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Show 224 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Basin with the scheme in mind to steal the entire Colo- rado River. Engle and Poulson assailed the accusation as "posi- tively untrue and a flat falsification of the record, which is plain for everyone to see," and submitted to the com- mittee a list of major Upper Basin projects which Cali- fornia had supported in past years. Throughout the early summer of 1950, the hearing room of the House Interior Committee remained one of the hottest places in hot Washington. Murdock con- tinued his desperate attempts to force S. 75 out to the House floor. The shouting could be heard outside in the corridors, and members emerged from sessions with flushed faces and tense expressions. Several of the opponents, including Engle and Poul- son, had won committee approval of seventeen questions on the project which were to be submitted to Secretary of the Interior Chapman. They were sent to the Secre- tary on May 12, with a request that they be promptly answered. No one suspected then, that the day would mark a vital turning point in the Central Arizona Pro- ject fight. The answers from the Secretary were returned on June 28. It was the last question and answer, No. 17, which gave to the California forces the most powerful weapon they had possessed since the House committee battle began. The question was: "How much interest on the national debt occasioned by the project would be borne by the nation's taxpayers, assuming a seventy-five year repayment period and a reasonable construction period?" 320 Chapman's answer was: 321 "$2,075,729,000." |