I know of no plans that are more nearly perfect than those that have been so carefully and thoroughly worked out by the Army engineers and adopted from time to time by your committee.

The purpose of this statement is to urge your consideration of the lower Colorado River project in Texas. The Marshall-Ford Dam, above Austin, when completed, will afford a great deal of protection on the lower river, but a system of levees is necessary to complete the job. Many disastrous floods have originated below the Marshall-Ford Dam. These levees have been recommended by the Chief and Board of Engineers in House Document 312, Seventy-sixth Congress.

I also call attention to House Document 361 of the Seventy-first Congress, from which it will be seen that from 1900 to 1913, 17 floods occurred, causing the loss of 61 human lives and damages to the extent of $61,400,000.

From 1896 to 1916 I was county judge of Colorado County, which is on this section of the river. I had supervision over the roads and bridges during that time. There were four large steel bridges over the river, all of which were destroyed one or more times during that 20-year period, involving a loss of many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Two bridges of the Southern Pacific Railroad were destroyed, one of them several times, involving a loss of several millions of dollars. The loss to the Southern Pacific was so great from one flood that the Railway Commission of Texas authorized an increase in rates on all traffic crossing the river for several years to partially reimburse the company for this loss.

The rich alluvial valley of the Colorado is from 1 to 8 miles in width on the lower section of the river, all subject to overflow in the large floods. There are several hundred thousand acres involved, and the farm losses have been tremendous, many millions, as shown by the estimates of the Army engineers.

The cities of La Grange, Columbus, Wharton, and Bay City have been inundated, and many homes have been destroyed. In 1913 the waterworks plant at Columbus was destroyed and remained out of commission for several months.

I am sorry that I do not have the data before me at this time to give you details of some of the tremendous losses on this section of the river, but call attention to the estimates in House Document 361. I will say that of the many rivers that have come under my observation in the past 24 years, I know of none involving more serious flood conditions.

Very sincerely,

J. J. MANSFIELD.

The CHAIRMAN. At this point, I submit for the record a letter to me from F. C. Harrington, dated April 10, 1940, with the lists therein mentioned attached hereto.

(The matter referred to follows:)

WORKS PROGRESS FLOOD-CONTROL PROJECTS

FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION

The Honorable WILLIAM MADISON WHITTINGTON,

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 10, 1940. House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. WHITTINGTON: In accordance with your telephone request of April 8, there is submitted a series of tables, outlining in detail and summary form projects for flood-control purposes other than those specifically authorized by Congress which have been approved by the President under the various E. R. A. acts, for operation by this Administration and by the War Department, Corps of Engineers, as a participating agency under such acts.

The summary tables for this type of work indicate that under the various E. R. A. acts, 2,071 projects were approved for operation by this Administration, authorizing Federal funds of $137,003,872, or an average of $66,153 per project, and further, under these same acts, 197 projects were approved for operation by the War Department, Corps of Engineers, authorizing Federal funds of $209,885,337, or an average of $1,065,408 per project. These summary tables include all adjustments in Federal funds through April 3, 1940.

The detailed tables which are submitted cover approvals of projects by the President made during the period April 1, 1938, through April 3, 1940, and undertaken directly by this Administration, as well as those that have been undertaken with funds allocated by this Administration to the War Department,

Corps of Engineers.

As the time allotted for the preparation of these presentations was limited, the detailed listings prepared for you as of April 27, 1938, were not revised to reflect changes which occurred subsequent to the submission of that report. However, the summary tables do reflect such changes.

Yours very truly,

Att.: By special messenger.

F. C. HARRINGTON, Commissioner.

Number and estimated Federal cost of W. P. A. projects approved by the President under the Emergency Relief Administration Acts of 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, and 1939, through Apr. 3, 1940, for operation by the War Department, Corps of Engineers, for flood control (showing average cost per project)

Number and estimated Federal cost of State W. P. A. projects approved by the President under the Emergency Relief Administration acts of 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, and 1939, through April 3, 1940, for flood control 1 (showing average cost per project)