The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1945-10-12
MASTERING THE MISSOURI
By B. SCHUYLER Writing oIumb Magazine

: posed to have moved from the vale,
2 in the last few years do not include
: all who have done so. Think wha
: that means. We are bewailing two
very important and closely allied ten
J denotes in the country today, the dis
Indignation of the home and the added
population pressure in our cities
: Farm failures in the Missouri valley
: the cities, especially on the part OF
the young, and the consequent weak
| ening of Americas strongest homes
, the farm homes. This is evidently one
of many moral issues involved.
Suppose, just to prove that in think
ing big things about the Missouri Val
ley's future, we are not building cas-
ties in the air, suppose we take a
hasty look at some of the accomplish
ments of the iva. After Is years
of half-hearted attempts to meet the
problems raised by the Tennessee's
swirling waters, the federal govern
ment under the late President Roose-
welt inaugurated the IVA. A problem
too vast for any one of the several
relatively poor Southern states to
handle, and far too complex for any
one government agency to solve, it
was handled in its totality by this
newly created government corpora
ton.
| INDIJSTRy SCARS
Industry in both the mechanical and
human sense of the term, began to
hum An overall plan was mapped
out for the attack on floods, soil ero-
sion, deficient navigation, depleted
forests, unused water power, and ex-
hausted farm lands. Sixteen huge
dams constructed along the five
Southern states waterway meant prof
liable employment to thousands of
local breadwinners. AS diesel engines,
bulldozers, giant electric shovels, and
modern techniques turned the huge
river system into human instrument,
the valley jewellers experienced almost
a substantial change in their lives
Homes replaced shacks, crops re-
placed stubble, profitable farming re-
placed tenancy and share-cropping.
Refrigerators and milking machines,
have entered these rural homes and
farms.
Diseases, ever present in the region,
have dropped to minimum. Bank
deposits scared, proportionately even
above the national average in the
climb from the 1882 low-water mark |
Industries entered the region for the
first time, arose over night. Coop |
eratives, at least As large ones in the |
five states, indicate the intellectual |
as well as the economic growth of a
formerly down-trodden group of Amer
leans. Leisure time has meant cul-
tural advance unprecedented over so
large an area in the South. The Ten
nessee Valley has risen from a lowly
status to a leading rank in many
phases of American life.
Before concluding this brief sum-
mary of the TWAS achievements, l
should like to stress two important
items - of utmost importance in dis
cussing the proposed bill for the Mis-
souri, Valley. In the first place, all
the problems connected with the Ten
nessee Valley were treated as one,
consequently handled by one organi-
cation. What was achieved could
never have been done either by the
states acting separately Cor collective
ly, because of poverty and some de-
fects of fallen human naturei), or by I
the several government agencies as /;
signed to handle each phase of the
problem separately. Secondly, al {
though Congress did state the objec-
lives of the IVA, and held it account
able to the nation for the success and ]
methods used in achieving those OBJ I
ectives, nevertheless the Authority '
was locally regional. That is, its chief
its main offices, it's field {
engineers, technicians, pub |
ic relations officials, all performed t
heir work in the region. They were t
IN the spot to see conditions as they t
actually existed, and to receive the f
ldvice, criticism and complaints of the I
people most concerned with their I
work. While nationally sponsored, it c
vas regional affair-a fine example, G
lespite imperfections, of handing re- /
and initiative back to the f
PEOPLE so far as possible. Politics a
we're kept out of the whole project. t
Senator James Murray of Montana, Q
las already proposed bill to estab
ish an MVA. 1t received rather rough
from an inimical sub-commit-
zee of the Senate's Commerce Com I
nittee. The Senators decided to give n
lso the Committees on Irrigation and e
reclamation and on Agriculture and U
forestry a chance to talk the matter 0
yer, and postponed hearings till this
september.
WHAT MvA WILL DO u
Just what do the proponents of c
IVA expect if S555 SENATE number s
or Murray's bill) is passed? First, P
hey want a unified organization to c.
andle the various phases of the Mis- t.
ouri Valley problem, which are now Il
andled with singular lack of unity by d
everal government agencies. They "
rant an effective control put on the ii
ratprS of the DOwprfuI river system N