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Show HI HO, AQUALANTES 191 "In this case, the thing to be saved is water - not gold or morals. And, in this case, the victims of the Aqualantes' assaults are the taxpayers of the nation. "Formation of the Aqualantes was proposed by the Upper Colorado River Commission as part of a campaign to force through Congress the multi-billion upper Colorado River project. "Membership will be urged on both adults and children, and anybody who coughs up a buck will get a plastic badge patterned after an old-time western marshal's star. The money received will be used to buy public relations. "In this proposed publicity campaign, the Aqualantes will tell the public that the upper Colorado River project will cost about 1.5 billion. "But they will not tell the public that a hidden subsidy will cost the taxpayers of the country another 3 billion, never to be recovered. "The Aqualantes will tell the public that the project will increase the agricultural output of these states. "But they will not tell the public that the land to be irri- gated by the project will grow crops of the kinds already surplus and already subsidized by the taxpayers; crops that will be good only to store in warehouses already bulg- ing with more than $7 billion worth of food and fiber that cannot be used or sold. "The Aqualantes will tell the public that the project will create new farms in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, thereby improving the economy of those states. "But they will not tell the public that it will cost the taxpayers of all states about $640,000 for each new 160- acre farm created - an outright gift that can never be re- paid. "The Aqualantes will tell the public that the project will create a great new receration area called the Yampa- Lodore Playground. "But they will not tell the public that Yampa-Lodore is merely a deceptive name for Echo Park Dam which will flood the Dinosaur National Monument, destroy some of the finest wilderness scenery in the world, and open the |