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Show resources development, giving particular consid- eration to the following: 1. The extent and character of Federal Gov- ernment participation in major water resources programs. 2. An appraisal of the priority of water re- sources programs from a standpoint of economic and social needs. 3. Criteria and standards for evaluating the feasibility of such projects. 4. Desirable legislation or changes in existing legislation. Broad Considerations for Federal Policy The President's question concerning "the extent and character of Federal Government participation in major water resources pro- grams," raises immediately some basic problems of economic and social philosophy. The long- range development of our resources is a vast undertaking, affecting all aspects of American life. How great a share of this investment in the future should be financed by the Federal Government and what should be the division of responsibility between the many agencies of Fed- eral, State, and local government, private groups, and individuals, are matters of proper concern to every citizen. The broad assumption on which this report is based, which is not explicitly stated in the detailed chapters which follow, is that of an expanding economy. Our population is growing, and will reach an estimated 190 million in about 25 years. Merely to maintain our present standards of living, therefore, we shall need to husband our water resources and use them to irrigate the fields and produce the power required to meet the needs of increasing numbers of people. But the goal of the American economy has never been static. It is, and will continue to be, dynamic. We have achieved, and expect to achieve in the future, a constantly rising stand- ard of living for a growing population. There are no new physical frontiers, no new lands or forests to exploit. Indeed, some of our natural resources have been lost through careless and wasteful exploitation. Today, the problem of economic advance has been expressed as "to make more and more out of less and less." There are immense and inspiring possibilities of continued expansion and advancement; but the new frontier we must explore is not merely physi- cal. It lies in the realms of knowledge and skill, and the wisdom with which we as a people can cooperate to apply them. We need much greater knowledge, determination, and foresight than our fathers needed in order to fulfill the promise of American life. That promise is as great for us as it was for them. The wise development and conservation of our key resource, water, is essen- tial to further economic progress. But provision of opportunities to achieve higher levels of material well-being for a growing popu- lation is not the sole measure of Federal responsi- bility. Even more important is the fact that on the strength and dynamism of the American econ- omy rests the main hope of achieving world peace and freedom. We are committed to a titanic contest in which proper utilization of our resources may prove the ultimate determinant of our strength. All our skill, enterprise, and political wisdom will be needed to meet that challenge, not only for our- selves, but in defense of human freedom every- where. Democratic Planning It cannot be too strongly emphasized that planning, for the United States, must mean not rigidity, but intelligent flexibility; not dictatorship and centralization, but cooperative and shared responsibility. The American system succeeds only as it encourages initiative, enterprise, and a sense of responsibility for the common good. No "plan" can be acceptable which weakens or fails to use these qualities. The recommenda- tions of this report do indeed envisage long-range plans for each river basin, and an over-all water resources plan for the Nation as a whole. But |
