The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1951-07-27

! 1844-that of 1903-though the
Army Engineers had had 48 years
meanwhile to effect some improve
ment in flood control.
Is this a performance which the
people of Missouri and Kansas are
willing to accept, and keep on ac-
cepting? Or does it represent
failure on a monumental scale, fail
ure so complete and SO inexcus-
able that drastic changes are call
ed for?
Should flood control in the Mis-
souri, valley be left in hands which
failed to prevent, or even to keep
within reasonable bounds, the pres
emit debacle?
The Army Engineers, as usual, are
saying that they are in no wise to
blame Maj. Gen. Lewis A. Pick,
Chief of Army Engineers, says there
is really nothing to be surprised at
in the fact that the flood overtOpped
by three feet the Sal, 100000 levees
built under his Pick-Sloan plan at
Kansas City.
eve have consistently pointed
OUT" Gen. Pick says, 'that the Kan
sas City flood control measures
would not be effective in event of a
big flood unless supplemented by
system of tributary reservoirs"
Congress is to blame, Gen. Pick indi-
Gates, for not appropriating more
money, and the Army Engineers are
busily engaged in stirring up a pub
lie demand for more appropriations
for them.
Some members of Congress may
feel that the appropriations for the
Missouri river system have been
large enough already to produce bet
ter results. But the Army Engi-
neers' system of wooing the support
of members of Congress by building
large public works in their states and
congressional districts does not lend
itself to making funds go the long
est way-or doing the most good.
If the Army Engineers are not
responsible for this colossal fail
ure in flood control, who is re-
sponsible that the people of Mis-
souri, and Kansas can hold &C
countable?
The answer seems to be, nobody.
The buck has been passed. The eva
sion of responsibility for failure that
we are witnessing now is nothing
with the failures, and the
evasions of responsibility for them,
hat we shall see as long as the Pick
Sloan makeshift is allowed to substi-
ute for Missouri Valley Authority.
The Army Engineers can always
ay the failure was caused by the
Reclamation Bureau, which is build
ng and is to manage some of the
lams, and the Reclamation Bureau
an always say it was the fault of the
Army Engineers, which is building
nd is to manage others.
RESULT of POLITICAL
The floods at Kansas City and in
astern Kansas are not the result of
7ater alone. They are the result of
lood control work done on a basis of
official favoritism, done piecemeal
yer period of many years-and
he result of divided planning, divid-
G. construction, divided manage
lent and divided purposes since the
ick-Sloan compromise was made.
The Post-Dispatch believes
serious responsibility rests on Con-
gress to send an investigating COM
mittee to the Missouri valley to
see how the country's money has
been spent and how the trust it
imposed in the Army Engineers
has been kept.
This should not be one of the COM
ittes which are so closely allied
it'll the Army Engineers that they
e equally responsible for the poll
IS and. boondoggling that have hob
ed Missouri valley flood control
T century. 1t should be a truly
dependent committee of the SEN
e and House combined, empowered
examine the results of the Army
1gineers' stewardship and to COM
re them with what the MVA meth
of unified nanaOapo hoe 70