PLANNING 277 



the way to good soil management, but it has so far provided only 

 one way to keep it up. That is by payments in one form or an' 

 other from the federal government. If taxpayers in other parts of 

 the country grow tired of assisting the farmer in the Tennessee 

 Valley, many farmers will be forced to drift back to their old 

 habits of tillage. And when that happens, the muddy streams 

 will again begin to fill the expensive reservoirs built on the 

 rivers of the area. The Tennessee Valley Authority thinks 

 that the expense of supporting the good soil practices of the 

 farmers is justified by the fact that it saves the dams. But 

 that is no solution of the problem. It is hoped that cities will 

 grow up in the valley because of the cheap electric power 

 which is produced by the government power plants. These 

 cities will then become markets for farm produce from the 

 farmers. That would be a solution. 



But until cities do grow up, the voters of the United States 

 will have to decide this question. Should the farmers be given 

 aid until that day in the future when they may become self 

 supporting, or should they be allowed to become once again a 

 sub'marginal population on sub'marginal land? 



This is not a question of whether the voters want to help the 

 farmers of the Tennessee Valley. It is rather one that demands 

 a decision as to whether the federal government should try to 

 assist the nation as a whole to develop. Many of the people of 

 that area would prefer to be allowed to go on as they have 

 been for the past hundred years or so. The question is, can the 

 nation afford to let them do this? With foreign markets for 

 American goods shrinking, can it afford to let a market with 

 the possibilities of the Tennessee Valley go undeveloped? For 

 if the area were developed, it would become a vast market 

 for manufactured goods. And again, can the nation afford to 

 let the $500,000,000 being spent on dams and river develop 

 ment in the Tennessee Valley be destroyed by silt? This 

 much is certain. Private industry has been slow to develop 



