Montana: No, Thank You

For a state governor, there can be few juicier plums than a massive, federally financed dam. But last week Republican Governor Tim Babcock of Montana showed up before a Senate Public Works subcommittee to oppose the Government's plan to build a dam in his state. The proposed Knowles Dam on the Flathead River, said Babcock, was an "unsound expenditure of the taxpayers' dollars that would cost the people of this country $259 million they do not need to spend."

Endorsed by the Army Engineers. Knowles Dam is part of the huge development program for the Columbia River Basin. But Babcock argued that the dam, which would ,,back up a 40-mile lake, would flood 9,000 acres of irrigated land, harm Montana's forestry industry, submerge three towns and displace 1,284 persons.

Declared Babcock: "Perhaps it is necessary for a state or a Governor to focus attention on our national need to reverse unnecessary federal spending. If such is the case, then Montana is proud to be that state, and I am proud to be that Governor."