Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, Salt Lake City, Utah

HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE TRUNNY "NATIONAL September 21, 1948 CONFIDENTIAL: The following address of the President to be delivered in Salt Lake City, Utah, today, Tuesday, September 21, 1948, MUST BE HELD FOR RELEASE until 8 o'clock p.m., Mountain Standard Time, and no portion, synopsis, or intimation my be given out, or broadcast or published until that time. The same release applies to all newspapers, radio announcers and news broadcasters. PLEASE USE CARE TO AVOID PREMATURE PUBLICATION OR RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President My train trip coming out here across the country has been a tremendous experience. I have always had a special admiration for this region of America. It has a quality all its own. In a few generations, the people here built a sivilization out of the desert. There is no story in our history more typical of the free American spirit than that of the Mormon settlers who founded this city. They had faith, and they had energy. They took the resources that Nature offered them, and used them wisely. Their courage and fighting spirit made them secure against enemies. They have left you a great heritage. You now have the responsibil- Ity for the wise use of the resources of this region. You now have the duty to protect your rights and your welfare against the enemies who threaten them. And those enemies do exist. Whether you know it or not, you are in a battle against powerful forces that threaten your resources, and your families, and your hopes of the future. Tonight I am going to name those forces, so that we can all know whom we are fighting. First, let us see how this battle began. You here in the West know a great deal about conserving natural resources 80 that they will be useful to our children as well as to ourselves. You have learned by experience, and learned well. What is the magic word in the prosperity of the farmers and live- stock men of this region? The word is water. The first thing the Mormon settlers did when they came here, after giving thanks to God, was to dig irrigation ditches. They knew what they were doing. So long as you have water enough for farming and grazing, the basis of your welfare is assured. I think it is no exaggeration to say that as the water goes, so goes this part of the country. Irrigation has given to the West a prosperous agriculture; it has brought thriving industries and enabled you to make use of your natural resources. With the aid of the Government, you have built the great dams that provide you with water and hydro-electric power. Water for irrigation and electric power for homes and farms and industries have gone hand in hand. It is fair to say that those who have helped you obtain the water and power you needed are your friends. And, by the same token, those who have hampered you in obtaining irrigation and electric power are your enemies. This is not a new battle. Selfish men have always tried to skim the cream from our natural resources to satisfy their own greed. And they have always sought to control the Government in order to accomplish this. Their instrument in this effort has always been the Republican Party. The Republican Administrations of our time have done their best to make the West an economic colony of Wall Street. In the Nineteen Twenties, under Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, quick and greedy exploitation was the order of the day. Many parts of the West were withering -- withering from the failure to develop its power and irrigation, withering from Republican sabotage. Selfish men had control, and the great resources of the West were wasted with sinful disregard of the people. Never before in history had so much been wasted by so few.