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<br />002 3 ~;~f;'j <br />,,;:::;. <br /> <br />,{t}.> <br />"."'".'-: <br /> <br />RELATIONSHIPS OF RIVER AND RELATED WATER RESOURCE <br /> <br />DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS OF UNITED STATES, SOVIET <br /> <br />RUSSIA, AND (RED) CHINA <br /> <br />DEOEMBER 18, 1957. <br />(Responsive to direction of chairman of Senate Committee on Interior <br />and Insular Affairs (dated November 21,1957, and appended) to <br />Committee Consultant Michael W. Straus) <br /> <br />Russia and (Red mainland) China are driving forward river and <br />water resource development programs that are overtaking those of <br />the United States. <br />The Soviets are climaxing this continuing endeavor in the pro- <br />claimed belief that results WIll assure that these Communist natIOns <br />surpass the United States in any competition existing in this major <br />economic field. <br />The Communist countries' realistic effort and emphasis in executing <br />these irrigation, hydroelectric, flood-control, and water-transport <br />functions-the four categories of river development to which relative <br />examination was directed-are more powerfully and longer sustained <br />and exceed in volume and sacrifice involved all their missile and <br />satellite performances currently evoking widespread interest, analysis, <br />reexamination, speculation, and emotions. <br /> <br />REPORTS IGNORED AND UNHEEDED <br /> <br />Unreflected and unrecognized in any executive department submis- <br />sions to the Congress, this relatively changing river and other water <br />resource development picture is, and long has been, recognized and <br />regularly studied by a number of departments and bureaus in Wash- <br />ington. Their perIOdic internal reports and projections are more <br />ignored and unheeded than suppressed. <br />In drawing this material together and putting it in focus for the <br />Congress, for the first time as far as is known, the instructions to <br />confine its collection to existing, unrestricted, and unclassified in- <br />formation were faithfully complied with. The assistance of many <br />units of the executive department is hereby acknowledged and specified <br />by name and citation in appropriate instances. <br />Most authoritative information shows that in most of the four <br />basic areas examined, the United States still leads the Communist <br />countries in whatever competition exists to assure survival by economic <br />strength. For example, in the fundamental electrical energy field, <br />a 15-country list of leading nations on the installed overall electrical <br />power generating capacity, prepared by the Federal Power Com- <br />mission, is currently topped by the United States with 136,996 mega- <br />watts reported. Russia had climbed to second place with far less <br />capacity, with Great Britain third in rank. <br /> <br />1 <br />