Harry Truman actually said...

"An orderly program of appropriations for prosecution of this work on a sustained and comprehensive basis is essential."

"The economy of controlling floods as compared with the cost of continuing under the handicap of their disruptive force has been amply demonstrated."

"In the execution of a comprehensive program for the development of the Mississippi River Basin, protection from floods is of such urgency that it should be given first attention."

"The choice is ours. We can sit idly by--or almost as bad, resort to the false economy of feeble and inadequate measures--while these precious assets waste away."