Malcolm Wallop: “there is something really important in play here. Senators should be aware of it. The Senator from Louisiana, the able…”

“there is something really important in play here. Senators should be aware of it. The Senator from Louisiana, the able chairman of the committee, was talking about that hammer that is put in the hand of the landholder. The other side of that coin is: Do you wish the Government to have the hammer over the citizen? Who is serving whom in this Government? Is the citizen responsible to his Government or is the Government responsible to the citizen? The reason that point becomes so compelling is because Secretary Babbitt, on this bill, talking about Catellus, said that he could force them to accept whatever offer he makes or allow them to remain in inholdings forever. That is an arrogance of Government that this country should tolerate at no level. It is not a question of whether it is a big corporation or a small individual, no one should tolerate that kind of behavior from a Government. And that is not a philosophy which Congress should endorse, though we have, I grant you, in the past. This Congress, both parties, have become more and more statist; have given more and more power to Government, more and more often seeking to satisfy the convenience of governing rather than service to the governed. Under this amendment, the Department will have 10 years to acquire at least 90 percent of the private inholdings which we want to be acquired. If the areas are not important enough for that to happen, then the authority to designate them will lapse.”