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Show LAST LEGISLATIVE FIGHT 267 It still would have to be watched, and its opponents assigned guards to the task. The forces which had succeeded in wrapping the project in congressional mothballs, at least temporarily, now resumed their fight against the Reclamation Bureau with renewed vigor. The chief targets were Secretary Chapman and Commissioner Straus, and the noise of the offensive was heard throughout the land. Rep. Engle, one of the first to open fire, told the annual convention of the National Reclamation Associ- ation in Amarillo, Texas, that "reclamation is suffering from a serious lack of leadership, both in the West and in Washington." 387 At the same meeting, Straus made a plea for unity among reclamation states, and Franklin Thomas, chair- man of the Colorado River Board of California, and dean of Cal Tech, replied that "reclamation is in danger today, and the chief reason is the unsound, imperialistic policies of the Bureau. Straus' plea for unity is really a plea to keep his gigantic Bureau and propaganda machine operating, regardless of national economic conditions, and regardless of cost. If the Bureau is not stopped, reclamation will be destroyed." 387 Straus and Company were too tough and too de- termined to be halted by mere words. In the face of the growing onslaught they issued what they called "The United Western Report." Involved was the entire Pacific Coast, and the "re- port" proposed to discard plans made by the states, called for the interlocking of all water developments, |