The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1945-05-17
Columbia Valley Authority to
Lead In Industrial Development

CThis is the sixth in series OF
articles in which Senator Mitchell
explains what sore of eva is pro-
is proposed in the Bill he recently
introduced into CongressO
By Hugh B. Mitchell
U. S. Senator from Washington
Pesident Truman was quick to
recognize, when I talked with him
at the White House, that a Colum-
bia Valley Authority should mean
great deal in the economic de-
velopment of the Pacific North
west and of the entire nation.
The President told me express
~ that he favored the general val
ley authority program as outlined
by President Roosevelt and that
the Columbia Valley seemer the
NOSE logical second step to IVA.
There are many heasons why
this should be the case. The eco
nomic opportunity of one section
of the Columbia watershed is
closely related to those OF all other
sections.
This economy of the Pacific
Northwest has been dependent
largely upon the products of the
land. Farms, ranges, and forests
occupied the majority Of the peo-
pie unail the war period. Now
however, a great new industrial
development has grown up in ma
jor centers as result of the war.
The problew for the future is how
to retain industry and so create
better balance between agricul-
ture and inustry. The region can
not be allowed to relapse into q
mere agricultural colony OF the
indutrialized East.
Story Of aluminium
The story Of alumina ind alu-
minum best illustrate this point.
Pacific Northwest congressional
delegations have been fighting for
nearly five years for a vigorous
project to learn how to take the
alumina out of our vast quantities
of altuminous clays. After years
Of delay, while people whose
whole background had been with
the eastern aluminium industry de-
bated or pretended to debate the
projects feasibility, an inadequate
start was made with a small pilot
plant which would test the pro-
duction Of ,alumina from our Pa
cific Northwest raw materials.
Had Columbia Vally Authority
been charged with the sole respon-
sibility Of developing our re-
sources, there would have been no
such delay. Except for this delay
we might today have had COM
pletely integrated aluminium in
dustry. Because Of the delay we
must still depend upon alumina
from Mobile, Alabama, made from
bauxite imported from British
Guiana.
A strong aluminium industry
would benefit all sections Of the
region even though they vary in
their activities. The Columbia
watershed, rs q whole, is not de-
voted primarily to farming, for
only 28 per cent of the land II In
farms. Yet the fertile Willamette
Valley Is intensity q gricultural.
The Snake Valley and the Colum-
bia Basin, quite different In ter
rain, depend on irrigation for
their life, as does the territory Of
western Montana. rToo much
water in some areas; too little In
others. Throughout the watershed
Of the Columbia, the need Il for
unified plan to develop and op-
crate the, water which flows down
the stream beds,
Urban Population
Almost IS per cent Of the Pa
cific Northwest region is rough,
mountainous, timber-covered land,
or open selhi-arid range land, fit
only for grazing. Sixty per cent
Of the entire population live west
Of the Cascades, and the majority
is concentrated In the metropolitan
areas Of the large seaboard CEN
tiers, and the Willamette Valley
cities. Thus the population Is pre-
dominantly urban, while the econ
omy Of the region is predomi-
nantly agrarian. The population
poses the problem Of jobs, while
the economy poses such problems
as to what to do with surpluseS.
Despite the urban population
~