Statement by the President on Activating a Generator at Grand Coulee Dam.

THE PLACING in service of this additional generator, which today makes Grand Coulee Dam our biggest producer of hydroelectric power, is indeed an historic event. This is one more of the many steps necessary in harnessing the almost limitless power potential of our great Northwest.

Already the Nation is indebted to the Northwest and its great Columbia Valley resources for a large contribution in winning our most terrible war. Now, in peace, this power, and more to be added, can be used in the development of industry and agriculture in a coordinated approach to the needs of the region and of the Nation.

In a special message to the 81st Congress on April 13, I recommended the enactment of legislation creating a Columbia Valley Administration which would coordinate these Federal activities playing an important part in the development and conservation of the resources of the Northwest. It is my hope to see more of these great steps, such as the one we are witnessing today, as part of a continuously developing program, organized under a single administration concerned with the problems peculiar to the Northwest.

The various Federal agencies have already done much to develop the area of the Columbia River. Now, by uniting their activities and authority in one administration, the entire program can be geared more efficiently to the rapid growth of the area.