The Winslow mail., 1926-07-23
Douglas Explains
Stand On Colorado
River Question

To a fair-SiZed audience that
gathered at the City Hall last night,
Lewis Douglas, independent candi-
date for the Democratic nomination
for Congress explained to Winslow
voters his stand on the Colorado
river question, and told his audi
ence how they would be benefited
from the development of the river
under plans providing for the tax
alton of power created from the
river.
Douglas spoke for over thirty
minutes and touching upon the
Colorado question, which was the
main object of his speech, he said
that Arizona won't get anything
much out of the Colorado unless
she reserves, fights for and estab-
fishes her right to impose a royal
ty tax on power generated in this
state. And unless the river is de-
veloped by means of dams with
both ends in Arizona, they may as
well be in China for all the good
they will do us.
For instance" Douglas said, eff
the Boulder Canyon dam is built,
the turbines will be in Nevada;
the switchboard will be in Nevada
the water impounded will be used
to irrigate the ChuckawalIa valley
| in California; the power generated
will be used in California; several
| all-ArizOna damsites will be cover
ed up. Arizona will get the privi-
lege of collecting taxes on one end
OF a piece Of masonry, provided it
ever passes to private ownership y
Douglas further declared that the
SwingJohnson bill is going to be
passed by congress unless Arizona
gets together with the two other
lower basin states upon some reas-
enable plan of development. For
| the influence of Arizona at Wash
ington is exactly nothing compared
with that of California, now com
bined with the upper basin in a
scheme to ignore our vast, sparse
ly populated and therefore politi-
cally insignificant state.
Douglas said that our mines are
being depleted and must be replac-
+ ed by some other resource unless
the already heavy burden of taxa
tion upon our farming lands be-
comes completely unbearab1e A
tremendous area of farming land
must be placed under cultivation
before it can approach in taxable
value the mines which are now
bearing 48 percent of the load.
Grazing of course, has reached its
limit. We have little chance, he
said, of becoming a great manufac-
turing state; much as we may dis
like to admit it, Southern Califor-
MIA is going to be the manufactur-
ing section of the west An all
year climate, freight rates, water
transportation, accessibility to iron
and other raw materials, give Cali
fOrnia advantages over us in that
respect that we may as well recog-
nize without argument.
Cheap power" he continued, sis
not nearly so vital to our big mines
as it once was thought to be, since
changes in smelling practices have
made it possible to use waste heat
from reverberatory furnaces to
generate electricity at lower cost
than it can ever be transmitted
from the Colorado. To a certain
extent, of course, cheap current
will aid in the development of new
mines. 1t will encourage some
manufacturing. Some new land
will be brought under cultivation
with pumped water. But on the
whole the new wealth created by
abundant power will not be nearly
as great as the unthinking opti-
mists have been predicting.
Therefore, unless we can get
the Colorado developed by series
of dams with both ends in Arizona
and can levy taxes on the power
generated for transmission beyond
the borders of the state, the Grand
Canyon will continue to be merely
a scenic asset to us. If the BOuld-
er Canyon dam is built, creating
much wealth for California and
none for Arizona, it may be gener-
ations before there is any further
development of the stream that is
capable of delivering 100000
horsepower"
Douglas is scheduled to speak al
Flagstaff, July "a, Ashfork, July 26
Prescott, July 27. Jerome, July %
Following his Jerome speech, he
will go to Pine and Payson, thence
into Cochise county, returning tt
his headquarters at Phoenix dur
ing the first week in August.
Douglas will carry Pima county
by 5000, is the claim of K. Berry
Peterson, county attorney of Pima
county, president of the newly or
ganized Douglas club at Tucson