OCR Text |
Show Regional Development And National Strength Provision for existing and expanding require- ments for materials and facilities through bal- anced large-scale programs of resources develop- ment is called for because of the contributions which such programs can make not only to the economic progress of the Nation, but also to the economic and social improvement of its various regions. Our vast country is composed of a number of different regions-more or less well defined in terms of physical features, economic interrelation- ships, and cultural aspects-each with a different combination of environmental and social assets and handicaps. Each has certain natural re- sources, such as agricultural lands, mineral de- posits, and water, with varying capacities for development, and some may have resources which are either unique, or critically limited, or both. Each has certain strategic characteristics. The population of each is either increasing or declin- ing in relation to other regions. It is directly in the national interest that each region of the country achieve an optimum devel- opment in terms of its own potentialities and limitations. While regional specialization in re- sources and economic development, to supply the needs and demands of the entire Nation and of other countries as well, is much to be desired, it is also desirable that each region develop its eco- nomic and cultural potentialities in as integrated and balanced a fashion as possible. To the ex- tent that any region falls short of full develop- ment, the entire Nation loses the additional goods and services which could be made available, and the economic ideal of the optimum allocation of resources is not realized. There is, possibly, an even more serious loss involved where many people are deprived of the opportunity for maximum personal development within a region because of an undue limitation of employment, recreational, and cultural oppor- tunities. The course of the country's development has tended to accentuate the North Atlantic and Midwest regions as centers of finance, industry, and opportunity in contrast with other regions remaining essentially raw material producers characterized by low per capita income and out- ward migration of population. As a result of the self-perpetuating tendency of such economic centralization, the Southeast, Southwest, Moun- tain States, and the Pacific Northwest have faced serious obstacles to achieving a sound balance of agriculture and industry. Many of them can be overcome through a sound resources development program. First among these obstacles is lack of local in- vestment funds. Savings in such regions tend to be limited. There also is a tendency, where ex- tractive industries predominate, for capital to be drained away to established financial centers. Furthermore, these financial centers are not inter- ested in providing the large investment needed for regional advancement. Second only to lack of investment funds, ad- verse institutional and economic arrangements must be considered. These include discrimina- tory freight rates, high cost of credit, and control over markets exercised by established industries in eastern centers, through such devices as the basing-point system. A third group of obstacles to development of the newer regions is found in already established market and transportation patterns which tend to crowd newcomers out. For instance, markets may already be semimonopolized through great advertising power at the disposal of existing brands and labels or through established control of trade outlets. Reductions in the cost of transportation and power have been among the most potent factors in economic development and improved living standards. Both have been recognized for years as essentially public businesses which may be per- formed by government or entrusted to private enterprise under conditions designed to assure pro- tection of the public interest. Without commenting at this time on the suc- cess or failure of regulation to provide this assuT- ance, the historical fact is that for many years it has been the policy of the Federal Government to use its jurisdiction over water resources to provide the public both low-cost transportation and low- 39 |