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<br />I <br /> <br />0,. "',l1C() <br />U 1..... .,( <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />* r </" <br />."y'" x,t,....... <br />f;,'" , ~..P"' <br /> <br />REMARKS BY UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF RECLAMATION W. A. DEi:!lEIM3R BEFORE THE <br />36TH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF AMERICA AT NEW <br />ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, MARCH 15, 1955 <br /> <br />For Release Upon Delivery, Anticipated about 2 P.M., a.S.T., MARCH 15, 1955 <br /> <br />I am very happy and proud to have been asked to attend this 36th Annual <br /> <br />Convention o~ the Associated General Contractors o~ America. It is a great <br />pleasure not only to meet many old friends made whUe I \illS working on construction, <br />but it is also a great honor to address the representatives of the people who are <br />very largely responsible for this country's reputation as a place where things get <br /> <br />done. I appreciate greatly your hospitality and this opportunity. <br /> <br />'1 <br />f) <br /> <br />We hear a great deal about our economy and the changing times in which we live. <br /> <br />We hear also a great deal of the progress which the United States has made and its <br /> <br />unchallenged world leadership, not only in production, but in technical supremacy <br />and in the free way of life. You contractors are largely responsible for the <br />I <br />improvements in our way o~ life and certainly we will look to you for leadership <br />in meeting the demands of the future. <br /> <br />I can remember not too many years ago when some of your cOllIpanies were <br /> <br />equipped with mules or horses and Fresno scrapers, and when your labor problems <br /> <br />were confined almost solely to an ellIployment manager sending the labor to your job <br /> <br />as you needed it. You and, your organizations, and particularly those men actually <br />building things, are largely responsible for the transformation in the last 30 or <br /> <br />40 years to the mechanization and adaptabUity of equipment to meet most any <br /> <br />problem. <br /> <br />We have seen, in my li~etime, aviation grow from its very humble first flight <br /> <br />of man in heavier-than-air machines to the jet planes br&aking the sonic barrier. <br /> <br />There are so many improvements in our economic growth, it would be difficult even <br />to mention all of them. Even our plumbing has moved from outdoors to a very <br /> <br />elaborate position as a necessary part of our houses. <br />