Evening star., 1946-07-04
Letters to The Star
Wants Boulder Dam Renamed

Dam be changed to Hoover Dam. This
thought is approved in your issue Of
June n by M. Jane McEwan. May
counter with the suggestion that this
great structure on the Colorado River
should be named to honor Maj. John
Wesley Powell and his nephew, DR..
Powell Davis, two distinguished public
servants now deceased?
Maj. Powell eminent explorer and
scientist, was the father of the United
States Geological Survey. Without his
pioneer explorations along the Colorado
River in the COS and 7O's, and the
studies which resulted therefrom,
Boulder Dam could not have been built.
His nephew, Arthur Powell Davis, a
hydraulic engineer of worldwide promi-
nence, was for years director of the
United States Reclamation Service and
1t was he who conceived the great
power, navigation, irrigation and mu-
nicipal water supply project on the
Colorado, of which Boulder Dam is the
primary unit. (See Problems of I'm
perial Valley and Vicinity" 1922; "The
Development of the Colorado River"
Atlantic Monthly, February, 1929, and
Memoir 438, American Society of
Civil Engineers)
Because of this great constructive
work Mr.. Davis was kicked out OF the
Reclamation Service This was done in
1923 by the simple device of abolishing
the Office director of the reclamation
service" and establishing new one,
commissioner of reclamation"
The big dam on the Colorado should
not be named after former President
Hoover for the following reasons:
l. The labelling of public structures
with the names of living persons is an
unsound practice, no matter who does it.
2. Mr. Hoover's connection with the
project under consideration was of an
incidental character. In order to secure
congressional approval of the work it
appeared necessary for the seven States
of the Colorado Basin to agree upon
an ALLEGATION among them of the use
OF the waters of the river system. In
1922 such compact was worked out
by the Colorado River Commission, of
which Mr.. Hoover, then Secretary OF
Commerce, was chairman. In that ca
pacity he did an excellent job in secur-
ing meeting of minds on this contro-
versial subject The development was
formally approved by act of December
2, 1928, before Mr.. Hoover became
President
3. Mr.. Hoover cannot be called an
enthusiastic supporter of this project
as planned and constructed. He was
opposed generally to the development
of electric power by the Government,
as is evidenced by many utterances.
(See his book, American Individual
ISM" 1929 But his State was strongly
for the development. and had he ex-
pressed opposition to it he could not
have secured the full California delega-
ton to the Republican National Conven-
tion in 1928 This is not to suggest.
however, that Mr.. Hoover was dishonest
about the matter.
4. 1t would be particularly fitting and
proper to name this gigantic engineer
ing structure on the Colorado River
the Powell-Davis Dam
OTTAMAR HAMELE.
Three Solutions for Trieste
To the Editor of The Star:
Britain has Influenced the terms of
every major peace for the past several
centuries, which treaties always planted
the seeds for the next war. The Ver-
irto hv ri tai
France, Italy and United States, pro-
duced World War II. Russia's resistance
to the Anglo American viewpoint on
Trieste may be construed as her effort
to write truly lasting peace.
History teaches us that when natives
retreat before invaders, they always take
to the hills while the conquerors settle
the valleys Starved Rock testifles that
this was true even among the American
Indians. In the Trieste area, the
Slovenes are settled thick in the hills
surrounding the town while in the city
they are a minority. If the treaty
makers are to penalize the aggressor ma
ton then Yugoslavia should be awarded
the city of Trieste.
There are only three possible solutions
to this thorny problem:
/. Internationalize Trieste. Place it
under joint trusteeship of the nations
whose economy the port serves, such as
Italy, Yugaslavia, Czechoslovakia and
Poland, or place it directly under a
United Nations trusteeship. The former
method is better than the latter because
the United Nations since their incep-
ton have been administered as an
Anglo American appendage. If Trieste
were under United Nations trustee
ship, it would be administered as
colony of Britain to guard the British
lifeline to India and would be used to
disrupt the economy of those countries
which need it as port. The people
would be wards of the United Nations,
not learning the art of ruling them
selves.
q Award Trieste to Yugoslavia, be-
cause the detachment of city from it's
province means that both communities
will live in poverty.
3. Place Trieste under Joint rule OF
Italy and Yugoslavia. This appears to
be the best of the three plans because
the Italians and the Yugoslavs would be
placed on parity with each other, equal
before the law and in the administra-
ton of its affairs. Through assuming
joint responsibilities and undertakings,
they would learn cooperation and self
rule which would develop friendship
and understanding and form bulwark
for peace.