ROBERT E. MERRIAM 237 



came painfully apparent that the possibility of Congressional approval 

 of these two proposals was indeed remote. This experience certainly 

 underlines Mr. White's comment that we seem to have no national 

 approach to our resource development programs. It demonstrates to 

 me, at least, that we have a long way to go before we develop any 

 such consensus. 



The President's Committee also recommended establishment of re- 

 gional water resources committees. While no cure-all, such an action, 

 by assigning the planning job to adequately equipped regional groups 

 with full state participation, would represent an important step to- 

 wards the efficient development of our national land and water re- 

 sources. 



The matter of state participation is of particular importance. Mr. 

 White asks why the states have not taken a stronger role in natural 

 resource development, and mentions a number of factors that have 

 tended to inhibit state action. I agree with the main lines of his analy- 

 sis, particularly in regard to the inhibiting effects of the federal gov- 

 ernment's eagerness to foot the whole bill; the dollars that come from 

 Washington somehow look easier to come by than those from closer 

 to home. Yet we should note that state expenditures for natural re- 

 source developments have nearly quadrupled since the end of the 

 war, compared to a little over a doubling in federal expenditures for 

 the same purposes. Given proper encouragement, I believe that the 

 states can and will take an increasingly important part in the vast job 

 of developing the natural resources of this nation. 



The size of the over-all task underlines the importance and neces- 

 sity of co-operative participation by federal, state, local, and private 

 interests. No single interest can hope to do it all — or even a major 

 portion of it — adequately. For example, a recent estimate by The 

 Brookings Institution indicates that a capital outlay of over 70 billion 

 dollars will be needed over the next several decades for natural re- 

 source programs other than power. The Federal Power Commission 

 estimates that by 1980 we will require three times the installed gener- 

 ating capacity that we now have, a requirement of another 100 billion 

 dollars. Clearly the federal government cannot do all or even a large 

 part of either of these jobs, although there are many areas in which 

 the federal government must have a major responsibility. This is espe- 



