The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-11-10

, continuously audited by the comptrol
Ter general of the United States.
| We live in a goldfish bowl in IVA
just as every public agency should be
obliged to do. And because the mer
who run the IVA live in the Ten
nessee Valley, they are close to the
final accountability in a democracy
daily accountability to the people
among whom they live and whom they
serve.
They were told, the people in the
Tennessee Valley, that IVA would be
inevitably rife with politics, that its
engineers and technical men would be
chosen for political reasons. Congress
provided by law that there should be
no politics in IVA. We have OBJ
served that provision. There has been
no politics in IVA No one will dis
pute that assertion. 1t is largely be-
cause IVA has kept politics out, and
stayed out of politics that it enjoys
a considerable measure of public ap-
prevail today, without regard to party.
The people of the Tennessee Val
lay-and the country, too for that
matter-were told ten years ago that
there would never be any actual navi-
cation on that river; that navigation
was just "come-on" argument. One
gentleman, on the floor of the Con-
gress, even volunteered to eat any
and all pictures of actual traffic that
every developed on that river He
would have quite a meal of pictures
to digest today, for last year 100000
900 ton-miles of traffic of all kinds
were carried, and it is increasing all
the time. The country was told too,
that the power IVA was preparing
to develop would never be needed,
that there was ALREADY a surplus;
and you will hear that out in this part
of the country, too Well, they found
out that that, too - as everybody
knows now-just wasn't SO. The fact
lis there can hardly be such thing
as too much electricity.
They heard in the Tennessee Val
ley, as you will hear in this valley,
that the same engineering structures
could not serve three purposes, that
dams, for example, which would con-
troll floods could not provide electric
power
They found out that wasn't so. 1t
can be done. 1t has been done. But
it requires a different point of view
q different point of view from the |
very beginning.
To make the water of that river |
serve ALL the purposes (not one or
two) that the water was capable of
serving, the men of IVA had to be
given a responsibility as broad as the
results expected Of them. That re-
sponsibility and those expected bene-
ficial results were: navigation, flood |
control, power, and recreation. Use
of the rivers water for irrigation was
not included in. Twas responsibility
because there is no need for water
for that purpose in the Tennessee
Valley. Every valley, of course, will
differ in needs and priorities for it's
water; but the principle of seeing Il
those needs and benefits as a whole
is the same. Indeed, the greater the
need for water, the more important
is the principle of unity
And IVA, to be effective, had to
have that broad unified responsibility
for all the waters uses from the very
the first day the unified
plan was sketched. 1t was not ques-
ton of splitting the difference" be-
tween experts having special respon-
sibilities for this and that special use
Of the Tennessee's waters-as if this
were some kind of horse trade.
Harmonizing the conflicting de-
nands of total water control in the
Tennessee Valley, or any valley, is a
day-by-day matter. 1t be-
gins in the general plan. 1t is re-
,lected in the design and location of
specific structures. 1t controls the
iaily and hourly decisions of opera
ion. The act under which iva oper-
ates gave to a single agency the duty
If making the best use of the entire
liver, for recreation as well as power, |
or navigation as well as flood con-
rol.
The duty to harmonic the uses Of
water was written in plain English
nto TWAS law, into its charter That
became our legal duty, our first duty,
md not merely point of negotiation
between experts. In the case of iva,
uccess rests on the permanent con-
inuous harmonizing of technical
kills, day by day. 1t can be done
t has been done.
Bear this in mind: Because of this
oncept of unified development and
ingle responsibility, the iva cannot
ay to one part of the Tennessee Val
ay, 1--WE are not responsible that
enefits should come to you who live
n the uplands. Our responsibility is
My to those ON the alluvial plains"
he IVA cannot pass the buck, can
lot say to those who suffer from
loods: I'VE are only responsible for
avigation or for power, and what L