The people's voice., 1944-11-10

whereas parts of your valley require
J irrigation. But a principle of devel-
opment, if sound, can be adapted to
| any regions particular physical cir
cumstances.
J IVA was intended to provide a
basis Of facts on which the people of
this and other regions might better
determine how their river valleys and
their life-sustaining resources might
be best developed in their interest
and that of their children and their
children's children.
What was it we were told to do
when IVA was created eleven years
ago? The job of the IVA, as care
fully defined by congress, is a broad
one. IVA, set up not as a bureau
but as a corporation owned by $780,
100000 stockholders = the American
people-was told to develop or to aid
in the development of ALL the ma
tural resources of the Tennessee Val
ley region. Not one resource, such as
power or forests, not two or three,
but all of them-the river the land.
the forests, and the minerals Not
navigation alone, not agricultural de-
velopment alone, not research in new
industrial processes alone. IVA was
to be kind of technical servant of
a valleys farmers, businessmen, lum-
bermen, workers, in respect to ALL
the interrelated natural resources
upon which that valleys life depends.
Bringing all of these responsibilities
together-as they are in actual life
this unity is what was new and differ
ent about IVA But federal respon-
sibility for aid in resource develop
ment is NOT newt is as old as
the Republic itself
Don't forget that. Don't let anyone
confuse you, as some seek to these
days, into thinking that the Tennessee
Valley is the first valley in which the
federal government has furnished
technical aid to the people in the de-
velopment of forests, land, minerals
and rivers. That is going on all over
the country today, and it has been
for long, long time
This is NO EXTENSION of federal
responsibility we are discussing in
connection with the Tennessee Valley.
1t is new way of making that re-
sponsibility effective; and as quite
few people think, looking at the rec.
ord, more effective.
Since the beginning of this govern
ment the people have from time to
time placed upon the federal govern
ment responsibility for many kinds of
resource developments. For a CEN
tury or more, rivers had been made
naVigable, as a federal function
Floods had been controlled Power
had been developed and had been
marketed, for many years. Soil con-
servation programs were nationwide,
by federal funds. Mineral
was and is common A
whole department of the federal gov
9rnment was devoted to assisting in
he solution of the problems of bust
1essmen whose enterprises are all
based on the natural resources of our
nation.
Most of the specific undertakings
to IVA were these long
amiliar activities of the federal gov
Nevertheless IVA was an expert
nent. It was something new. Here
or the first time in American history,
public body was given a unified re-
to see that in one partic-
liar area the total job was done, to
ook at the opportunities of water and
oil and forests and men as one prob
inf 01ot od ind wi
'or so they are in nature; so they are
n the life of men,
What God had made one, man was
0 develop as one.
1t was no secret in 1888 that land
nd forests and water and minerals
rere interrelated, that what happened
} one affected the fate of the others.
was no secret from any thinking
erson that the well-being of men
nd women on the farms depended
pom the purchasing power of the men
nd women who dwell in the cities.
avigation and industry and minerals
nd farm crops are not separate prob
ms in actual life-surely everyone
nows that. But prior to IVA, that
nowledge of unity had not been de-
berately reflected in the organiza-
on of our government. There, prob
ms were separately considered, ar
trarily divided according to the
geonholes of historical accident and
addition. One bureau had one re-
to make certain river
lvigable, for example; while a diff
rent department was concerned
ith the fish in the streams, or the
lldlife along it's shores, or the soil
the valley or the minerals, although
e fate of those resources, too, was
fected by the change in the river
d its use by men. And only too
rely did the separate agencies and
partments meet in plans or execu-
N to discover what the effect of
ch ones activity might be on the
her. and on the people.
The basic principle of IVA, there
e = the principle which distin-
ishes it today from all other agen-
IS of the federal government is
1t it's charter and its organization
,ognize this UNITY OF NATURE.
IVA was created to face the Job
developing the resources of a single
zion AS A WHOLE. The limits of
responsibilities were fixed by the
Continued on Page Three)
LEGAL ADVERTISING
NOTICE To CREnITnRC