Yes, sir; these are the national meetings. Mr. HUDSPETH. At their national annual conventions? Mr. SWING. Yes; the national annual conventions. Resolutions were adopted at the fifth annual convention of the American Legion, held at San Francisco. Mr. RAKER. Did they specify in these various resolutions where the dam was to be built? Mr. SWING. Certainly not. Mr. RAKER. Or anything about who was to construct it and operate it? Mr. SWING. Well, the resolutions will speak for themselves. I will attach them at the close of my remarks. Mr. RAKER. I thought you knew them offhand. Mr. SWING. No. They did not, and of course could not, go into the engineering features. I am citing these to show that the project is one which is in the front of the minds of the American people to-day; and that it is being written about and talked about and thought about and indorsed. I accord to each section of the country the credit that it is entitled to; and all sections have great projects to-day. There is the St. Lawrence River project in the Northeast; the Muscle Shoals project in the Southeast; the Columbia Basin project in the Northwest; and the Boulder Dam project in the Southwest-these are all great projBut I make bold to say that, of those four great projects, the greatest urgency for attention lies in the Boulder Dam project because of the human element involved. Mr. SINNOTT. Mr. Swing, in mentioning those great projects do you not overlook the Yumatilla Rapids project? Mr. LEATHERWOOD. Do not overlook the Great Salt Lake Basin project. Mr. LEAVITT. Do not forget that we have a big project in Mon tana. Mr. RAKER. Also the Pitt River project, in California. I just wanted to get that in. Mr. HAYDEN. And please do not forget the San Carlos project in Arizona. Mr. SWING. Leave to add to this list is of course is accorded to all those interested in projects of their own. Mr. LITTLE. I would like to say a word in behalf of the Missouri River. Mr. SWING. Of course, the Missouri River will live forever, both in song and poetry. Mark Twain made it famous. I will go a step further, with regard to the Boulder Dam project: for the amount of money invested, the Boulder Dam project will return greater dividends and assets to the American people than any other project. Now, that is my premise, and I will undertake to advance some of the reasons in its favor: What is the Boulder Dam project? It is a proposal to construct a three-in-one project. Mr. HUDSPETH. Pardon me for interrupting, but the big map does not go high enough to show Boulder Canyon, does it? |