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Said he: "Wendell Willkie will presumably go out here with a spade and dig up Bonneville and Grand Coulee. . . . The United States Government has $270,000,000 invested in Bonneville and Grand Coulee and I have more conception of the value that that investment represents than all the New Deal crew put together and piled up double.
"I have some conception of what $270,000,000 means in the way of concentrated sweat and labor of men. ... It is my belief that the power generated in connection with such projects should be sold for the benefit of the people and that the people of the areas affected should determine whether it should be distributed through privately or publicly-owned local utilities.
"If you people want it distributed through private distribution systems, that is your business. If you want it distributed through publicly-owned distribution systems, that is also your business, and if you want to take over the private utilities, that is your business, too. . . .
"Don't let any bunk artist come along and tell you Wendell Willkie's views are any different from that. And I may say I know how to operate such things for the benefit of those for whom I work and I shall be working for the people of the United States."
Wendell Willkie was learning fast.