GILBERT F. WHITE 225 



rather than narrowing, and therefore our responsibility for offering 

 some continued aid and assistance to these countries is likely to in- 

 crease and will not change with any decrease in our own reserves or 

 resources. 



For these reasons there is the hope and the possibility that the 

 American people will move to use the best tools at their command 

 for a studied, balanced appraisal at the national level of the effects of 

 alternative resource programs and projects. 



Whether or not the federal government recognizes a greatly refined 

 appraisal process as an aid to decision making, nonfederal agencies 

 will be needed for that purpose, to double on a small scale for such 

 action in its absence, or to give it vigorous competition in its func- 

 tioning. The research program of Resources for the Future is a valu- 

 able service in that direction. It demonstrates analysis which should 

 be practiced and refined on a large scale, it reminds us of the tremen- 

 dous complexity of such an operation, and it directs attention to the 

 unfolding challenges. 



Of the numerous organizational changes that may be in order, none 

 seem more promising of benefits to the whole process of preserving or 

 reforming the American landscape than those which promote a con- 

 tinuing appraisal of the probable results of following the choices which 

 are open. 



NOTE In preparing this paper frequent reference has been made to a 

 number of studies of resources administration among which the more valu- 

 able are here listed. Grateful acknowledgment is made for the ideas in 

 them, but specific references have not been given except where there is 

 direct quotation. 



James W. Fesler, "National Water Resources Administration," Law and 

 Contemporary Problems, XXII (1957), 444-71. 



Charles M. Hardin, The Politics of Agriculture (Glencoe: The Free 

 Press, 1952). 



Henry C. Hart, The Dark Missouri (Madison: University of Wisconsin 

 Press, 1957). 



Albert Lepawsky, State Planning and Economic Development in the 

 South (Washington: National Planning Association, 1949). 



Charles McKinley, Uncle Sam in the Pacific Northwest (Berkeley: Uni- 

 versity of California Press, 1952). 



