Show GRASSROOTS Honest Harold Ickes Stole Mole Tide lands Oil Wells By Wright A. A Patterson WHEN I WAS A BOY in Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington county Iowa Longs Long's Creek was one of the waterways of that county It was not navigable even for a l light canoe It was just justa I a creek with water in spots in the summer and those spots provided breeding places for bull heads and swimming pools for the boys of the neighborhood Because of the swimming holes Ithe the boys claimed Longs Long's Creek as their rightful property Had the thc federal government of those days attempted to do what the federal government is doing today it would have meant an insurrection on the thc part of those Washington county boys that would have taken a corps of ot marines to suppress The counties of southern CalIfornia California Cal Cal- have creeks similar to those in every county of every state These California creeks serve the specially useful purpose purpose purpose pur pur- pose of irrigation for the hundreds hundreds hun bun of foothill farms without which they would not produce and would be valueless Those creeks have been the source of Irrigation for those foothill farms back to the Spanish mission mission mis mis- sion slon days das Now without warning of at any kind the federal government notifies notifies noti noti- fies ties the farmers that they can no longer use the water of those creeks as they are federal government govern ment property and the rights to the water they carry belong to the federal government Those water rights have been recognized as beh be be- h longing to the farms they irrigate for more than years That is seizure of property by bythe bythe the government without adequate compensation to the owner and Itis it itis itis is specifically forbidden by the filth fifth amendment to the Constitution Constitution Constitution tion but the federal government has refused to recognize the rights to compensation by the citizens What has happened In these California counties could happen happen happen hap hap- pen penIn in Washington county Iowa or in any other county in any state if California permits the central government to get getaway getaway away Vay with such a steal It will be tried in other states and the citizen will soon have no rights the government at Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington will recognize That bold move on the part of the attorney generals general's office is more reach far ing than the little community of in southern California Should it get away with that steal there is no limit to what it can take In the thc days when F. F D. D R. R and the New Deal was operating with the regularity of well greased clock clockwork clockwork work honest Harold Ickes then secretary of ot the interior was a recognized source of New Deal ideas One that bobbed up in his always fertile brain was for the government to take over the tide tidelands tidelands tidelands lands oil and so gather in the royaltIes royalties royalties roy roy- tho the operators were paying to the states for each barrel of oil they recovered from the ocean depths and to secure which they A had invested large very large sums in th the drilling and operation of those tideland wells welts The terms Honest Harold offered offered offered of of- were far from satisfactory to to the he operators and they re re- re- re fused But they stopped pumping pumping pumping pump pump- ing and drilling The sta states e s lost the royalties they had been receiving receiving re re- re- re and to supplement their diminishing revenues had to levy other taxes on their al already iii- iii ready over burdened people the nation lost the supply the tide lands fields had provided And all aU because Honest Harold Bar Har old had a bad dream He Be would provide more revenue with which to meet New Deal spend- spend Ings and put one over on the wealthy oil operators Like some other of his bis ideas that one did not work out as he had planned it Without that tide land oil we cannot meet the national defense requirements and keep 52 per cent more automobiles on the roads Should the service ervice station refuse to sell you all the gas you might wish it will be safe to lay the blame at the door of Honest Harold's Harolds Harolds Harold's Harolds Harold's Har Har- olds old's New Deal dreams J Appropriation for tor Fair Fall Deal Point 4 projects is one of the unnecessary expenditures Congress can well afford afford atford af at- ford to forget under our present circumstances With Fair Deal tutors to guide us we are rapidly becoming a benighted nation in need of our own philanthropy |