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'-' 0") Cf'\ . ~ t ~ ~. I wish also to point out to the Congress that H.R. 3788 deals with another issue which I believe should be first considered in basic law. I refer to the authorized period of repayment. There has been a tendency during our some 45 years of experi- ence under the reclamation laws to increase the period of re- payment of construction costs. Despite this trend I believe the matter of further extensions to periods greatly in excess of the 40 years--plus, in some cases, a IO-year development period--now generally authorized, is a matter of such vital concern to the Nation as a whole that it should be carefully reviewed as a principle of general application. It is not a matter to be treated in piecemeal and isolated consideration on the basis of apparent needs of one or another small project to which no need for urgent action is attached. The policy with respect to the repayment period for rehabilita- tion and betterment of federally constructed reclamation proj- ects has not yet been established although two measures dealing with this problem are now pending--H.R. 1694 and S. 1239. There seems to be no reason why rehabilitation and betterment of a single nonfederally constructed reclamation project should re- ceive treatment which may be different from that finally author- ized for Federal projects. On July 29, 1949. when I approved the bill authorizing the Federal Government to take over the Fort Sumner irrigation projec.t, I indicated that my action was in recognition of an emergency created by the unsafe condition of the dam, which is threatened with destruction if a flood should occur. I further pointed out that approval of that bill did not constitute a precedent for the approval in the future of other bills 'author- lzing Federal assistance for individual projects where no emergency exists. None of the facts before me supports the conolusion of emergency in connection with the Vermejo project. The Vermejo project can no longer be self-.sustaining because the financial resources of the landowners are insufficient to accom- plish the needed rehabilitation. Similar conditions undoubtedly prevail in other irrigation districts. I believe that an equi- table and just basis for granting Federal aid to any irrigation . district which is in financial distress should be established py enactment of legislation similar to that under which the Federal Government formally carried on a program for extending a~sistance to non-Federal irrigation districts. The records indicate that there are 86 landowners and 45 ~arm op~rators within the Vermejo district. I sympathize fully with the situation in which they find themselves, and I recognize that in disapproving H.R. 3788 I am taking an action which they m~y at first find it difficult to understand. Nevertheless, I believe that they will accept my action as an indication of the need for basic legislation under which all projects requiring (6)