The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1947-10-02

70 undertake irrigated farming.
only through expansion of irri-
gated areas can we replace the
production on 100000 acres i'm the
United States which are ruined
each year through erosion, and
replace the yields on an addition
al million acres which annually
reach state of impoyerishment.
Our rapidly expanding popula-
ton, together with the world food
shortage, demands an enlargement
OF our crop-producing acreage. 1t
is predicted that in the next "a
years this country will have to
support an additional 100000
people. With the West increasing
in population 21s times the ma
tional rate, the major portion of
the population growth will occur
in irrigated areas. One of your own
Congressman a few days ago pre-
dicted that in Is years the state
of Washington would have a pop
ulation of 100000 instead of g.
100000 it has today, and I think
he is right. Surely the Nation
faces West in its march of pro-
press.
Long cognizant of the signifi-
cant economic problem involving
national expansion, the Bureau of
Reclamation has set as its seven
year objective-water for 1000
farms for veterans and others seek
ing settlement opportunities in
this land-hungry Nation. The
program would create additional
means of livelihood for tens of
thousands of other people in bus
mess activities near the farms. On
the new projects 212 million kilo-
watts of hydroelectric power ca
pacity would be installed to meet
the growing power needs of the
West. This involves a billion and
a half dollar construction program
and in my estimation we are SELL
ing the West short if we fail to
make. this investment.
The Bureau of Reclamation has
already begun to move toward the
goal. It is engaged in the biggest
annual construction program in
its history. For the current fiscal
year $500, 100000 are available.
About one quarter of this sum, or
Ssh 100000 will be used for con-
struction in the Pacific Northwest.
The appropriations were obtain
ed only after the hardest sort of a
struggle with Congress. It found
the West united as never before
Your senators and representatives
and the governors of the North
west can take large share of the
credit for the success achieved in
getting Reclamation appropriations
for the current fiscal year. Trib-
ute should also be paid to hard
working local people, such as the
Kennewick Project Committee, for
thei rte llinguu, eshc- 123456ETA
their telling support. I am sure
that the road ahead will have
fewer obstacles because of the eff
fective efforts of Westerners in
high and low stations on behalf
of sound Western resource devel-
opment.
Aside from getting the money
for this important work-vital to
every one of us-the test to
which your legally-elected repre-
sentatives were put is extremely
valuable from yet another stand
point. It brought on national
debate, which drew the attention
of the asst to the Reclamation pro-
gram as no other one thing has
done since the Bureau of Reclama-
ton was established by the Con-
gress in 1902.
Focusing down to analyze the
future of the Kennewick area, I
want to predict that the resource
development, both land and wa
ter, will create at this junction of
the Columbia, Snake and Yakima
Rivers, thriving metropolis that
will rival or exceed the city of
Yakima in size.
This section is one of the nat
ural gateways to the millionaire
Columbia Basin Project. You are
about to see thousands of people
in the act Of building an empire
at your doorstep. This gigantic
development-the greatest ever
undertaken in the United States
will bring with it a bonanza of
farming and business opportunities
for yourselves, and your sons and
daughter. If the same spirit, en-
thusiasm, and energy that has
made possible these annual Grape
Festivals prevails in building your
community-and I am sure it does
from the bulldog tenacity that
you have shown in connection
with bringing about the Kenne-
wickHighlands development-you
will extend your horizons in all
the fields of private initiative be-
yond your fondest hopes. In that
l wish you every success.
In conclusion, let me congratu-
late you people of the Yakima
Valley upon the noteworthy pro-
gress you have made in creating
this fine section in the arid West.
You have done a splendid job
one that serves as an inspiration
for many other regions. This
'sshowplace of irrigation" that
you have fashioned out of dusty
soil and sagebrush, and which you
are continually expanding, is a
graphic refutation for the skeptics
and the short-sighted who say
America is no longer a land of
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