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Show LAST LEGISLATIVE FIGHT 259 going about the House offices seeking to get the com- mittee members to reconsider, the Bureau took steps to recover some of its prestige and power which had been lost by the apparent defeat of the Arizona project and the bill calling for drastic liberalization of the recla- mation laws. Out in California the first works of the great Central Valley Project were nearing completion, and the Bureau announced its intention to mark the event with what it considered appropriate celebrations. It thereupon launched a nationwide publicity campaign, which was not only costly but which was thoughtfully designed to make heroes out of Secretary of the Interior Chapman, Reclamation Commissioner Straus, and various other luminaries serving under them, as well as to publicize their policies and plans. The idea was a serious mistake. Hardly off the ground, the campaign brought from every section of the country a veritable landside of condemnation, not only for them personally, but for the programs they advocated. Reminiscent of the long fight Senator Downey had waged against the Reclamation Bureau were the words of Rep. Poulson as he told Congress that the Bureau: 373 1 - Is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars illegal- ly to promote itself in connection with the opening of the Central Valley Project in California. 2 - Is flooding the newspapers of the United States with propaganda, including costly pictorial maps, photos and printed material, all slanted to praise the Bureau and paid for with public money. 3 - Is a "political cell, and its sole purpose is to destroy individual rights and become the absolute master of the western half of this country." |