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Show BANANAS ON PIKE'S PEAK 229 "The only four states which would get more money than they pay for construction of the project are the four states that benefit from it. The other forty-four states pay through the nose." Aspinall and the Bureau's trained seals presented the finale of the hearing on April 22, but the words of Hosmer were still ringing in their ears, and they were worried. On April 18, 1955, Senator Anderson arose in the Senate to undertake an assignment he thoroughly en- joyed. He had been appointed floor manager of the proponents of the crsp bill. It was, he told his col- leagues, "the most vital legislation of this character before Congress since the Reclamation Law of 1902." 28° Although S. 500 authorized six dams, and twelve irri- gation projects, with conditional authorization for twenty-one more, it was only "an initial phase" of de- velopment in the Upper Basin states.281 The Interior Committee had taken cognizance of the fact that Su- preme Court legislation, the case of Arizona vs. Cali- fornia over Colorado River water rights, was pending, he said, and had decided there was nothing in the law- suit to cause S. 500 to be delayed. The amount of water to be consumed in the crsp was well within the apportionment made to the Upper Basin by the Colo- rado River Compact, he declared, and under the bill the continuity of the water supply to the lower basin would be assured. Anderson took brief whacks at the arguments he knew would be presented by opponents. The nation would have trouble providing food for the soaring |