Welsh Journals

What is a Region ? By C. F. MATTHEWS PRESSING Welsh claims for special treatment, Eryl Hall Williams ("Wales" Nov. 1948) says Wales is a national region rather than a natural one and quotes Professor Guthkind as saying that the concept of a region should be determined first of all by social considerations. Not only are social considerations of preponderating importance but up to now highly successful "Regions" have not been coterminous with natural resource areas or even with geographic ones. Outstanding example is the Tennessee Valley whose claim to being a "Region" is popularily believed to be based upon a watershed. Whether a water- shed is a significant unit for anything beyond drainage has been ques- tioned by the National Resource Committee of U.S.A. It declares it "almost absurd to take a river basin as a fundamental regional basis", and it went on to point out that in fact "In neither theory nor practice has the sphere of the authority of the T.V.A. been set at the watershed boundary". Where the T.V.A. area does conform with a requirement given importance by the Resource Committee is in that it encompasses "a problem area which demanded treatment". Apart from flooding, many problems were more pressing in, if not peculiar to Tennessee. The mountainous country and its small farms demanded a new approach in a continent where only large prairie farms had been considered by manu- facturers. Diversity of industry, and processing rather than wholesale export of raw materials had to be encouraged and a powerful research organization had to be established to be of service to the small units both in industry and agriculture. Tennessee Valley did not have the advantage, which Wales has, of being a national entity though there were strong common social charac- teristics throughout the area which assisted T.V.A. in its avowed policy of giving first place to the human aspect of all problems. Operating in a territory with a small enough population (about 3t millions) it could keep close contact with these problems. Through its philosophy which entails voluntary co-operation with local institutions and individuals (it has no coercive power) it has fostered a regional team spirit which, in turn, has released as great a fund of human energy and resourcefulness as in more unfortunate areas stifling bureaucracies have suppressed.