Mr. OLSON. Not that I know of, sir.

Mr. ANGELL. None, I believe, has been presented to the committee. The CHAIRMAN. I have not heard of any.

Mr. ANGELL. All of the local interests are very much in favor of it? Mr. OLSON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANKIN. All of the shipping interests that use the river up to there are favorable, are they not?

Mr. HOEVEN. In that connection, there are three other members, that I would like to introduce at this time.

Mr. OLSON. I would like to introduce Mr. W. H. Marriott, secretary of the Sioux City Grain Exchange.

Mr. MARRIOTT. Mr. Chairman, I prepared five copies of my story, but it is only about 5 minutes long. Do you prefer to have me read it, or shall I file it?

The CHAIRMAN. If you will just file it with the reporter.

Mr. MARRIOTT. It is very short.

The CHAIRMAN. If you prefer to read it, you may.

Mr. MARRIOTT. Perhaps I had better; because it is not very long. STATEMENT OF W. H. MARRIOTT, SECRETARY OF THE SIOUX CITY (IOWA) GRAIN EXCHANGE

Mr. MARRIOTT. First I want to qualify myself that I make my living as secretary of the Sioux City Grain Exchange. I have for 5 years been chairman of the Transportation committee of the chamber of commerce. I am a member of the Nebraska Grain Dealers Association.

I give you that information to show you that I am fairly familiar with the grain business up in my part of the country.

Mr. ANGELL. Before you begin with your statement, may I ask a question that I propounded a moment ago: Is there any opposition locally among any interests to this project?

Mr. MARRIOTT. To the harbor, Congressman? I have been in practically every meeting we have had and I have heard none whatever. Mr. ANGELL. And the improvement will be available for all competing interests using the river?

Mr. MARRIOTT. Yes, sir. I bring that out in my statement.

I want to answer the chairman's question about the production of grain. I thought that would be asked, and I brought that with me Mr. RANKIN. We want you to talk about your load, what you ship out and what you ship in.

Mr. MARRIOTT. I would like to read this to you. It is not very long. The members of the Sioux City Chamber of Commerce, numbering 1,400 members, the Sioux City Grain Exchange with 21 members and 350 employees and the Sioux City Traffic Bureau, numbering 75 members, all of whom I have the privilege of representing, respectfully ask this committee to take favorable action on the proposed appropriations for the development of the Missouri River Basin as requested by the United States Army Engineers, United States Bureau of Reclamation and other Federal agencies.

Sioux City is a community strategically located to be benefited both by irrigation and navigation. A few of the reasons we feel the appropriations should be made at once are as follows:

It is apparent that soon our territory will be faced with a problem of surplus labor with a large bank of unemployed veterans recently returned from the armed forces.

These men should be given an opportunity to find work at reasonable wages and are not interested in any scheme similar to WPA-madework existing in the 1930's.

By the immediate start of construction of dams, levees, irrigation ditches, power plants, and so forth, the greater part of these men will be able to secure work on projects that definitely are building for the future and are economically justified.

The development of this territory by irrigation will create opportunities for these same men to secure gainful employment, not only in farming but in industry of all kinds so that Federal aid will no longer be required.

Also we feel that during the past two decades there has been no surplus food in the world but there has been a definite break-down in our system of distribution.

With American labor gainfully employed, the demand in the United States for food will increase. With the United Nations and other organizations created during the war functioning as planned, there is no question in our minds but that our exports of foodstuffs to the heavily populated centers of the world will show a material increase. We can and must anticipate inevitable growth in population in the United States both by the normal birth rate and immigration.

North and west of Sioux City is an immense territory of very fertile soil which has demonstrated its ability to produce all kinds of agricultural products when sufficient water is provided.

The problem of providing water for this land is one which must necessarily be handled by the Federal Government, subject to State's rights, owing to the magnitude of the undertaking and the fact that so many projects involve land and water in two or more States.

It will take time to build and develop all the projects and appropriations should be made at once to cover all improvements so construction may start at soon as labor is available.

