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Show THE THREE-RING CIRCUS 151 A number of senators present had heard California attorney Howard in the previous Congress, but he be- gan at the beginning once more and went thoroughly through the California contentions.183 After talking at length on the history of Colorado River developments, he declared he was not asking the committee to solve the issues in favor of California, for "I do not think it would be competent for Congress to do it." 184 As he had done previously, California Assistant At- torney-general Shaw sought to show the committee that the controversy was justiciable, that the legal problems could be resolved only by the Supreme Court.185 Shaw and the other California lawyers were agreeably sur- prised when Senator Kerr, no friend of California, indi- cated his belief that the issues could be decisively settled only by the court. But Kerr, a former oil-truck driver from Oklahoma, thereupon offered legal amendments to the project bill that would have sent California into court with two strikes against it. Instead of gaining a supporter on the committee, California actually had lost more ground. The Reclamation Bureau's public relations strategy against California was again revealed. Its moves were timed with professional efficiency. During the presen- tation of the California case, it issued a press release calculated to attract the attention of correspondents covering the hearings. The East and West Mesas, on either side of the Imperial Valley, were a part of the planned valley development, and water for them had been included in contracts for the All American Canal, which was built to serve the entire area. Preventing irrigation of the mesas was one way Arizona hoped to get water for the |