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Show 58 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER gation works, let alone repaying any construction costs. Larson stated that no interest would be charged on the one-third (thirty-one per cent) of Bridge Canyon Dam power that would be given free to Arizona for pumping water to the project Yet, reclamation law re- quired that three per cent interest be charged on power construction loans The law also required that loans for irrigation features be repaid in fifty years. S. 1175 would change that, and extend it to eighty years. When Downey asked how much of a subsidy from the Treasury would be required to build the project, Larson protested there would be no subsidy because interest received from the power loans would defray the costs of the irrigation features. In other words, the Bureau did not propose to pay interest on the money loaned by the taxpayers. "That interest does not go back to the Treasury," said Downey, "but is allocated for the benefit of the Arizona farmers?" "That is correct," Larson answered. Hour after hour Larson droned on in a maelstrom of kilowatts, acre-feet, power rates, water averages, crop returns, fish production, benefits for tourists, land values, evaporation, and a multitude of other technical details. If the politicians listening to him were admittedly lost, they were utterly confused when he said that no matter whether two or three per cent interest was charged on the money loaned for the power projects, the pay-out period would be the same. Millikin shook his head in obvious wonder. "I must have enlightenment on that," he said, adding that his mathematics were not equal to considering two- and three-per-cent interest as one and the same thing. |