Imperial Valley press., 1928-10-11
HOOVER FRIEND OF THE BILL

The statement by Mr. Joseph Timmons, printed
in yesterdays Press should go long ways toward set
tng any doubts there may be- particularly in Imperial
Valley to Mr.. Hoover s stand on the all important
question of Boulder Canyon dam.
Mr. Timmons is fully qualified to speak on the
matter. He has been Washington correspondent tor
number of years. and for the last eight has followed
the various steps in the attempt to get congress to take
action on the Swing-Johnso bill.
He has written much in behalf of the BILL not
necessarily propaganda but cold hard facts as they
appeared to newspaperman in the course of the blls
progress True he is employed by the Hearst papers,
which are committed to aid the bill and condemn oppo-
ston to it.
In his statement relative to Mr. Hoovers attitude,
he made no use of propaganda limiting himself to a
recital of various occasions when Mr. Hoover gave IN
disputable proof that he favors the SWlng.Jonnsoh
bill.
He goes back to 1920, when Hoover toured the Col
orado basin with fact-fnding commission OF wnlcn
he (Hoover) was chairman. This commission drafted
the so-caed Santa Fe compact on the basis OF whcn
the fight for the SwingJ ohnson bill has since peen
made At that time, Timmons states, Hoover became
convinced of the feasibility and necessity OF hlgh oal
in the Colorado river, and he has changed his
mind.
Timmons recalls that Hoover testified favorably be-
fore the House committee irrigation and reclama-
tion in behalf of the SwingJ ohnson bill that later
Hoover gave him signed statement for publlcation as
sertng that the federal government should do the oo
and declaring again flaty for federal-Dullt hlgh
dam that since then Hoover has again testified favor
ably before Senate and House hearings on the DILL anu
that 1926 Hoover in Los Angeles gave to the news
papers a strong statement endorsing the project
And if these are not sufficient proof of how the
Republican candidate for the Presidency is disposed
toward the Swing-Johnson bill, Timmons relates an
occurrence not generally known whereby Hoover spk
ed last effort by the power combine to give the bou
der dam project black eye.
1t was shortly after the St Francis dam disaster,
when the mere mention of dam enough to send colo
chs down the spines of men and women. SeZlng
upon the unhappy ST. Francis tragedy as weapon,
those opposed to the Boulder Canyon project used 1t
to spread propaganda pointing out that Boulder Can
yon was adaptable for high dam and that II one
were built it might eventually snuff out the lives OF
thousands of people and untold property dam
age.
At the sem-annual meeting of the American So
ciety of Civil Engineers, held in Washington, reso-
luton expressing doubt to the safety OF dam IN
Boulder or Black canyons, was to be presented II
adopted representing it would the opinion OF hun
dreds of skilled engineers it would have sounded the
death-knell of the Boulder Canyon project forever
Hoover assisted by former Congressman Llneber-
ger and Governor Emerson of Wyoming, protested SO
strongly against the resolution that the resolutions
committee tabled it without presenting it to the meet
ing. ,:l
This last action alone should silence in Imperial
Valley especially those who assert that Hoover IS not
for "the bill" If, has been charged, ne tavors the
mower trust he could have quietly by and permitted
the resolution to go through The fact that he killed
the resolution nails the lie that he IS opposed to the
bill and stamps him instead its champion