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Show 78 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Meeker declared he had been an engineering adviser at the writing of the Colorado River Compact in 1922, and it was his belief that the Compact framers intended to exclude the Gila River and give it to Arizona. Next McFarland recalled Attorney Carson,48 knowing there would be little opportunity for the California lawyers to cross-examine him. It was July 2, and the hearings were scheduled to end the next day. California, said Carson, had known since 1944 that the Central Arizona Project was being planned, but California did not threaten to bring a suit in the Su- preme Court until Hayden and McFarland had begun to press for hearings on S. 1175. There was grave doubt that the court would take jurisdiction. In Carson's view, the one way to find out was to pass S. 1175. Then if California felt it was threatened, a suit could be brought. It was Carson's belief that the court would require a showing of injury before taking jurisdiction. The final meeting of the subcommittee was held on July 3. Downey was ill, and could not participate. There were several new faces at the conference table, among them49 Senator McCarran of Nevada, and Congressman John Murdock of Arizona, ranking Demo- crat of the House Public Lands Committeee, who also had introduced a project bill identical to S. 1175. Shaw placed in the record, resolutions from the Los Angeles Central Labor Council,49 the American Public Power Association, and the National Reclamation As- sociation50 Each of them opposed taking interest charged on federal loans for power projects to help pay the costs of irrigation features. It should, the resolutions declared, be paid back to the Treasury for the benefit of taxpayers whose money had been used. |