Speech #690228400

Chengtu. the capital. having at least 400.000.people. Along the main roads the population may be said to constitute a prolonged village. Once sure of the Colorado River for reclamation.. as they would have been if the recommendations of the FallDavis report had been accepted and the Boulder dam authorized by Congress. this vast Asiatic settlement and development in Mexico would move rapidly forward to its full realization. With 500.000.000 to draw from in heavily overpopulated Japan and China. the Japanese would bring 4.000.000 from Asia to this new Asitie Eldorado in America in Japanese steamships just as fast. as we regulated the flow of the river so they could be assured of its use for reclamation. If the Boulder dam had been built. this would have been immediately on the completion of that dam. If Arizona should be cajoled. coerced. or corrupted into ratifying the Santa FeColorado River compact. the same result would folloiv. as it likewise would if the Federal Power Commission were to grant the power permit for a dam at Diamond Creek. or if the Black Canyon dam were to be built as a substitute for the Boulder Canyon dam. The inevitable consequence would be that this Asiatic colony andcity in America would be a breeding ground for international competition and friction. resulting in an AsiaticAmerican war. which would ultimately enC in another World War worse than the last. Between those two alternatives of either using the water of. the Colorado River in our own country. or allowing them to go to Mexico for Asiatic agriculture in that country. the American people nmust make their choice. They can have either the one or the other. They face the certainty that the water will be used in Mexico for Asiatic settlement and development. if we do not use it in the United States of America for irrigation. after having regulated it for power. as would have bleen done by the Boulder Canyon dam. or as would be done If the Black Canyon dam were constructed. If the decision of the people of the United States of America is to use the water in our own country. instead of to create Asiatic competition in Mexico. then there is no escape from the fact that the necessary irrigation works must be built to provide for that use. and to divert the water from the river to 5.000.000 arid acres in Arizona and California. And this must be done just as soon as the floods of the river are stored and the flow regulated for power. because the necessary irrigation works must be built and the water actually and in fact used to irrigate these 5.000.000 acres in Arizona and California before the use of the water in Mexico has established a claim under the comity of nations for the perpetual right to use the water in that country. Consequently. the building of these works for irrigation in Arizona and California must go hand in hand with the regulation of the flow of the river for power anywhere in its watershed.