September 30, 1952
THANK YOU, Governor. I appreciate that introduction. I appreciate very much the privilege of being here and taking part in these ceremonies. I am glad to see work start on Tiber Dam. I have high hopes for the good that it will do in this whole region.
You know, I have been present at many a one of these dedications. I was present at the dedication of Grand Coulee and Bonneville. And just the other day down in Arkansas, south of the Missouri line, I was present at the dedication of two dams on the White River, which will create an immense amount of power in that part of the world.
In nearly every instance where I have been present at the dedication of these dams, I have been informed that there were certain people--most of them in the Republican Party--who believed it was a waste of time, a waste of money to create the assets and take care of the resources of this great country of ours.
It was said of Grand Coulee when it was up for consideration--one of the greatest dams in the world--that it would do nothing but just pile up a lot of water for the jackrabbits and the groundhogs to look at and never would do anybody any good. Well, that great dam is creating nearly 2 million kilowatts of power per day, and that great dam is also irrigating 2 million acres of land right at this present time. And this great project here will create an asset for the people of the United States that will create taxpayers on land that now is not able to raise enough to pay the taxes that they will be able to raise when this project is completed.
We are creating assets for the people of the United States when we make expenditures for the development of these great water projects.
Tiber Dam will store the water to irrigate 127,000 acres of land. And when the water is on that land it will be worth 10 or 20 times, maybe a hundred times what it is worth now. The dam will help greatly to prevent flooding on the Marias River. And behind this dam a lake will form--25 miles long-to serve as a recreation center for this whole area of Montana.
This dam will be a wonderful thing for Montana. But the good it will do is not limited to this State by any means. It is an integral part of the development of the whole Missouri basin. It will hold back floods and help to regulate a channel for navigation in other States--hundreds of miles away. And one of those States is the great State of Missouri.
The Missouri basin contains a sixth of the area of the United States. The proper use of its water resources is one of the biggest development jobs ever undertaken in the history of the world.
We have already made great progress, but there is much more to be done. Earlier this year I appointed a Missouri Basin Survey Commission headed by James E. Lawrence of Lincoln, Nebraska, composed of citizens of the basin States. It is the job of this Commission to recommend the best way to complete this great development program. I understand that the Commission has been having some very fine hearings, and I am sure that its report will be a great help to all of us who are interested in the Missouri basin.
All this development work we are doing here in the West has come about because this country has a government that believes in helping people--helping people to get the things they want and need and are entitled to. That is what government is for. And that is how the Democratic Party has always conceived and practiced it. For 20 years we have been working to build up this Nation, for the people. We have been working to develop the whole country. Here in the West you know what we have done, and what we are doing, to help you get more water on your land and more power for your homes and farms and factories.
Water and power--in the right amounts, and at the right price--are all you need to make Montana boom as never before. You are at the beginning of a great new age out here, and the Democratic Party is determined to help you make it a reality.
I say that not just for myself, but for the many fine Democrats here in Montana--men like James E. Murray, Mike Mansfield--who have contributed so greatly to the Democratic Party's record of accomplishment here in the West.
And I want to say a special word about your Democratic candidate for Congress, Willard Fraser. If you need any more help in getting things done for eastern Montana, just send him to Congress. The way he has been talking to me this morning about Yellowtail Dam, I know he won't rest until he gets it.
That's the way the two Mikes worked all these developments here--one of them was on the Appropriations Committee; and if it hadn't been for my good friend Mike from Ohio over there, you wouldn't have gotten this dam. You ought to give him a little credit--and you ought to do something for Ohio--make them go Democratic. The best thing we can do for him is to have Ohio in the Democratic column. He is one of the best Democrats in the United States.
I know that Mr. Fraser will undertake your problems and carry out your hopes here. And I know, too, that I speak for the party's candidate for President. I know he understands your problems and your hopes out here. I know he will carry on our work for progress and development. That is why I am traveling through this country now, campaigning for Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.
It is a good thing for the West--a good thing for this whole country, that the Democratic Party and the Democratic candidate are friends of yours. It is a good thing they believe in, and will work for, the projects you need to build up your resources, to develop your agriculture and your industry and your trade. For, my friends, one thing is certain. The Republican Party and the Republican candidate for President are not one bit interested in these things. They do not like them, and they do not want them. They have opposed them at every step of the way.
That is the record of the Republican Party in the Congress. And I am inviting you to read that record and inform yourselves so you will know that what I tell you is the truth. I don't have to get out and lie on the Republicans. They have done enough bad things to make it unnecessary. It is a black and disheartening record of subservience to every selfish lobby that has placed profits for itself above progress for the people of the West.
Consider the record for a moment. Remember, if you will, the 80th Congress, when the Republicans had a majority. They tried their best to cripple REA, to hamper flood control, to destroy our national policy on public power.
