Message to the Western Governors Conference on Public Land Questions.

[Released August 27, 1929. Dated August 21, 1929]

My dear Secretary Dixon:

I have for some years given thought to the necessity and desirability for a further step in development of the relations between the federal and state governments in respect to the Public Lands and the Reclamation Service. The meeting of the governors of the Public Land states at Salt Lake City which you are attending offers an opportunity for consideration of some phases of these questions, and I should appreciate it if you would present them to the governors.

It may be stated at once that our Western states have long since passed from their swaddling clothes and are today more competent to manage much of these affairs than is the Federal Government. Moreover, we must seek every opportunity to retard the expansion of federal bureaucracy and to place our communities in control of their own destinies. The problems are in large degree administrative in character both as they affect the Federal Government and the government of the states.

It seems to me that the time has come when we should determine the facts in the present situation, should consider the policies now being pursued and the changes which I might recommend to Congress.

That these matters may be gone into exhaustively and that I may be advised intelligently, I propose to appoint a commission of nine or ten members, at least five of whom should be chosen from leading citizens of the Public Land states, and I should like to secure the cooperation of [p.263] the governors by submission from them of names for such a Commission. This Commission would naturally cooperate with the Department of the Interior.

As an indication of the far-reaching character of the subjects which could come before such a Commission, I may recount certain tentative suggestions for its consideration. No doubt other subjects and other proposals would arise.

PUBLIC LANDS

The most vital question in respect to the remaining free Public Lands for both the individual states and the nation is the preservation of their most important value--that is grazing. The remaining free lands of the public domain, (that is, not including lands reserved for parks, forests, Indians, minerals, power sites and other minor reserves) are valuable in the main only for that purpose.

The first of the tentative suggestions, therefore, is that the surface rights of the remaining unappropriated, unreserved public lands should, subject to certain details for protection of homesteaders and the smaller stockmen, be transferred to the State Governments for public school purposes and thus be placed under state administration.

At the present time these unappropriated lands aggregate in the neighborhood of 190,000,000 acres and in addition some ten million acres have been withdrawn for purposes of stock watering places and stock drives which might be transferred as a part of the program of range preservation. In addition, some 35,000,000 acres have been withdrawn for coal and shale reserves, the surface rights of which with proper reservations might be added to this program of range development in the hands of the states.

Reports which I have received indicate that due to lack of constructive regulation and grazing value of these lands is steadily decreasing due to over-grazing and their deterioration, aside from their decreased value in the production of herds, is likely to have a marked effect upon the destruction of the soil and ultimately upon the water supply. They bring no revenue to the Federal Government. The Federal government is incapable of the adequate administration of matters which require [p.264] so large a matter of local understanding. Practically none of these lands can be commercially afforested but in any event the forest reserves could be rounded out from them where this is desirable. Therefore, for the best interest of the people as a whole, and people of the Western States and the small farmers and stockmen by whom they are primarily used, they should be managed and the policies for their use determined by the State Governments.

The capacity which the individual states have shown in handling school lands already ceded out of every township which are of the same character, is in itself proof of this and most of the individual states already maintain administrative organization for this purpose so that but little added burden would thus be imposed. They could to the advantage of the animal industry be made to ultimately yield some proper return to the states for school purposes and the fundamental values could be safeguarded in a fashion not possible by the Federal Government. They would also increase the tax base of the State Governments.

A question might arise upon the allotment of the Federal Road Fund as a result of a shift of the public land ownership. It would only be just if this allotment could be undisturbed for at least ten years while the states were organizing their range conservation measures.

It is not proposed to transfer forest, park, Indian and other existing reservations which have a distinctly national as well as local importance. Inasmuch as the royalties from mineral rights revert to the Western states either direct or through the Reclamation Fund, their reservation to the federal control is not of the nature of a deprival.

RECLAMATION SERVICE

It seems to me that the vital questions here are to reorient the direction of the Reclamation Service primarily to the storage of water and to simplify its administration.

The Reclamation Fund and the Reclamation Service were created in 1902 and the situation has since changed materially. The present plan as you are aware is that receipts from sale of public lands, mineral [p.265] royalties and repayments by the beneficiaries for expenditure upon projects all accrue to this fund. The Reclamation Service undertakes special projects upon the authorization of Congress, which are financed from the fund on the basis of return by the land owners or purchasers of the cost of the project but without interest for a term of years. A total of approximately $182,000,000 has been expended from the fund.

