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<br />( <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />0022j~ <br /> <br />determine the true worth of Reclamation to the national economic well-being. And, <br /> <br />if we could trace and add up the return flow of Federal taxes resulting from the <br />widened tax base of improved, irrigated land, we would get some idea of the cash <br />returns to the Treasury from this investment of Federal funds. <br /> <br />At the close of the last fiscal year, there were 4,718,450 kilowatts of <br />installed hydroelectric capacity in multipurpose Reclamation dams. These plants <br />produced 25.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity last year. Revenue from these <br />plants and some other federally built structures in the Missouri River Basin for <br />which the Bureau of Reclamation markets the power returned to the Federal Treasury <br />$50,812',260. It is the first time power revenue has exceeded $50,000,000. <br />Very little of this energy was produced at single purpose power dams. It is <br />all a byProduct of multibenefit Reclamation operations, the principal purpose of <br /> <br />which is conservation and utilization of water for irrigation purposes. Bear in <br /> <br />mind, too, that many projects now in successful operation would have been infeas- <br /> <br />ible under existing statutes without the utilization of this added revenue from <br /> <br />hydroelectric energy. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />During the past fiscal year, the Bureau of Reclamation has opened to home- <br /> <br />stead settlement or purchase 389 farms comprising 34,126 acres. This is much less <br /> <br />new land than the acres taken out of irrigated production by urban and industrial <br /> <br />encroachment. A total of 27,718 applications were received from war veterans, who <br /> <br />have a priority, and others for these farms--a ratio of about 70 applications for <br />each available farm. In addition, as authorized by the 83d Congress, the Bureau <br /> <br />of Reclamation is making new homesteads available to settlers who, through no <br /> <br />fault of their own, were unable to establish themselves on previously allotted <br /> <br />units. <br /> <br />We are operating this year on a budget of $172,000,000, including <br /> <br />$142,214,000 for construction and rehabilitation, $21,500,000 for operation and <br /> <br />2 <br />