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~ ' . . l.BOl - 3 - It is gratifying to know that the final suggestion was made by the Governor of Oregon. Coming from that direction, action in the near future is a hopeful sign. There is always the possibility of water-poor states promoting regional plans in desperation without proper consideration to the political and public relation factors involved throughout the 'West. Now if this group is to be effective there must be a central office. The Governors, I am sure, are hopeful that this will be the only group to speak for the Western States on this SUbject. I think we all recognize we are facing problems of long duration and it may take years before the solutions will be worked out. From time to time there may be fires of discontent. This Council, with factual information, should be in a position to put out these fires before they get out of control. And it should be in a position to disseminate information so that people of our states will know and understand our objectives. In my opinion this Council will be of great service in a wide field presently before us. 'We must act as fast as we can for I guarantee if we can not get this moving among the states, it is going to be done and it may be done at a level which may not take into account public interest as we see it. If we can not work together as combined states we certainly can not complain if someone else, specifically the Federal Government, resolves our problem for us. 'We can not complain about Federal control when it is invited by our own in- action. I want to thank you for your work on this serious and import- ant matter. There is, as most of us know, a high mortality rate in the governor business. This must be a continuing group as the governors are not a continuing one, We hope this will be a stable, long-lasting council of vigorous act! on. The time to take action in planning for our future water supplies is now, not one year from now, nor two years from now, but now. The urgency of the matter reminds me of the story of the great French marshal, who once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for a hundred years. The Marshal replied: "In that case, there is no time to lose. Plant it immediately." The fact that the lead has been taken by the respective Western Governors is encouraging. It reflects a new understanding of the necessity for us from the State level to work together on and solve our own problems rather than looking elsewhere for their solutions. - 30 -