The present Reclamation Act is based fundamentally on the reclamation of government-owned lands. Possible areas available for reclamation have now passed almost wholly into private ownership and the use of the Reclamation Fund for further projects may be legally criticized owing to the fact that the land is no longer a part of the public domain and circumlocation by voluntary agreements may not always be possible.

Moreover the application of the fund under the present organization results in very large federal administrative activities within the states of a character which was never originally contemplated and which could be much better administered by the local state governments themselves. In many ways it duplicates the state water administrations.

There are several tentative suggestions for more effective handling of the fund. For instance, the Reclamation Service for all new projects might well be confined to the construction of permanent works, that is dams and such construction as results in water storage--and at the completion of such construction the entire works be handed over to the states with no obligation for repayment to the Reclamation Fund except such revenues as might arise from electrical power and possibly in some cases from the sale of water until the outlay has been repaid or in any event for not longer than, say fifty years.

Again, there are certain instances of insufficiently capitalized community owned irrigation projects which are at the point of failure, for whom the Reclamation Fund might be made a proper vehicle to rescue homes that are now in jeopardy.

A further activity which might be considered for incorporation in the Reclamation Service would be the authorization to join with the states and local communities or private individuals for the creation of water storage for irrigation purposes. The primary purpose of these [p.266] suggestions is thus to devote the Federal Government activities to the creation of water storage and a reduction of other activities within the states.

Under such arrangements the states would have the entire management of all new reclamation projects and would themselves deal with the irrigation land questions and land settlements. It is only through the powers of the states that reclamation districts can legally be organized which would incorporate the liability of privately owned lands for irrigation expenditure and by such organization it ought to be possible to finance the subsidiary works.

By direction of the Reclamation Service in some such manner the large provision of water storage would ultimately secure a very large increase in the irrigable area of the various states. It is evident to every engineer that water storage is not always directly connected with an irrigation project but vital to expansion of irrigation. This emphasis and this direction of Federal activities to water storage rather than land development has also an incidental importance to Flood control and navigation.

It is not suggested that the states should take over the administration of the established projects but that the system should be set up for future undertakings. If it were instituted it would, of course, be necessary to set up some safeguards to cover interstate projects. No doubt each new project as at present should be specifically authorized by Congress.

It must be understood that these suggestions are only tentative; that they have no application to dealing with power questions except that which is incidental to storage of water for irrigation or its further incidental use in navigation and flood control. Moreover the question of the advisability or inadvisability of opening new areas of land for cultivation in the face of present obvious surplus of farm products does not arise because the activities outlined herein will only affect farm production ten or twenty years hence by which time we shall probably need more agricultural land.

MINERAL RESOURCES

The policies to be pursued in development and conservation of mineral resources of the public domain present many problems. They are [p.267] problems of a national as well as a local character. I know that the western as well as the eastern States agree that abuse of permits for mineral development or unnecessary production and waste in our national resources of minerals is a matter of deepest concern and must be vigorously prevented.

Because of such abuse and waste I recently instituted measures to suspend further issue of oil prospecting permits on public lands and to clean up the misuse of outstanding permits, and thereby to clear the way for constructive conservation. It may interest the governors to know that when this decision was taken on the 12th of March there were prospecting permits in force covering over 40,000,000 acres of the public domain. We have now determined that over 40 percent of these holders had not complied with the requirements of the law, that the large portion of these licenses were being used for the purpose of preventing others from engaging in honest development and some even as a basis of "blue sky" promotions. After yielding to the claimants, the widest latitude to show any genuine effort at development under the outstanding prospecting permits, the total will probably be reduced to about 10,000,000 acres, upon which genuine development is now in progress. The public domain is, therefore, being rapidly cleared of this abuse. The position is already restored to a point where measures can be discussed which will further effectually conserve the national resources, and at the same time take account of any necessity for local supplies.

GENERAL

These suggestions are, of course, tentative pending investigation of the full facts, but generally I may state that it is my desire to work out more constructive policies for conservation in our grazing lands, our water storage and our mineral resources, at the same time check the growth of Federal Bureaucracy, reduce Federal interference in affairs of essentially local interest and thereby increase the opportunity of the states to govern themselves, and in all obtain better Government.

Yours faithfully,

HERBERT HOOVER

[Hon. Joseph M. Dixon, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D.C.]