Senator Norris, the godfather of TVA, was also a strong patron of rural electrification and cooperatives. Here’s part of a letter he wrote to an REA coop.
= = = = = START NORRIS:
One of the greatest things, it seems to me, that has ever been done for the happiness and welfare of the farmers of America was the establishment of the REA. For many years the farmer has been deprived of electricity. During all these years his city brethren have been supplied with this necessary element of our modern civilized age.
Combinations of private corporations got large profits at the expense of the farmer, and when the Government undertook to do this work, it met with bitter opposition from these organized monopolies bent only on securing a profit for themselves. When we realize that most of the energy that goes into the homes comes from natural development of our natural resources that God has given us, we begin to realize how great must be the selfishness of the man who stands in the way of the people who live on farms, preventing them from securing the blessings of this natural element which God intended for all of us.
I have no doubt but that future years are going to bring great improvements and developments in the electric field. Every stream that flows downhill ought to be harnessed and made to contribute something toward the happiness of mankind. Most of these streams can be harnessed, if the arbitrary greed of corporate monopoly is removed. New inventions are going to cheapen this element of human happiness and bring its blessings into many homes which even now are deprived of them.
= = = = = END NORRIS.
Norris showed us a pro-human style of environmentalism, DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE to the post-1975 enviros whose sole purpose is to destroy all life on earth, starting with the plants, and enrich the Men Of Monopoly.
Polistra's Mill 