ch
reservoirs with the railways of said companies.

The second, third, and fourth sections of the bill relate to the
purchase by any citizen of the United States, or any association of
citizens, or any ditch or water company, of public lands suitable for
reservoir purposes at such a price as the Secretary of the Interior
shall prescribe, not less than $2 per acre.

The right to purchase these lands is given by the sections last referred
to "under rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the
Interior."

I think the expediency and propriety of disposing of these lands for the
purposes specified should in each case be determined by the Secretary of
the Interior, as well as the rules and regulations governing such
disposition.

The objections to the bill, however, which appear to be the most serious
are found in its fifth and last section, which provides:

That any State or any county or district organization duly organized
under the laws of any State or Territory may apply for any of the
storage-reservoir sites not reserved by the United States, situated on
unentered public lands, for the storage of water for irrigating, mining,
or other useful purposes, whereupon the Secretary of the Interior shall
set aside and withdraw from public sale or other disposition such site
or sites and permit the use thereof for either or all of such purposes.

These provisions do not seem to be in harmony with prior laws by which,
under certain conditions, arid lands may be conveyed to States for the
purpose of irrigation, and it is not clear what is intended by the words
"any of the storage-reservoir sites not reserved by the United States."

The apparent purpose and effect of the section is to give to the
organizations mentioned the right to select such land as may present
eligible reservoir sites not reserved and upon unentered lands, and
demand of the Secretary of the Interior a grant of the same, leaving
no discretion on the subject to him or to any other officer of the
Government; and these grants are to be made without any compensation
to the Government and without any specific requirement of the amount
or kind of work to be done or improvements to be made upon such sites.

The grants may be demanded not only for the storage of water for
irrigating purposes, but for "mining and other useful purposes."
Inasmuch as no officer of the Government is vested with any discretion
in the premises, the pretext