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Show 186 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER they would go some place else; and if they did not spend the money for recreation they would spend the money to buy shoes, or maybe to buy cigars, and the result to the national income would be the same." It was Engle's conclusion that if the Reclamation Bureau was permitted to write in recreation benefits to such a great extent for the purpose of helping to pay for a project, virtually any project proposed could be called feasible. Murdock was visibly irritated by Ejigle's exhaustive cross-examination of Larson, and called the hearing to a halt. May 5, 1949 The session was largely taken up by severe criticisms of Reclamation Bureau methods by Rep. Poulson. With Larson on the stand, Poulson pointed out that the project bill asked for the authorization by Congress of units which were not included in the estimated cost of the project. Specially he mentioned the proposed eighty-mile tunnel to carry wrater to the project area, which would cost in the neighborhood of $400 million. The Bureau asked for permission to build the tunnel, but would defer immediate construction because of high costs, and build instead a $26 million pump-lift on Lake Havasu. This would be abandoned when the tunnel was built. The cost of the tunnel had not been included in the overall estimated project cost.252 "You are not giving us a true picture," Poulson told Larson. "You are really, to speak very bluntly, fooling Congress because you are coming in here and talking about subjects that are not in this bill, or, there are sub- jects in the bill you are not discussing." Rep. Wesley A. D*Ewart thought the Bureau proce- |