BOARD02241

• Board Meeting Date: 12/9/1954
• Description: Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

489

have knowledge of what this bill means and
must have some working knowledge.

I

,

"It has been my experience that members of
Congress, who are flooded with on the. average
of 10,000 bills each year, will have a much,
much smaller number of which they have a
working knowledge. Members of Congress depend
on well informed, authentic organizations to
keep them advised. They expect this and look
to these organizations because they are most
helpful.

"If you will refer to reports which are carried
in the Congressional Record of those seeking
to influence unfavorably the legislation of the
Upper Colorado River Storage Bill, you will
find that many hundreds of thousands of dollars
have been expended.

"It is my estimate--and only an estimate--that
better than a quarter million dollars was spent
in the last Congress to defeat this measure.
Our job is equally as big as those seeking to
defeat this legislation. A 'grass roots'
organization should be well enough organized
that when you have -information to disseminate,
it can be done quickly. There should be a
'grass roots' organization that is well
informed.

"We proposed that this 'grass roots' organiza-
tion have a membership of at least 100,000
in the four states; that there should be some
means of identification of that individual.
He should belong to something; feel that he is
a part of something."

I

Mr. Snyder then discussed the possibility of finding out
how well informed the people of the State actually are. He
stated that, in his opinion, after talking to many people,
they were not very well informed. He said he would like to
suggest (and that he was only reporting for the Committee):
(1) That we move to pledge a minimum of $10,000 for the use
,of the Upper Colorado River Commission to encourage passage
. of the Upper Colorado River Storage Bill; (2) that this