Power projects should be completed at a date as early as possible to avail ourselves as quickly as possible of the processes of agricultural chemurgy made available during the war.

To name a few may we call your attention to canning and cooking by the electronic method, quick freezing, compression, extraction, and so forth.

All these processes are in the early state of development commercially but all require cheap and abundant electric power.

Furthermore, all these processes lead to conservation of food, reduce the cost of production and distribution of food and helps solve the problem of surplus farm crops.

This in turn reduces the cost of living in the highly populated manufacturing centers and makes for a well fed and contented laboring class of people.

Mr. RANKIN. This particular project would not be using any electricity?

Mr. MARRIOTT. I am keying them all in together, Congressman, and I will be on the harbor in just a second.

Mr. RANKIN. But I am supposed to be the "electricity crank" for the committee. Where would this electricity be generated that you are referring to?

Mr. MARRIOTT. It would be just about 200 miles north of Sioux City.

Mr. RANKIN. How much will they generate there?

Mr. MARRIOTT. I cannot tell you in kilowatts.

Maybe Colonel Feringa can. I cannot tell you exactly, but I can assure you it is fantastic.

Mr. RANKIN. You cannot shock me with any fantastic figures on power.

Mr. MARRIOTT. When this vast inland empire of the Missouri River Basin gets into full production we must seek the cheapest and best form of transportation.

Our studied opinion is that these agricultural commodities can move with sufficient speed and at a lower cost by water into the great areas of the East, South, Southeast, and the export trade. Experience is teaching us that commodities which, due to seasonal production, must necessarily be stored for a period of time, can be stored and moved by barge at about 25 percent of the cost of any other form of transportation. This factor alone warrants the immediate development of transportation on the Missouri River.

Another thought we desire to leave with you is the question of national defense.

Conditions during the war clearly demonstrated that should the United States be attacked by an enemy, the first damage will be done in the area contiguous to the seaboards.

By the development of the Missouri River Basin, our country, will have a refuge into which the excess population can retire until the Nation can recover from such an onslaught.

In this refuge, however, we must develop factories, manufacturing plants and other factors to maintain a complete economy during such an emergency.

Our primary interest in appearing in this hearing is to urge appropriations immediately for the project known as the Winter Harbor at the confluence of the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers, which will provide many advantages in the development of the territory north and west of Sioux City.

I have personal contact and immediate knowledge of the situation at Sioux City with respect to the grain, milling, and feed industry. During the past 6 months I have been approached by nine different concerns all with such varied interests as a melting plant, feed mills, glucose factories, and so forth.

All are concerned with the expansion of their facilities and one factor that predominates is that the location must be adjacent to river transportation as well as rail and highway.

Our search for such locations reveals the fact that most of the river front at Sioux City is already held by individuals interested in industries in other fields or is not suitable for the industries described. The completion of the Winter Harbor will afford many such sites. Congressman Hoeven failed to mention that we have about a 35- to 50foot bluff right on the river, and you cannot possibly get any industry in there.

The industries mentioned will be in a position to purchase the raw commodities produced on the irrigated areas as proposed by the PickSloan plan and the agricultural lands around Sioux City which do not need irrigation and with water, rail, and highway transportation, can process these commodities and distribute them to all parts of the world; one of the fallacies in our economic structure in the Missouri River Basin is that corn, oats, barley, and so forth, must be shipped into the East, manufactured into human and animal food and cross hauled back into the same territory where produced or to the territory beyond.

It is apparent that the day of large concentrated industrial operations has passed and there is a definite trend towards decentralization. The sites provided by this improvement will be ideal for small industries which contemplate serving the demand west and north of Sioux City.

Another advantage of the Winter Harbor is the extension of the season of navigation on the river. Both in the fall when the river is freezing up and in the spring during the thaw and break-up of ice, it is very hazardous for boats and barges to be operating in the river.

With such a harbor at Sioux City the boats could leave the southern terminals later in the year with an assurance of safety after arrival. Equipment could be safely stored in the harbor, away from the rapid current and ice, and during the winter when idle they could be overhauled and reconditioned for summer use.