Of course, the Republicans did not succeed in all they tried to do. In 1948 they were rejected and defeated by the people. You know, I had a hand in administering that defeat, and I must say I enjoyed and they deserved it. We are going to lick them again, because it's for the welfare of this country to do it.
They didn't learn anything from that experience. For 4 years since, they have been trying, as they are trying now, to slow down and obstruct every progressive program that helps build up this whole great region. In 1950 the Republican Senators voted two to one to slice in half all the flood control work in this country. In 1951 a solid majority of Republicans in Congress voted to cut out Government transmission lines, like the one which brings low-cost fort Peck power to your cooperatives here.
These are only two examples. There are many others, which I will be glad to mention as I go along.
Now, my friends, I cannot conceive that the people of this country would entrust their future to a party which has that kind of record. I cannot conceive that they would make so grave an error, provided that they know what is at stake for them.
So I have considered it my duty to travel here and make the issues plain to the voters of this great State, to make sure that the people understand which party serves their interests and which does not. I hope that these remarks have helped to make that clear to you today.
You yourselves--your interests and the interests of this country of ours are at stake in the election that is about to take place next November. Your interests are the interests of the country. Your interests are at stake.
Study these things. I hope you will read the Congressional Record, as I read it religiously. It's a hard book to read because it's as dry as this dust here without any water on it; but if you read it you will find that the record I am pointing at is exactly what I say it is. And you will find that record has been conclusively against your interests every chance they have to vote. They don't want to tell about that. They are going out now telling you how much they love you and what they would like to do for you. They don't want to do anything for you. It's what they are going to do to you; you had better watch out.
Now I hope you will take these things to heart, and I hope you will check up on the things I have told you, because every single statement I have made can be proved by the record. And the record stands in black and white.
So go to the polls next November. Vote for your own interests. Vote for the welfare of the greatest Nation on earth, and vote for peace in the world. Vote the Democratic ticket.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. from a platform erected near the dam site. In his opening words he referred to Governor John W. Bonner of Montana. Later he referred to, among others, Representative Mike Mansfield, Democratic candidate for Senator, Senator James E. Murray, and Willard E. Fraser, Democratic candidate for Representative, all of Montana, and Representative Michael J. Kirwan of Ohio.
For the President's statement upon signing an Executive order establishing the Missouri Basin Survey Commission, see Item 3.
THANK YOU, Governor. I appreciate that introduction. I appreciate very much the privilege of being here and taking part in these ceremonies. I am glad to see work start on Tiber Dam. I have high hopes for the good that it will do in this whole region.
You know, I have been present at many a one of these dedications. I was present at the dedication of Grand Coulee and Bonneville. And just the other day down in Arkansas, south of the Missouri line, I was present at the dedication of two dams on the White River, which will create an immense amount of power in that part of the world.
In nearly every instance where I have been present at the dedication of these dams, I have been informed that there were certain people--most of them in the Republican Party--who believed it was a waste of time, a waste of money to create the assets and take care of the resources of this great country of ours.
It was said of Grand Coulee when it was up for consideration--one of the greatest dams in the world--that it would do nothing but just pile up a lot of water for the jackrabbits and the groundhogs to look at and never would do anybody any good. Well, that great dam is creating nearly 2 million kilowatts of power per day, and that great dam is also irrigating 2 million acres of land right at this present time. And this great project here will create an asset for the people of the United States that will create taxpayers on land that now is not able to raise enough to pay the taxes that they will be able to raise when this project is completed.
We are creating assets for the people of the United States when we make expenditures for the development of these great water projects.
Tiber Dam will store the water to irrigate 127,000 acres of land. And when the water is on that land it will be worth 10 or 20 times, maybe a hundred times what it is worth now. The dam will help greatly to prevent flooding on the Marias River. And behind this dam a lake will form--25 miles long-to serve as a recreation center for this whole area of Montana.
This dam will be a wonderful thing for Montana. But the good it will do is not limited to this State by any means. It is an integral part of the development of the whole Missouri basin. It will hold back floods and help to regulate a channel for navigation in other States--hundreds of miles away. And one of those States is the great State of Missouri.
The Missouri basin contains a sixth of the area of the United States. The proper use of its water resources is one of the biggest development jobs ever undertaken in the history of the world.
We have already made great progress, but there is much more to be done. Earlier this year I appointed a Missouri Basin Survey Commission headed by James E. Lawrence of Lincoln, Nebraska, composed of citizens of the basin States. It is the job of this Commission to recommend the best way to complete this great development program. I understand that the Commission has been having some very fine hearings, and I am sure that its report will be a great help to all of us who are interested in the Missouri basin.
