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Show 146 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Now Watkins shufflled some papers which he an- nounced would go into the record, and his face dis- closed his eagerness to end the hearings. Ely stepped forward to say that a statement had come from Samuel B. Morris, chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which he would like to read. Visibly irritated, Watkins demanded to know how long it would take. Twenty minutes, Ely replied.161 Shaking his head in despair, Watkins told him to proceed, and settled back in his chair with the attitude of a man bearing many crosses. Presently he again shuffled the stock of papers before him, reading some, discarding others, paying no attention to Ely. By the time Ely had concluded, Watkins seemed satisfied with his housework. He arose at once, announced the hearings were ended, and stalked from the room. August humidity settled on the capital, but for the armies of the Upper Colorado war the most unpleasant atmosphere was created by the intense pressure they endured during the last days of the Eighty-third Con- gress. The Engineer's Joint Council was composed of the governing boards of the eight major engineering societies of the United States.* The council had long studied water and power development policies in the United States, and had submitted reports to the Presi- dent's Water Resources Policy Commission and to the Hoover Commission.162 ' American Society of Civil Engineers; American Institute of Mining and Metal- lurgical Engineers; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; American Institute of Electrical Engineers; American Institute of Chemical Engineers; American Society for Engineering Education; American Waterworks Association; Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. |