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Show THE WESTERN WEB 123 apparent that the power of Senators Hayden, Millikin, O'Mahoney, McFarland and others in their camps was having its effect. While it was a Republican Con- gress, Democratic senators and representatives from the Upper Basin states were able to enlist the aid and sup- port of Republicans from those states. Thus was formed a non-partisan coalition. However, California forces did not sit in their tents. Adopting the attitude that it had lost a battle but not the war, a running barrage was continued against the Central Arizona Project. Rep. Sheppard issued a press release in which he asserted the project would cost from $1,400 to $2,500 an acre for privately owned land worth no more than $300 an acre with a full water supply, and that about 25,000 persons in Arizona would reap the benefits of a multi- billion dollar project paid for by other states.145 Rep. Poulson followed with a statement to the press showing that two members of President Truman's Cabinet and other high officials had voiced strong doubts about the project.145 He quoted from a letter written by Secretary of the Army Royall to Interior Secretary Krug, which said: "The legal and economic premises upon which the project as a whole is based appear to be open to serious question, particularly with respect to water rights and to the analyses of the economics of the works." Secretary of Agriculture Brannan had written to the Bureau of Reclamation, and Poulson quoted him: "The first and most important question that must be asked about the proposed public work is: Will the total benefits produced equal or exceed the total costs? Our first concern, then, was to find out if the Central Arizona |