All this development work we are doing here in the West has come about because this country has a government that believes in helping people--helping people to get the things they want and need and are entitled to. That is what government is for. And that is how the Democratic Party has always conceived and practiced it. For 20 years we have been working to build up this Nation, for the people. We have been working to develop the whole country. Here in the West you know what we have done, and what we are doing, to help you get more water on your land and more power for your homes and farms and factories.
Water and power--in the right amounts, and at the right price--are all you need to make Montana boom as never before. You are at the beginning of a great new age out here, and the Democratic Party is determined to help you make it a reality.
I say that not just for myself, but for the many fine Democrats here in Montana--men like James E. Murray, Mike Mansfield--who have contributed so greatly to the Democratic Party's record of accomplishment here in the West.
And I want to say a special word about your Democratic candidate for Congress, Willard Fraser. If you need any more help in getting things done for eastern Montana, just send him to Congress. The way he has been talking to me this morning about Yellowtail Dam, I know he won't rest until he gets it.
That's the way the two Mikes worked all these developments here--one of them was on the Appropriations Committee; and if it hadn't been for my good friend Mike from Ohio over there, you wouldn't have gotten this dam. You ought to give him a little credit--and you ought to do something for Ohio--make them go Democratic. The best thing we can do for him is to have Ohio in the Democratic column. He is one of the best Democrats in the United States.
I know that Mr. Fraser will undertake your problems and carry out your hopes here. And I know, too, that I speak for the party's candidate for President. I know he understands your problems and your hopes out here. I know he will carry on our work for progress and development. That is why I am traveling through this country now, campaigning for Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.
It is a good thing for the West--a good thing for this whole country, that the Democratic Party and the Democratic candidate are friends of yours. It is a good thing they believe in, and will work for, the projects you need to build up your resources, to develop your agriculture and your industry and your trade. For, my friends, one thing is certain. The Republican Party and the Republican candidate for President are not one bit interested in these things. They do not like them, and they do not want them. They have opposed them at every step of the way.
That is the record of the Republican Party in the Congress. And I am inviting you to read that record and inform yourselves so you will know that what I tell you is the truth. I don't have to get out and lie on the Republicans. They have done enough bad things to make it unnecessary. It is a black and disheartening record of subservience to every selfish lobby that has placed profits for itself above progress for the people of the West.
Consider the record for a moment. Remember, if you will, the 80th Congress, when the Republicans had a majority. They tried their best to cripple REA, to hamper flood control, to destroy our national policy on public power.
Of course, the Republicans did not succeed in all they tried to do. In 1948 they were rejected and defeated by the people. You know, I had a hand in administering that defeat, and I must say I enjoyed and they deserved it. We are going to lick them again, because it's for the welfare of this country to do it.
They didn't learn anything from that experience. For 4 years since, they have been trying, as they are trying now, to slow down and obstruct every progressive program that helps build up this whole great region. In 1950 the Republican Senators voted two to one to slice in half all the flood control work in this country. In 1951 a solid majority of Republicans in Congress voted to cut out Government transmission lines, like the one which brings low-cost fort Peck power to your cooperatives here.
These are only two examples. There are many others, which I will be glad to mention as I go along.
Now, my friends, I cannot conceive that the people of this country would entrust their future to a party which has that kind of record. I cannot conceive that they would make so grave an error, provided that they know what is at stake for them.
So I have considered it my duty to travel here and make the issues plain to the voters of this great State, to make sure that the people understand which party serves their interests and which does not. I hope that these remarks have helped to make that clear to you today.
You yourselves--your interests and the interests of this country of ours are at stake in the election that is about to take place next November. Your interests are the interests of the country. Your interests are at stake.
Study these things. I hope you will read the Congressional Record, as I read it religiously. It's a hard book to read because it's as dry as this dust here without any water on it; but if you read it you will find that the record I am pointing at is exactly what I say it is. And you will find that record has been conclusively against your interests every chance they have to vote. They don't want to tell about that. They are going out now telling you how much they love you and what they would like to do for you. They don't want to do anything for you. It's what they are going to do to you; you had better watch out.
Now I hope you will take these things to heart, and I hope you will check up on the things I have told you, because every single statement I have made can be proved by the record. And the record stands in black and white.
So go to the polls next November. Vote for your own interests. Vote for the welfare of the greatest Nation on earth, and vote for peace in the world. Vote the Democratic ticket.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. from a platform erected near the dam site. In his opening words he referred to Governor John W. Bonner of Montana. Later he referred to, among others, Representative Mike Mansfield, Democratic candidate for Senator, Senator James E. Murray, and Willard E. Fraser, Democratic candidate for Representative, all of Montana, and Representative Michael J. Kirwan of Ohio.
For the President's statement upon signing an Executive order establishing the Missouri Basin Survey Commission, see Item 3.