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Show A STACKED COMMITTEE 139 Brower had been doing a good deal of home work since his appearance before the House Committee, and now he surprised Watkins with a plan for revising the crsp in a way that would permit the Upper Basin to develop its water and at the same time save a national monument from destruction. Watkins smelled trouble, and he suggested that Brower might want to put his statement in the record. Watkins knew that would be one way of burying it deep. But Brower politely insisted that he be permitted to explain his plan. Watkins listened a few minutes, then decided he had heard enough. His face twisted by anger, he attempted to show that Brower was in the pay of California, and that the Sierra Club was fronting for the Colorado River Board of California in an attempt to destroy the project. Speaking of Brower's proffered new plan, Watkins snapped: 157 "Have you discussed it with the engineer for the California Colorado River Board?" Brower: "He has seen a few of my statements." Senator Watkins: "Have you discussed it, I am asking? You say he has seen a few of your statements. I am asking you if you have discussed it with him." Brower: "I have seen him, I have discussed it with him very briefly. I would not want to say - I would not want in any way to commit him for being for or against this." Senator Watkins: "Did he make any of the sug- gestions, or give you any of the facts that you have in- cluded in your program?" Brower: "No, sir. I had never met the gentleman before I reached town." Senator Watkins: "What is his name?" |