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APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1948

HEARINGS

U.S, Congress, Deva

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BEFORE A

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE

COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE

EIGHTIETH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

H. R. 3123

A BILL MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT
OF THE INTERIOR FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING
JUNE 30, 1948, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

61289

PART 1

Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1947

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.17

MONDAY, MAY 5, 1947

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Kenneth S. Wherry (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senators Wherry (presiding), Ball, Cordon, Reed, Knowland, Dworshak, Hayden, Thomas of Oklahoma, O'Mahoney, and McCarran.

STATEMENT BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

Senator WHERRY. The committee will come to order.

May I just make this brief statement, please, for the record. I am sure that I speak the sentiments of the Senate Subcommittee on the Interior Department appropriation bill when I say that we are mindful of the magnitude of the job confronting us as we proceed with public hearings here today.

We are aware of the great part the Department of the Interior plays in the present activities, hopes, and ambitions of the 17 Western States which, in whole or in part, are within the arid and semiarid zones. About 90 percent of the Department's activities are concerned directly or indirectly with this region, constituting about half of the continental land area of the United States. Nevertheless, as the custodian of the country's natural resources in land, water, minerals, recreation, fish, and wildlife, and related activities, the Interior Department has a national responsibility and is accountable to the Nation as a whole.

It may be noted here that as the Interior bill passed the House, more than 40 percent of appropriated funds are earmarked for the Bureau of Reclamation activities dealing with irrigation, power, and multiple-purpose projects.

The people of my own State of Nebraska are water-conscious. Sometimes we have too much water, as in the case of the Republican River flood in 1936, when more than 100 lives were lost. More often, however, we have too little water for our potentially rich farm lands. What we have sought and are seeking are ways and means to conserve the waters and put them to beneficial use upon these agricultural lands.

I believe, for example, the Missouri River Basin program of the Bureau of Reclamation coordinated with the program of the Corps of Engineers, is a constructive approach to the solving of this prob

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