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it is personal. The exception to this rule here is the Southern Nevada Paver C o . They are far ahead in the field in N evada. Through a constant insituticnal public relations campaign which is organixed and directed on a national scale, they have made great strides. The Water District has not really begun. Again I say, It must come from m an age m e nt....yo u, the Board of Directors. I would suggest, however, that your public relations representative be consulted. N o t that he could do the job. But, he might be-Obie to lay out a positive program for yo u . • A t this point we might ask ourselves.. . "why is it necessary to devote time and money towards these g o a ls.. . .after all the District is here to stay and ft is performing a service to the com m unity.. . .who cares what people think or what anybody says?" The answer, of course, is that the accomplishing of these goals is not for the purpose of making the role of the- District any easier. Rather, if. realized, they w ill, in the long run, save the people and the District money. For e x a m p le ....th e water conservation program which covered a period of six-months probably saved the District customers five or six times as much money as the whole year-long public relations program cost. N o one can accurately estimate this saving. It might go as high as ten times the amount of the program. Another example of the devices used in developing the basic elemients of public relations is very simple, yet very powerful. It was the use of one word.* That-word w a s .. . . "y o u r." Always the word "your" was used in association with the title of the District. In effect, it was moving people to identify themselves with the Water District and to promote the idea that each individual had an interest and was part of the District. This had never been done before. It should be part of District p o licy. Except for crackpots, irresponsible politicians or crusading editors, people w ill not attack what is a part of them and what they hold an interest in . If this brief report sounds scholarly or theoretical, It is Intentional. The reason.. It would take more than 1000 pages to report to you a ll the activities of your public relations program over the last 21 months. Thus, it appeared better to discuss the problem in an ove r-a ll approach, rather than individual accomplishments. For your guidance, and only for that reason, I point out that even engineers (with apologies to M r. Renshaw) J . M . Montgomery, for instance, stressed the importance of public relations in his detailed report to the District. Another example is a quote from the chief engineer and general manager o f the Metropolitan Water District in SO. California and I quote. . . . "next to water, public relations is our most important problem. " And this a u tility established in 1932. For your further guidance, i would suggest in a ll modesty, that public relations is a highly technical field . Yes, its intangible and hard to get a hold o f. You can't lay a finger on i t . But I assure you it is a concrete as the pipelines in providing proper service to the people, it takes the skill of a surgeon's knife or the slide rule of an engineer. It is as impersonal or more so than both. It is a science which is just coming into its ow n. The point in making this statement is ....s h o u ld the District at some future date feel a further need for a public relations program and that it is