| Show calls threat to Us S water resources expert charges disregard for natural values in engineering projects sees danger to wildlife wild life especially acute by news analyst and commentator service union trust building washington D C As ass the prospects of f f at public works b budgets deets forthe postwar area arise on the washington scene the planners big and little rush up to drop their pet blueprints into the hopper recently I 1 witnessed the prell preliminaries mi of a counterbalancing counter balancing move so m ethin g that might be called a prophylactic effort to save some of the beneficiaries of governmental projects from being killed by too much kindness this effort is embodied in a bill presented by rep karl of south dakota and I 1 heard a sort of informal preview of some of the testimony that will be offered before the c committee 0 on rivers and harbors in its behalf the bill is HR and it deals with protect protection i 0 n against pollution of the count rys waterways it was in the course of the preview discussion that hat I 1 heard another affliction hydro manla a cure for which may be harder to find it is said to result from avei overindulgence indulgence in damming it is riot not mentioned in the bill but the connection Is obvious S the purpose of mr emundts measure Is as follows to prevent pollution of the waters of the united states and to correct existing water pollution as a vital necessity to public health economic welfare healthful recreation navigation the support of invaluable aquatic life and as a logical and desirable postwar public works program As I 1 say mr mention hydro manla in ha his bill but one of his close mends friends who had much to do with writing the legislation has lie he Is kenneth reid held executive secretary of the isaac walton league since the proposed legislation has also to do with the problem of protecting our piscatorial and aquatic life I 1 want to quote a few of mr reids observations on one kind of killing with kindness which frequently accompanies overgenerous over generous government spending mr reid I 1 should call a hydro phile for he ardently pleads the case tor for what he be refers to as the orphan stepchild of our natural resources water conservation of the land Is pretty well understood but water says mr reid has been dammed and diverted drained and polluted stolen and wasted with utter disregard of existing natural values with bland unconcern tor for its biological functions and its public aquatic and recreational values from the early days of our nation down to the present time he continues and this Is where comes in water has run the gantlet ol of a horde of engineers whether private or governmental makes no difference who see in a running stream or a sparkling lake only the material uses to which the water can be put existence of fish menaced reid is an engineer himself and is not unsympathetic with the great achievements ol of his profession but his colleagues sometimes outrun their zeal and he appears perturbed test lest postwar public works activities threaten our lakes and rivers their natural beauty and all that is in them what he is fighting la Is the kind of engineering activity stimulated by grants rants in aid from the federal gov rn ment which will damage the waterways and their inhabitants flora and fauna on the other hand he be is all for the encouragement of con construction which will work dvork in the opposite direction he thinks we have overdone the fam lamming ming he questions the economy of df reclaiming land at a great capital cost per acre with certain irrigation projects these reid opines kopines likewise often destroy fish by cutting them khem off from their spawning rounds grounds he mentions the dams in the columbia river which he says threaten a ten million dollar annual salmon take that is the effect of hydro manla resulting from well intentioned and an unselfish selfish but unwise use of the engineering art he points out that anything which kills fishes and interferes with the nations wildlife is interfering ter fering with one of the nations major industries lie he estimates that the total expenditure in hunting and fishing including licenses equipment and other incidentals reaches a billion dollars a year and therefore constitutes a major american industry and one which should be protected reid also stresses the esthetic and recreational values destroyed in the building of great dams and reservoirs as well as by the pollution of streams pollution health peril the security feature which has been emphasized in the present war when the bombing of dams has caus caused d such destruction Is another argument seized upon by mr reid held his specific example of this phase of the argument sent a shudder down my back when he offered as an 11 ki I the construction of 14 major dams in the potomac watershed which was strongly advocated recently c it if this project had gone through he told me my home town and the seat of our government would have been made extremely vulnerable to air attack through breaching of the big dams that would be immediately above washington agton the engineers desire says mr reid solemnly to pour concrete in prodigious quantities impound great areas of water behind magnificent monuments to engineering dig ditches and canals bore tunnels and otherwise remake the landscape of america Is quite irrepressible however what he and his colleagues are re now most concerned in eradicating Is pollution and that I 1 think will meet the approval of most people even it if they wont go all the way with mr reid held concerning hydro manla protection against pollution the proponents of the bill insist wont cost a thin dime because the money saved by eliminating the need of purifying polluted water wafer will more than make up tor for it il besides destruction of aesthetic and property values it is pointed out that pollution is a growing menace to health the bill would give the states every chance to clean up their own situations but it Is argued since streams flow by gravity without any regard for or state boundaries pollution is logically and constitutionally a matter for federal control provisions to take care of these various angles are included in the bill such measures in the past have been opposed by some communities which thought it was cheaper to dump their sewage in the rivers an and by industrial plants that felt the same way although machines compete with humans and with horses and mules mule s in this war the dog never be before for e used officially by american forces has become the competitor of mechanized devices A d dog og by his sense of smell can detect a strange presence at feet up to october 1 of last year the army coast guard and marines had used over trained dogs the first thing a K 9 as they are called learns Is to be a one man dog they wont accept food from any but their masters nor will they allow anyone else to pet them then the training gets more complicated and includes even parachute jumping but there is one thing that these otherwise clever animals cannot be taught namely to tell enemy troops from their own this has one advantage however they dont treat a german wearing an american uniform any differently thin than tt it he an enemy in disguise soldiers sometimes do demand for farm products is likely to continue at present wartime levels throughout most of 1945 regardless gard less of the course of the war the demand tor for many farm products at ceiling prices may continue to exceed supplies in 1945 consumers food costs in large cities in recent months have been slightly lower than they were in midsummer the index for november 1944 was 1365 as comp compared ired with 1377 in august and the peak of 6 in may 1943 nonfood costs have been following a somewhat different trend I 1 |
