The Green and the Brown A History of Conservation in ... - WNLibrary

114 The Green and the Brown
cause the floods to drown their land. 139 Also, calculations showed that
the economics of regulation differed markedly depending on the section
of the river. Above the village of Einen between the towns of Warendorf
and Telgte, regulation promised protection to some 21,600 acres of land,
implying costs of 230 Reichsmarks per acre with prospective costs of
five million Reichsmark for the entire project. However, the area at stake
below Einen comprised only 3,100 acres, whereas regulation would likewise
cost five million Reichsmarks, and a tally of 1,600 Reichsmarks per
acre was “unjustifiable” by itself. 140 Typically, the farmers’ meeting in
1930 ended with a call for unity and a “comprehensive view” on the
project: “damage below Warendorf must not increase due to the start of
construction on the upper stretches under any circumstances.” 141 However,
such a statement merely masked the divergent interests without solving
the fundamental dilemma.
All in all, it seems that the fate of the project was still undecided in the
early 1930s. 142 What tilted the scale in the project’s favor was the sudden
availability of cheap labor as a result of the Great Depression. With
the government setting up labor projects to curb mass unemployment,
the costs of labor shrunk dramatically. 143 Moreover, the project suddenly
looked like a win–win scenario: farmers would profit from higher and
more secure yields, unemployed workers would find jobs, even if low-paid
ones, and the hydrological experts would get a chance to implement their
design. The only faction that would not win was the conservation community,
for the project was almost identical to the scenario that Schoenichen
condemned in his “Appeal of the German Landscape to the Labor Service.”
“The work of the Labor Service must under no circumstances lead
to a German landscape full of geometry and concrete,” he wrote, warning
139 WAALWL Best. 305 no. 46, Niederschrift über die Besprechung der Frage der Emsregulierung
im Sitzungssaale der Landwirtschaftskammer zu Münster, October 18, 1930,
p. 1.
140 StAT C 2303, Niederschrift über die Verhandlungen betreffend den Emsausbau on
March 4, 1931, p.2.
141 WAALWL Best. 305 no. 46, Niederschrift über die Besprechung der Frage der Emsregulierung
im Sitzungssaale der Landwirtschaftskammer zu Münster, October 18, 1930,
p. 9.
142 See KAW Kreisausschuss Warendorf B 267, Die Glocke of November 2, 1932.
143 See StAT C 2303, Niederschrift über die Verhandlungen betreffend den Emsausbau on
March 4, 1931, p.9; StAT C 1978, Der Vorsitzende des Kreisausschusses, memorandum
of September 7, 1933, p.2; WAA LWL Best. 305 no. 46, Niederschrift über die
Besprechung der Frage der Emsregulierung im Sitzungssaale der Landwirtschaftskammer
zu Münster, October 18, 1930, and Entschließung der Zentrumsfraktion, Münster,
April 21, 1931; and WAA LWL Best. 305 no. 50, 55, 65.