The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1945-10-05
VIEWS STATED

and stooge of the Montana Power
company. When the companies found
D that Ayers would be beaten in the
!, election they swung to Ford and put
/ the power behind him which together
| with the Independents not knowing
of the condition elected him over
/ Ayers. Ford sold the independents
down the river two weeks before cleo
ton. The power interests not only
control the governor but our legisla-
ture and | might add further they
dominate and control every board of
county commissioners, every assessor,
Chamber of Commerce, and all other
public officials in the counties where
they have major interests. In fact,
they control the political setup in the
state of Montana. They also control
the press in Montana owning and con-
trolling every daily newspaper in the
state including the Great Falls Trib-
une. And / can say as one who knows
that Montana is the most dominated
state in the Union by the major cor
porations. There is no doubt that Ford
together with the major corporations
are doing everything in their power
to eliminate the MVA and personally
do not believe the MVA should take
over the administration of the Mis-
souri, river valley authority as it
smacks with bureaucracy and places
control of our waterways in the hands
of government-appointe stool pige-
ons. While | am in favor of the In
terror department and the army engi-
neers building these various projects,
when the job is done, they should not
be allowed to remain in the position
of administering these various prof.
ects as Ickes has proven that he is
stool pigeon of the major corpora
tons and it is easy to assume that
the army engineers would soon be
brought under the control of the Mon
tana Power company. In this whole
project the principal item is irriga-
ton, flood control and navigation will
be taken care of automatically. After
the rivers are put under control cleo
trio power plants can be put in when
ever they Sttll ltdSiDlc lncit IL ITO
need to put ten states into this au-
thority for the reason that only four
states are interested in irrigation,
namely, Wyoming, Montana, North
and South Dakota, and after the prof.
ect is built these various projects
should be administered and put under
state control. My suggestion is that
they be administered by four men APP
pointed by the governors of each state
together with fifth member appoint
ed by the president subject to the
approval of the United States Senate
and these men to serve only such time
as the governors remain in office This
will put the control of these waterways
under the Jurisdiction of the people
of these various states. If they are not
satisfied with the administration they
can get new governor and likewise
a new commission. This work needs
to be rushed to completion and the
army engineers and the Reclamation
Service should get on the job immedi-
ately as this is of vital Importance
TO our western states and not only will
provide jobs but will increase the
population of these various states by
making it possible for thousands of
people to make substantial living
under the developing of these natural
In closing let me say that
Governor Ford is making a lot of
double talk and he knows full well
that the statements that he made are
absolutely untrue. Might also add that
D'Ewart is a henchman of the power
interests and will go along with them
in any development that might be
proposed. Regards
Signed: e. B. Coolidge.