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Show THE THREE-RING CIRCUS 149 knew a great deal about each subject, and others moti- vated completely by political considerations. Virtually everything Nielson said had been said be- fore to the committee. Senators Anderson and Kerr, however, who had not attended hearings in the previous Congress, fired a long barrage of questions. If Anderson understood the water issues of the Southwest, as he maintained he did, he was blinded by his antagonism to California. It was obvious Kerr did not understand those issues, for many of his questions were ridiculous and had no bearing on the matters before the committee. The result was that neither side, and certainly not the record, was benefitted. The hearing had become a sham. The extreme technical aspect of the debates could be appreciated only by engineers and lawyers long trained in water problems. It was a mystery, never explained, why O'Mahoney permitted the arguments to occur at all. The answer probably was that McFarland wanted to make a long and detailed record to avoid the possible charge that the bill had been railroaded through the committee. Yet - that is, providing any senator ever read the printed record - it was in the interest of Cali- fornia and Nevada to have a complete case against the project in a Senate document. Nielson gave unqualified support to the project, but did admit that if the contentions of California were correct, there was not enough water for it. However, he believed Arizona was correct, and plenty of water was available.179 The session adjourned in a state of confusion, but Nielson was back again on Monday morning, March 28, 1949. Dry cycles in the Southwest came up for dis- cussion, and the senators argued about events which had |