OCR Text |
Show -98- a State, municipal, or private undertaking; and be it further RESOLVED, That the officers of this association are directed to call the attention of the States of the East to their common interest with the States of the West in respect to the legal relationships between the States and the Federal Government and between State and State, and they are directed to invoke support by the States of the East of the foregoing prin- ciples relating to water use; and be it further RESOLVED, That the officers of this association are hereby directed to take all necessary steps, including appearances before committees of the Congress, interviews with Members of the Congress and officers of the executive branch of the Government, securing the introduction of bills and any other proper means, to give effect to the foregoing program of this association, and the secretary-manager of the association is directed to send copies of this resolution to the President of the United States* to all Members of Congress, to the Secretaries of liar and Interior and Agri- culture, to the Chief of Army Engineers, to the Commissioner of Reclamation, and to the Governor of each States. I think the West is aware today, more than it ever has been before, of these conflicting interests, and I believe that the thing you are doing today, in the consideration and probable approval of this compact, constitutes not only the best, but the only, answer to the question that is before us, a very serious question, as our people in the West know* Thank you* Senator McCarran. Thank you very much, Mr. Hagie* Are there any other questions? Senator Millikin. No. Senator Butler. Mr. Page? . Senatcrr McCarran. Mr. Page, of the Interior Department. Statement of John C. Page, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation Mr. Page. I have only one or two random statements to make. My name is John C Page. I am Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. The fiirst statement is that I am hopeful that this compact may receive the consent of -the Congress, because it is a step in the direction which I had felt for a long -time necessary and desirable for the development of the Wests Througln my own experience with the Bureau of Reclamation, I have seen many occurrences where litigation has been long continued without beneficial results. If this compact method can eliminate the litigation of the kind aptly illustrated |