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Show 84 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER projects. The United States had spent $300 million to help Italians build reclamation projects, and the Italians (which he pronounced "Eyetalians,") didn't have to pay back a cent of the cost.104 Now the United States proposed to build a tva in the Near East. It was esti- mated to cost $250 million, but he had seen the site and he thought the cost would be $500 million. It would be a gift from Uncle Sam. But the crsp was entirely self- liquidating. Watkins then followed the pattern of the Upper Basin spokesmen, and made a frenzied appeal for Echo Park Dam. Chairman Harrison had announced at the start of the hearings that he would make every attempt to grant opponents and proponents equal time to testify, but after half a dozen sessions he began to worry whether he could make good his promise. The hearing room was still jammed with prospective witnesses. Seventy were present from Utah alone. California had only two wit- nesses present, Attorney Northcutt Ely and Engineer Raymond Matthew. A dozen persons representing con- servation societies were on hand to speak against Echo Park Dam.105 Obviously, said Harrison, it was not going to be pos- sible to give all witnesses as much time as they would like. He had hoped to complete the hearings in a week, an admission which pointed up his naivety. Engle termed the statement a little optimistic. Harrison sighed, asked that testimony be kept as short as possible, and restarted the witness parade. Mail from every section of the nation was being delivered to the members of the committee in sacks. |