The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-02-08
MANACLEs ON BIG MUDDY

decde
MANACLES ON BIG MUDDY
(EditoraD
There is alphabetical gingerbread MVA, stand
ing Missouri Valley Authority America will hear gooe
deal of VA in the of the incoming is
plan patterned to function like IVA which would teher the
mammoth Missouri put this mad elephant of river worl
serving the p million people who inhabit its watershed
put stop to its periodic washing away OF their homes soil
and fortunes.
Senator Murray sponsors bill to set up
President Roosevelt has blessed it, and the 10Th will
deliberate The bill Herculean program It would
bring the benefits of flood control navigation electricity
reaon soil conservation and irrigation to 10 states with
total big France, Germany and Italy combined
and incidentally its realization would provide mentonable
portion of the presidents so million promised postwar jobs
Program Dwarfs Previous Ones
So gigantic is MVAs prospectus that anything previous
pae warshness To compare with IVA the Tennessee
652 miles long, the Missouri 2469 the Missouri basin
embraces 900 miles, nearly 13 times large
the Tennessee valley IVA in IL years. has cost about three
quarters of billion The initial cost MVA, to build
25 reservoirs plants and related works projected
one quarter billions
It is beyond the limits of this space simply to summarize
magnitude of MVA. 1t is indeed beyond the scope of
ordinary imagination visualize anything big in
terms of engineering construction and rehabitatng whole
vast region.
Suffice to say MVA big enough challenge mag
naon and to challenge the pioneering American spirit for
doing things big scale. MVA, in minuscule judg
ment provides glowing possibilities for bringing ncalcuabe
the onexth Of the United States Immediately affect
and entire country and continent indirectly concerned
So attractive the poenaies for Harvesting the
of "Bg Muddy and arresting its floods that it is
difficult of opposition to the PLAN Yet there
opposition plenty of it. An aura of mutual suspicion and sec
ona seshnes endangers the whole scheme The irrigation
upstream clash with the navigation people below private
enterprise suspects the intrusion of public advocates
rights people beabor the bureaucratic recamatonss
mpugn the Observation-Disclosures thoughts of eng
neerS.
These levels would conducive to civil
flood control and soil saving There exists the
distressing danger that MVA bright postwar hope will
turned tragedy nothing being done about
Simply because lot of people have pet they want
to sniff their hms Take the expressed opinions of
GOttn He hIOk
hack alone and declares that the duplication of Twas on
other watersheds woud extend encroachment states
rights"
Piffle that great ntegrated undertaking
like MVA is properly the province of federal supervision It'll
height of futy to leave its accomplishment to
Individual crosshaung states and expect anything ever to
would be like handing the Arabs edgng shoves
and telling them to rid the Sahara of the menace OF sand
To echo the conservative, MVAmnded ST. Louis Post-Dls
oatch
"The Missouri big river, presenting big prob
is not thing in Montana, another in the Dakotas
third Kansas and fourth in Missouri Where the plan
hat will solve big problem of the one big river?"
Act AS Servant, Not Master
1t pretty sighted to the goal in fear
frenzy that another bureaucrat going to get chance
step the of states rights champion Well grant
unsavory prospects of and in the
extension of regional Twas, like MVA Who has pilloried
Deal eephantass frequently than The Statesman
1t the time believe recognize when relevant
changes to tangent and hats What
tates' rights anent MVA
else could such ntegrated, interstate effort be
through adequate centralized authority? To
whatever plan ultimately is established to
developments like the Missouri inevitably must
rather than domneer the
wishes and welfare of people who live in the region Only
ckoryh andpats would deny that IVA for all the
rst fears inspired along responsive bene
lines and only hopeless skeptcs would deny that the
anne goals reachable in other regions. c
mpresses less than untempered catastrophe it,
wndup the country is not ready to to work
simply various interests involved their sights
couldn't the forest for It's that warning
make with this ante of two cents worth in
avor MVA-(Reprnted From Idaho Sunday Statesman
december 10, 1944)
LET'S MAKE UP OUR MINDS
(EdtoriaD d
In this experiencing sudden furry OF effort
the establishment of the Columbia Valley Authority De
the attitude of the community against the project
certain and at least organization