A Dam Site

"The issue," cried the Governor of Vermont, "is simply and solely the insistence of the Federal Government that it can take from us what it chooses, when it chooses, without any regard at all for our wishes or our rights.

'"For more than a year I have warned that behind the flood control, behind the power development, was a deliberate attempt . . . for a little group of men to run things their way--good sometimes, bad sometimes--but always their way--forgetting that a check with the homefolks and their wishes is not only good practical horse sense but the very essence of democracy. . . .

"It is now put squarely up to us Vermonters. . . . We can fight or we can run."

With these words Governor George D. Aiken last week stirred his legislature to come to the defense of Union Village. The Governor had a letter from Secretary of War Woodring directing that work begin on a Federal flood control dam on the Ompompanoosuc River before a contract had been made compensating Union Village and other towns for the loss of taxes on land condemned by the U. S. for the dam site.

"Maybe that's selfish," said the selectmen, "but we'll lose about $1,000 a year, and that makes more taxes for the rest of us."

In the snowy mountains at Montpelier, Vermont's legislators--mostly Republicans as they have been throughout the New Deal, mostly farmers like their Governor, mostly thrifty taciturn New Englanders--made history: they cheered. They also petitioned Congress 1) to make Secretary Woodring approve the Ompompanoosuc contract, 2) to repeal that section of the Flood Control Act of 1938 which so invades States' rights. Most noteworthy of all, they voted Governor Aiken $67,500 of Vermont's carefully guarded money to fight the case through the U. S. Supreme Court if need be.

The issue was promptly broadened. Governor Aiken sped to Boston, met New England's five other Governors. The Government's flood control plans call for 32 dams in New England. The six Governors --Republicans all since last November's election--lined up solidly with Vermont.

In Washington, Secretary Woodring retorted that on Governor Aiken's head would lie full blame for blocking the Federal flood control program in Vermont. Franklin Roosevelt sniffed that Governor Aiken would not have to spend his $67,500 fighting fund: if he would rather have States' rights than Federal flood control, all right, the War Department would scratch Vermont off its list, pour its dollars and its dams into other States.

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