WILLIAM PINCUS 243 



lated functions out in the late thirties and in the forties. But the De- 

 partment remains basically a western department, with the major citi- 

 zen interest being shown by those who directly exploit the resources, 

 and, on the other side, by self-appointed guardians of the public in- 

 terest — the so-called conservationists who represent a minute fraction 

 of the population. I could go on to talk about specialized clienteles of 

 the Army Corps of Engineers, the Forest Service, the Soil Conserva- 

 tion Service and other agencies. 



The only successful experiment in making resources development 

 meaningful to all the people of a region has taken place in the Ten- 

 nessee Valley. And this is not because it has been done through a 

 valley authority. It is because the over-all responsibility for resources 

 development was placed under one roof so that the total dimensions 

 of the job could be perceived by the people to the point where most 

 of them felt involved. This is what we need on the national scene: a 

 national organization, agency, or department which will be able to 

 bring together enough of the basic resources functions so that its 

 plans, ambitions, and actions will seem important and meaningful to 

 all the people. Our democracy can actually be revitalized by such an 

 organizational change. Our form of government is not operating on 

 all its cylinders when persons in the large urban centers in all parts of 

 the country and when the whole population of the East feel little or no 

 involvement in major resources conservation and development con- 

 troversies. It is deeply disturbing when so many votes in Congress on 

 such important matters are not directly on the merits of the issues 

 because the constituents back home have so little concern with these 

 problems. 



We need a department of resources development at the national 

 level, which will be responsible to all the people and which can help 

 the people and the Congress understand the issues and the challenges 

 and present them with choices for intelligent discussion. This is an old 

 idea, but the need for some such improvement is greater than ever. 

 The need will not be superseded by any number of ancillary commit- 

 tees for co-ordinating purposes or by any superstructure of expert 

 analyzers and reviewers at the Presidential level — as attractive as such 

 things may be. 



As to the role of state and local government, and more particularly 



