Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-09-02
Roosevelt AssaiIs
I. Y. A. Critics as He
Dedicates Dam
Chiekumousa Project
Is Hailed as Great
Social Achievement
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has released publicly excerpts from
private, confidential Government
report. It would be interesting to
find out how it came into his pos
session"
Pays Tribute to Labor.
- The Presidents last official bust
ness before leaving Hyde Park yes
terday morning was to announce
the calling of $1,000 officers and
men of the National Guard into
active military service on the 18th
\ of this month. Culled from %
States, but with no units from the
District Of Columbia summoned,
the Guardsmen are to serve a train
ing period of IL consecutive months.
Authority for this action was con-
tanned in legislation recently en-
acted by Congress- major step in
the Nations defensive mobilization.
Noting that today's ceremony
comes on the national holiday dedi-
Gated to labor, Mr.. Roosevelt paid
particular tribute in his address to
the contribution made by labor in
this miracle that man has
wrought"
In all these seven years." he de-
clared dramatically, lin heat and in
cold, men have drilled and blasted
through solid rock; they have
poured ton after ton of concrete,
and they have moved mountains of
earth. They have worked with the
strength of their hands, and they
have operated complicated ma
chinery with every modern skill.
Never once, in this the biggest con-
solidated construction job ever I'M
dertaken directly by the National
Government, has there been sub
stantial interruption to the con-
tinuance of your labors. This dam,
all the dams built in this short
space of years, stand as a monu-
ment to a productive partnership
between management and labor, be-
tween citizens of all kinds working
together in the public veal. Col
lective bargaining and efficiency
have preceded hand in hand"
Recounts Benefit of Project.
For the particular consumption
of the seven States affected directly
by the entire Tennessee Valley de-
velopment, Mr.. Roosevelt recapitu-
lated the ravages of floods, soil
erosion, power waste and navigation
dangers which left the inhabitants
of the area fighting against nature
instead of with nature"
In dollars, he said, engineers esti-
mated that flood damages amounted
to S25 ,000,000 yearly, soil erosion to
an equal amount, potential farm
and forestry improvements a like
sum, and potential savings in cleo
trio power costs to another S25,-
100000.
BY comparison with this $780,
100000 total, he continued, the cost
side would show about $500, 000, 900,
including taxes and amortization
through a series Of years and in
Guiding incidentally no watered
stock" ~ s@-s
Breaking the detectives into three
major benefits" he continued:
The first related to the control
OF the water for better navigation,
for the building of lakes, for the
prevention of erosion and the devel-
opment of power. The second was
the building back of son fertility
through research into phosphate
fertilizers, the use of nitrate plant
life and the diversiflcation of crops
and the reforesting of millions of
acres of land. The third was to
improve the social and economic life
of these citizens with their CO.
operation to plan with them for
greater diversifcation of human
effort, to make a richer farm life, to
add new industries, to give employ
ment and to bring larger return
in cash each year to the average of
our families"
Must Retain Gains.
Repeating then a thought which
has appeared often in recent White
House announcements, Mr.. Roose-
welt added:
To-day we see the progress that
we have made, that We are making
and that we propose to continue to
make. We have come far along the
road. In this valley, as in the Ma
ton, we do not propose to abandon
the goal that is directly before our
eyes either by sitting down or by 60
ing back"
And in similar vein later-'Let us
always remember that we must and
shall retain the great gains that
have been made for human social
security in recent years. We pro-
pose, indeed, not to retain them
alone but to improve and extend
them. Most assuredly we are deter
mined neither to repeal them nor to
weaken them"
This is demonstration Of what
a democracy at work can do" he
asserted in accrediting the develop
rnent with its full share of impor-
lance in the Nations defense pro-
gram in "a time of peril unmatched
in the history of the nations of all
the world" In this connection, he
added, ''in spite of partisan oppo-
sition," funds are at work in extend
Ing llle IcSiOiidl pioSA ohA oC'Ci a.
years ahead of schedule.
I'VE understand now what we did
not understand in 1917 and 1913
that the building up Of Army and
Navy equipment and the training
of men to use 1t ought not to result
in a waste of our natural resources,
and at the same time ought not to
break down the gains of labor or
the maintenance of living wages"
Labor Agreement Signed.
In amplifcation of the Presidents
reference to the anaicable labor re-
1ations which have marked the his
tory Of T. v. A. development, the
press was told that the Authority
had recently signed formal agree
ment with the Tennessee Valley