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Show THE THREE-RING CIRCUS 207 creasing the surplus for which taxpayers would pay through price supports.291 In their efforts to win support in Congress, the project proponents had asked various state societies in Arizona to appeal to congressmen from their former home states. The Pennsylvania State Society of Arizona had appealed to Rep. Robert F. Rich. In return he delivered a furious blast against it on the House floor. Remarking that Congress was attempting to take land out of cultivation, Rich said: 292 "They want to build a dam on the Colorado River that will put into cultivation a great many thousand acres. I got the in- formation in reference to this bill after I saw what was coming here from the Pennsylvania Society of Arizona. It is going to cost $1,250,000,000 to $1,500,000,000 to construct that dam. After you construct that dam, the ground which it will put into cultivation will cost you $1,600 an acre. Now get that - $1,600 an acre. After you get the land in cultivation then the land will be worth about $200 an acre. "A terrible thing to do, considering the country. But here is the sad part about it. When you have members of Congress of both bodies, with the predicament that our country is in today, advocating the construction of such new projects as this, there is something wrong in Denmark and something wrong with the men who are advocating it. "Is that not asinine? It will be more cotton land to subsidize. Terrible! "The thing that gets me is that the Pennsylvania Society of Arizona wants the Pennsylvania congressman to vote for it. I am telling you right now I do not pro- pose to vote for it. I am going to fight it all I can." |