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Show HI HO, AQUALANTES 175 had learned something on the trip,190 and the Salt Lake Tribune thought it would be good if every member of Congress could take the same junket.191 While no public utterance came from the President during his flight over the Upper Basin, a few days later he made his attitude and intentions perfectly clear in a letter to Senator Bennett of Utah, which said: 192 "The Colorado River Storage Project ... is well conceived as proposed in the administration plan, which takes into account the interests of the areas affected. . . . "I consider the plan in this form to be essential to the proper development of the great intermountain region. I have so expressed my views publicly; Secretary McKay has urged the project on many occasions and in many places. "Very unfortunately, action on it was not completed by the 83rd Congress, but it is now much understood as a result of legislative work already done, and I am con- fident that the 84th Congress will approve it." While Knowland and Nixon, the two soothsayers from California, were generally applauded for their endorse- ment of the crsp in Upper Basin political meetings, at least one newspaper in the area was openly suspicious of them. In a blistering attack on the "California gang-up" against the project, the Tucumcari, New Mexico, Daily News had a few remarks to make about the galloping politicos: 193 "The leadership of the administration is largely in the hands of Californians. Vice-president Nixon is a Cali- fornian and Senator Knowland of California is majority leader of the Senate. "These men cannot spread their hands in innocence |