Evening star., 1934-08-05
nr &c AtanrIaisd prsa..

August 4.-FoiIowinF u the unofheisl
text Of President Roosevelt's address
ct the Grand coulee Dam site TO-
day. Transcribed BY court reporter
In shorthand.
Senator DIN, Gov. Martin and my
friends.
Il 90 back long, long way IN my
interest In the Grand Couiee. Some
people 10 this country think this is q
new project. remember very well
in the campaign of 1920. when was
out through the Northwest it was a
very 1--we subject at that time. Ny
old friend. Senator Dfll. being Of an
historical turn Of mind. went back
into the dark ages-i4 years ago
and dug up a speech made in Spo-
kane, and he brought it TO me on
the train. and am going TO read 1t 10
you Not the speech. but about two
sentences of It for the historical
record TO show that people have been
thinking Of the Columbia River for
great many years
Quotes 1899 Speech.
I'm 1920 said this: Coming
through on the train today-it was
coming throuh from Montana and
Idaho-It has made me think pretty
deeply. When you cross the Noun
tain States and that portion Of the
Coast States that lie well back from
the ocean you are impressed by those
great stretches Of physical territory,
now practically untouched but des-
tined some day to contain the homes
of thousands and hundreds OF thou
sands Of citizens, q territory TO be de-
veloped by the Nation and for the
Nation.
"As we were coming down the river
today (tlis way IA years ago.. / could
not help but think, as every one does,
of all that water running down to the
sea.
We'll. there is the text OF what we
are trying to do in this country today.
And then I went or and said: 1T Is
not a problem Of the State of Wash
ington, and it is not problem of the
State Of Idaho-it is a problem that
touches all the other States in the
Union
'It is a problem. as I said then,
that interest us away back In little
old New York State. We have made
a beginning in scratching the soil,
this soil Of ours: we have made the
beginnings and like to think they
are only beginnings and that even in
our lifetime we are going to see with
our eyes this problem taken up on q
vastly greater scale.
1T took IA years for that prophecy
to come true, but 1t Is on its way. And
most Of us here today are going to be
alive when this dam is finished and
the Bonneville dam Is finished and q
lot of other dams are finished.
'AS ! said to the Secretary of the
Interior on the other side of the river
a few minutes ago we are in the proc
esS of making the American people
dam minded People are going to
understand some of the complications
Of building dams In the higher
of rivers all over the country.
The chief engineer was telling me a
few minutes ago that the eventual
completion of this dam is going to
mean the doubling OF the potential
power of every city on the Columbia
River, between here and the mouth
of the Snake-and that is lot Of
mower.
Sees Power In Every Home.
'It is going TO affect not only the
Columbia River Basin, but 1t is going
to affect all mountain States and the
Pacific Coast territory, and we gre
going to see, believe, with our own
eyes, electricity and power made SO
cheap that they win become q stand
ard article of use, not only for agri-
culture and manufacturing, but also
for every home within reach Of an
electric light line.
1.-THE experience of those sections
Of the world that have cheap power
proves very conclusively that the
cheaper the power the more of it is
more of 1t is used in home
and small businesses; and that makes
me believe that this low dam which
we are undertaking at the present
time is going to justify its existence
before it is completed by our being
able to contact for the sale of practi-
cally all of the power it will develop.
And If we are justified in that
and hope, We come down to Chapter
2, which is the building Of the high
dam.
Il want to take this opportunity,
my friends, of telling you something
of the amount of money the Federal
is spending in the three
states of the coast. should have
liked to personally land so would the
Secretary of Interior) to proceed from
the very beginning by setting aside
and allocating the money for the COM
plete project at this place, but the
fact is that out of the total made
available to be administered by the
Congress, we have allocated in these
States of the coast a much larger
Of that fund than the pop
ulation of the three States justifies.
Nov that has meant very simple
thing and I am talking to you frankly.
1t has meant, by allocating a larger
portion of the $4,000 ,000,00 fund to
the coast than a mere figure of popu-
lation would justify. we have had to
odAS SOlIlC IlOIcy 1EOIu OIIleI otAlcS
and give them less than they would
have gotten-leSs than what might be
called their normal equity. Why did
we do it?
New Opportunity Offered.
1--WE did it in my judgment with
perfect propriety and with the knowl-
edge that those States that did not get
quite as much as the coast got would
and approve it. We did it
because out here in the mountain
States and in the coast States you
have unlimited natural resources. You
have acreage capable of supporting a
much larger population than you now
have. And We believe that by pro-
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