The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1949-12-30

the money from the preceding year
had been expended
Decentralization
The eva would bring federal re-
source programs closer to the peo-
pie concerned. Now, for instance,
people in the Northwest interested
in getting final answers on these
problems have to travel 5000 miles
east to Washington, D. C. to see the
Secretary of the Interior, the Sec
rotary of the Army, or the Secretary
of Agriculture. With eva estab-
lished they would have to go, at the
most, only few hundred miles with
in the Pacific Northwest. The eva
| Directors would be much better in
formed on the needs of the region be-
cause they would live there while in
office. At least two of the three
eva Directors would have to be bona
fide residents of the Pacific North
west before they were appointed. In
addition, the eva legislation pro-
vides for network of advisory boards
and councils through which repre-
sentatives of the various groups
in the region can participate in the
Federal operation.
Nowhere is an extended fertilizer
program more needed than in the west
north central and Pacific Northwest
States. Because of their distance
from fertilizer deposits in Tennessee
and Florida and because of the freight
rate differential, they have to pay as
high as $50 ton more for the phos-
phorous plant food in their fertil-
izer than do the farmers in the south
east. While the use of phosphate fer
tilizer has increased phenomenally
in the past ten years in this western
and midwestern area, today the crops |
are still removing from the soil about |
four times as much phosphate as is
being supplied annually in the form
IF fertilizer.
A logical source of supply for
this tremendous potential fertil-
izer market lies in the western phos-
phate deposits concentrated in
Idaho, Montana, and Utah. These
deposits contain more than so per
cent of the Nations phosphate re-
serves. Yet they are turning out
eight per cent of the Nations pro-
duction.
Not only would development of
Western phosphates serve the west
IN farmers but it would also i'm
rove the future possibilities for the
outhern farmers. AS everyone knows,
ne phosphate beds in Tennessee are
approaching exhaustion within 25
ears or so. If the west served from
7estern phosphate fields, the east
IN fields would be available for use
y the eastern farmers.
The most vital need, however, for :
evelopment of the phosphate beds is +
arge quantities of low-cost electric +
over. 1t has been demonstrated that {
lectric power is one of the best
lethods for preparing concentrated
hosphate fertilizer in that area. 1t 4:
estimated that minimum probable
over rate under existing conditions
| the vicinity of the phosphate beds
i'll be three and one-half mills per
ilowatt hour.
If, however, the various power re-
,urces in the Northwest are pooled,
5 they would be under the Columbia
alley Administration, the rate
ould be less than two and one-half |
ills. 4
Translated into cost of fertilizer I
'oduction, this difference amounts to !!
LAT per ton of PHOSPHORUS plant
od in fertilizer. This amounts to a 1
wing to the farmers of about two /
Id one-quarter million dollars an
tally on the estimated quantity of
rtilizer needed in the II western
ates to be served from these de-
sits.
eva would provide the pooling of !
wer resources that would cut the :.
st of phosphate fertilizer. eva S
,uld also work out the co-ordinated II
ogram pulling together the opera H
ms of the different Government
encies which must cooperate in !
veloping western phosphates to the II
int where they can be exploited by H