The Coolidge examiner., 1939-07-13
AS 1T APPEARS TO
Your Congressman
By John R. Murdock


considered by the House Commit
tee on Irrigation and Reclamation
of which | am a member. Com
ment has already been made in this
column on one of these bills, name
ly the repayment measure of con-
struction costs. This bill was re-
ported out favorable by my COM
mittee Although a rule was OBJ
tanned for it's presentation to the
House, 1t passed the House July 6
by unanimous consent. The other
bill, introduced by Congressman
Scrugham of Nevada, Is a measure
that would adjust Boulder Canyon
power rates and change the cor
tracts with reference to payments
to be made to Arizona and Nevada,
anl also to provide little more
surely for a development fund to
be used among the Colorado Basin
States. This bill proposes to sub
stitute a cash payment Of three
hundred thousand dollars each an
nually to Arizona and Nevada for
the next fifty years in lieu Of the
present uncertain benefits which
the existing contracts carry for
those two states. The Nevada
Delegation is strongly in favor of
the bill. Your Congressman is
thinking the matter over carefully.
II seems that Arizona might profit
in the long run by the proposed
change.
On July 9Th the Senate accepted
the conference report on the de-
valuation measure just as the
House had accepted it on June
30th. | feel that this is fairly
satisfactory for Arizona. 1t assures
market of II cents an ounce for
silver, which is certainly better
than "a cents. OF course, we had
rather have II cents or more per
ounce but l have a feeling that II
the Senate had turned that matter
down and sent it back to confer
ence, we would very likely have
failed to receive n cents an
ounce and might have lost even
the 64 cents per ounce which we
now have. This conclusion is
drawn from my knowledge of the
temper of the House in regard to
silver.
On July 3rd I took my family to
Old Jamestown, and there we
studied the UNCOVERED church
tower which is the birth place of
representative government in Amer
lea. We also studied the Cleopatra
Needle-like monument, with its in
scriptions, which was erected on
that historic island in 1907, three
hundred years after the founding
of the first English settlements On
our shores. This gave your Con-
gressman inspiration to work for
an amendment to the Dempsey
Bill, providing for the celebration
of the Coronado Expedition through
our Southwest. The amendment
worked for provides the buildiag
of a monument on the toarders CT
Arizona near the spot where Coro-
nado entered our state four hun
dred years ago. The monument will
cost approximately ten thousand
dollars. 1t was sponsored in the
Senate by Senator Ashurst and In
the house by myself. The bill as
amended passed the House that
day making appropriation OF Two
hundred fifty thousand dollars for
this great celebration next year
affecting half dozen states includ
ing Arizona.
1t seems now unlikely that any
legislative action will be taken
this session affecting the market
ing agreements in which our citrus
people were interested, and | think
1t unlikely that any change will De
made in regard to milk, dairy
products or any discrimination be-
tween dairy breeds about which l
have received numerous protests.