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Show 176 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER and helplessness regarding the action of their [Cali- fornia] delegation in the House. Every page in the Capitol knows that they could jerk the House members in line if they had the inclination. "Until they do, these national leaders stand as fellow conspirators in the robbery of the legally allotted water from the arid and suffering states of the Colorado Basin." Another Daily News, this one in Los Angeles, also had a few well-chosen sentences on the subject. In blasting Nixon for his Upper Basin smorgasbord speeches, the Los Angeles paper threw in the name of Senator Thomas H. Kuchel, the other California senator, for a roasting. Kuchel was accused of being asleep in his Senate seat when it came to water matters. Said the newspaper: 194 "No wonder some of the fine Republican citizens of this State who have fought so long for Colorado River water are embarrassed. It is surprising what some politicians will do for votes." Who should turn up in the Upper Basin one day, the more to assure Republican support for the crsp, but Rep. Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of Massachusetts, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Martin too flew over Echo Park, and pronounced himself in favor of the pro- ject. His advice, given free, to the Upper Basin states was to present "a united front" the next time they sought authorization of the crsp in Congress.195 This admoni- tion was somewhat perplexing, even to Upper Basin leaders. Ten Upper Basin senators were authors of the crsp legislation. That's all the senators there were from the Upper Basin. But apparently Martin left without further explanation. It can only be supposed that he had to say something about the crsp, and if he could leave |