Evening star., 1941-03-18

REPRESENTA-
next century bring? The question
suggests the answer. Authorities
agree that in these four basins prac-
tically all erosion can and must be
stopped, else we shall build ourselves
a great American desert.
The Soil Conservation Service, the
Agricultural Adjustment Admins
tration, the Bureau of Reclamation
and the Forest Service are each
doing splendid work in soil conser-
walton, but there is duplication of
effort and lack of unified planning.
Staggering Damage Toll.
Eroded lands encourage floods.
The ever increasing direct flood
damage in these valleys is estimated
by the War Department to have
reached the staggering sum of $9,-
100000 annually.
Flood waters accumulate in the
alluvial plains of the lower valleys
and destroy all in their wake, but
whose floods are they? They don't
originate with those who are their
victims and who pay for them with
their crops, their livestock, their
business, their homes and even
sometimes their lives. The floods
of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas,
Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri can
| O III dnrrry. T
Arkansas at once. And yet there
are those who preach the doctrine
OF laiSSez faire-that the democracy
must keep hands off.
The United States Army engineers
have spent millions over the past
two decades in exhaustive studies
and surveys of these basins. A total
OF 35 reservoirs to cost an ultimate
$400 100000 are already constructed,
under construction, authorized by
Congress or recommended by the
chief of engineers and the Secretary
Of War.
The IL dams constructed or
already under construction will pro-
vide a total of 5000, 900 acre-feet Of
flood storage-6,000,0 900 acres saved
from one foot Of water.
Control Of floods involves, also,
soil building and soil control. Here
again, the Soil Conservation Serv-
ice. the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration, the Forest Service,
the Bureau of Reclamation and the
Army engineers are doing a most
excellent job, but there is much
duplication of effort and lack of
co-ordinated planning.
We have learned from experience
in the Tennessee Valley and else
where that an overall authority is
necessary to operate these dams
even for flood control alone.
Irrigation One Objective.
Aid to irrigation Is one purpose
Of the A. v. A.
RumbIngs Of disapproval have
been heard from certain individuals
Of Western States, lest 1t interfere
with vested water-rights. Since the
passage Of the Reclamation Act In
1902, the Federal Government has
spent billions in the West to reclaim
the arid lands, to irrigate them and
to turn them into rich and fertile
fields. The South and East and
North have always supported the
program, believing in progress and
in the development of the Nation
as whole. Such projects as Roose-
velt Dam, Coolidge Dam, Boone
vile and Grand Coulee and even
the later projects of Conchas and
Caddoa on the Arkansas in New
Mexico and Colorado all stand out
as everlasting monuments to the
determined effort of the Federal
Governmentn to open the West.
The water rights of many Western
States are older than the States
themselves. Water rights are prop
erty rights, and the due process
clause of the Constitution specifi-
cally guarantees that no person shall
be deprived Of his property without
due process of law"
A1armists have alleged that the
waters OF the upper Arkansas are
desired by the people of the lower
Arkansas for power and navigation.
The answer is implicit in geography
If water were needed in the lower
Arkansas for these purposes it would
be needed most in the dry season and
in the dry season the Arkansas
River is practically dry a few hun
dred miles east of Colorado.
There are no suitable power sites
on the main stem of the fiat mean
dering Arkansas, and the tributaries
of the lower Arkansas, properly con-
trolled, would furnish sufficient
water, If that were the only problem,
for navigation to Tulsa, Okla, or
above.
President Roosevelt, In several
conferences on this measure, has
made it plain to Western congress
sional leaders that every water
right will be fully protected and they
have been requested to write their
own ticket on irrigation. Not a drop
Of water that is needed for irriga-
ton In the upper valleys should
ever be permitted to waste itself
down the rivers to the sea. Water
is life to the upper valleys but it
is death to the lower valleys.
The Bureau of Reclamation and
the Army engineers are each per-
forming excellent service in this
field but there Is duplication Of
effort.
Drainage Problem Acute.
There are problems Of drainage
that fit perfectly into the picture.
The people Of Arkansas, Louisiana
and Missouri have spent endless
millions through their levee and