Evening star., 1936-03-13
FATE OF "QUODDY"
VEX|NG PROBLEM
Congress Unlikely to Vote
Appropriation for Con-
tinuing Work.
RY CARLISLE BARGERON.

The question Of What is to become
of Quoddy" is sounding around Wash
inEton political circles with the same
degree Of intensity with which the
American Legionnaires in convention
once asked Where Is EWer?"
II the New Deals great harnessing
Of the tides project up in Maine with
its accompanying love seats and
grandfather clocks for the workers.
Is to be carried out. Mr.. Roosevelt
must do it with that $4,000, 100000
personal or works fund which Con-
gress provided him with. 1t is now
very apparent that Congress doesn't
intend to spend any of its share Of
the Nations budget on such goings-on.
The Senate Appropriation Committee
has followed the lead of the House
In refusing to appropriate for the
project and it is unlikely that the
Senate will overturn its action and
then have the House agree with it.
In the meantime, some $4,000, 900
has already been spent. 1t was only
recently that the project came to
under whose reluctant jurisdiction it
Is, felt warranted in advertising for
bids on the love seats and grandfather
clocks-and also furnishings which
would fit in with the old Colonial
atmosphere of the quarters in which
the workers are to be housed.
Intentions ProbIematical.
AS to Just what the President in
tends to do about the matter, along
with the Florida canal on which mil
lions of public works funds have also
been spent, is problematical. There
are some who profess to know, who
say the reason he placed these two
projects along with three others of
lesser Importance in the budget was
that he wanted to drop them. There
is some grounds for this theory be-
cause the appropriation committees Of
both Houses rejected them.
Yet, Quoddy was given an additional
S2,000,000 only a short while ago,
and the work on all five projects has
proceeded right along even after
the House Appropriation Committee
turned thumbs down on them sew
eral weeks ago.
But if the President does insist
on carrying on Quoddy and the Florida
Canal-the other minor projects don't
seem to worry anybody-Senator
Vandenberg will likely talk about
them, even if they are dropped, because
so much money has been spent on
them. That's the situation the New
Deal is in. The Senator will talk
about the projects if the President
attempts to provide for them from
his personal funds and he will talk
about them if they are dropped.
Real Purpose Indication.
An indication that Mr.. Roosevelt
wants to carry them on was given
few days ago, when the story was
purpose of the Quoddy project was
to crush the Andy Mellon aluminium
monopoly. The mud up around
Quoddy, it is said, contains bauxite,
from which aluminium comes. While
the understanding is that some of
the Democrats on the Senate Appro-
priations Committee gave second
thought to the project when the
opportunity Of crushing the Mellon
monopoly was presented, they never
theleSs refused the temptation.
AS near as Senator Vandenberg or
any one else has ever been able to
learn, the only favorable report on
Quoddy was rendered by board COM
posed Of Henry Hunt, legal counsel of
the P. w. A.; H. P. Cory, reclama-
ton expert now with the Soil Con-
servation Service; Dexter P. Cooper,
the father of Quoddy," and his asso-
ciate. It is fact that the technical
board of review Of the P. w. A. and
the Federal Power Commission both
turned thumbs down on the project.
In Mr.. Hunts favorable report, which
is unavailable, reference was made to
the social value" Of the project, and
also reference to its being the saliva
tion Of an economic era"
Cooper Presidents Friend.
Mr.. Cooper who was the first to
have the Quoddy dream, is an old
friend of the President. He and the
President have neighboring places at
Campanbello, Me. Cooper has been
promoting the project for years. One
time he got four power companies
to put up 100000 to develope its
power possibilities. They wouldn't go
along any further. The first thing
the New Deal did when it embraced
the proposition was to pay Mr.. Cooper
$4,000 for his patents, rights, etc.
In addition to that he is receiving
S25,000 year to study the market
hilifN nf tia ni1nddr, r.-lan L.