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Show 136 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER port, can authorize any project that will pay out in any number of years, or centuries, the costs assigned to be repaid by the water users." That "Congress would abdicate in favor of the Secretary its traditional power to decide whether particular projects shall be built." Shaw called HR. 1770 "a blank check," which, when filled in, was "apt to be dishonored." The Bureau of Reclamation bulldozer rolled right on over California's opposition, pushing relentlessly against the bulwarks guarding sound laws and standards of reclamation, striving to crack through and destroy them. But California's fight on this front was not to be entirely in vain. The Colorado River Association had been organized specifically to fight the Central Arizona Project, but in doing that it was faced with another major task. The project could be defeated only if enough votes were secured against it in Congress. Members of Congress generally followed the wishes of their constituents But how much did the average American know about recla- mation projects? The answer was: very little. Hundreds of thousands of travelers visited the great projects of the West, such as Hoover Dam, each year, but very few of them understood how those projects were financed. Very few knew whether a project was a white elephant or economically sound. Therefore, in the view of the association, it was neces- sary while fighting the project to inform Americans of the facts about reclamation and of the schemes of the Reclamation Bureau. It was necessary to show Ameri- cans how these schemes would constitute the greatest |