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Show DOLLARS INTO DUST 257 him by charging that he was going beyond the bounds of his personal privilege, but on each ocasion the Speaker ruled in his favor. He was heckled and inter- rupted and accused of using his personal prerogative as a subterfuge to attack the project.317 Hosmer doggedly went on for an hour, talking of the enormous sums which the taxpayers would lose if the project were approved, of atomic power vs. hydro- electric power, of Chinle shale and idle farmlands, of the Colorado River Compact and the Supreme Court case of Arizona us. California. When at last he sat down he had done more than defend his personal integrity, more than reveal the infeasibility of the crsp. He had delayed passage of the bill for at least another twenty- four hours. Although the general debate began at once, it was too late in the day to complete it. Before the debate could be resumed on the next day, Wednesday, March 1, 1956, however, President Eisen- hower personally entered the fight. At a record-breaking press conference he made two announcements. One was that he would be a candidate for re-election. The other was a demand for the immediate passage of the CRSP. Stating that he was "very deeply concerned" about the Upper Colorado River Basin, Mr. Eisenhower said: 318 "I have more than once expressed my conviction before, that I believe water is rapidly becoming our most valuable natural resource, and here is an oppor- tunity, at last to treat this whole great, mighty Colorado River as a single entity, to treat it on a basin basis instead of merely local and individual. We should get busy and get on to it. There was one feature of it that |