Further the barges could be used for storage of grain and other commodities during the winter, thereby reducing the necessary investment in structures built for that purpose.

Mayor Olson has filed with you a brochure in which is given pertinent facts about the harbor, improvements the city of Sioux City plan in connection therewith, facts as to the population to be served and the territory covered.

We can make no further statement except to approve and confirm the facts he has given you.

In conclusion, we wish to say that we have spent our entire life on the banks of the Missouri River and are thoroughly familiar with the vagaries of that river. Experience has taught us two things:

The first is that the Pick-Sloan plan is perfectly feasible, and second, all the projects should be completed as nearly as possible at the same time.

Otherwise it would be a situation comparable to building a house. without a roof, so that the rest of the structure will deteriorate without any protection.

We again wish to emphasize the necessity of immediate work on all projects, particularly the Winter Harbor at Sioux City, and urge the necessary appropriations be made at once.

The CHAIRMAN. Your State, I believe, leads the Nation in hog production, does it not?

Mr. MARRIOTT. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Where are your hogs slaughtered?

Mr. MARRIOTT. At Sioux City.

The CHAIRMAN. How are they shipped out of there generally; by rail?

Mr. MARRIOTT. By rail at the moment.

Mr. COLE. I do not believe they lead in hog production. I think Missouri does on that.

Mr. MARRIOTT. I would like to argue with you on that.

Congressman Rankin asked the question about the production of grain and available grain. So I brought with me the statistics for 1946, which will give you the ratio of the production of grains.

On that date we had 33,000,000 bushels of wheat, 67,000,000 bushels of corn, 133,000,000 bushels of oats, 22,000,000 bushels of barley, and 1,000,000 bushels of rye.

Mr. ANGELL. Is it at the top of the list in the production of corn? Mr. MARRIOTT. No; oats were at the top this year.

Mr. RANKIN. No; oats were? Now, Iowa produces over a million bushels of corn every year, does it not?

Mr. MARRIOTT. May I correct you, Congressman? Iowa is not particularly involved in this hearing. We have to stay in South Dakota and then Nebraska and northwest Iowa and southern Minnesota.

Mr. RANKIN. I understand. But Iowa is the closest to it. I understand that Iowa, of course, is the largest corn-producing State in the Union and the largest hog-raising State?

Mr. MARRIOTT. That is correct.

Mr. RANKIN. Now, with this 9-foot channel and with this harbor fully developed to where you can use it, you would ship a large portion of your grain and your livestock products, and so forth, down the Missouri and Mississippi River to the Gulf? That is right, is it not?

Mr. MARRIOTT. That is right.

Mr. RANKIN. On barges?

Mr. MARRIOTT. That is, to New Orleans or Pittsburgh. They definitely have in their mind to go to Pittsburgh.

Mr. RANKIN. It would go to Cairo and up the Ohio to Pittsburgh? Mr. MARRIOTT. Right.

Mr. RANKIN. But when those barges return, what do they bring back?

Mr. MARRIOTT. Cottonseed cake, oystershells, empty bottles, general merchandise, coal, cement.

Mr. RANKIN. What was your first item?

Mr. MARRIOTT. Cottonseed cake from the State of Mississippi.

Mr. RANKIN. That is what we call cottonseed meal.

Now, Iowa does not have any oil, does it?

Mr. MARRIOTT. No, sir.

Mr. RANKIN. You ship your oil in as a rule from the Southern States, do you not?

Mr. MARRIOTT. That is correct.

Mr. RANKIN. You get a large portion of that oil now from Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas?

Mr. MARRIOTT. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANKIN. The cheapest method of bringing in oil today, of transporting oil, is by this barge method, is it not?

Mr. MARRIOTT. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANKIN. Now, I am tremendously interested in this proposition for several reasons.

In the first place, I am for developing our inland waterways, and I am for developing all the hydroelectric power in America and for supplying it to the people at the cheapest possible rates.