48 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Some important irrigation enterprises 

 Causes of , 

 Irrigation have gone down in the general crash of 



Failures. recent times. These failures require ex- 

 planation and furnish the text for observations that 

 may well be made in'the interest of the industry. No 

 irrigation enterprise having sufficient merit to sell its 

 securities in the market has any business to fail. 

 Securities are not sold as a rule, and at least never 



DR. N. G. BLALOCK, 

 Member of National Committee for Washington. 



should be bought, until the project has been rigidly 

 inspected by trustworthy men who can pass upon the 

 water supply, the quality of lands, the nature of the 

 engineering scheme and the ability and character 

 of the individuals to whose management the under- 

 taking is committed. No irrigatoin enterprise that 

 responds satisfactorily to these tests ought to fail to 

 meet reasonable expectations. The difficulty is that 

 it is not generally understood precisely what the 

 term "responds satisfactorily" means. Before dis- 

 cussing that phase of the matter it is well to say that 

 there have been a few failures that may be attributed 

 to downright dishonesty and a few more that must be 

 credited to blundering incapacity. In one instance a 

 very large issue of bonds- was sold upon a basis of 

 $2 in bonds for $1 in cost. In that case so much 

 money was made out of the bonds that little incentive 

 remained to induce the parties responsible to develop 

 the enterprise on its industrial side. In another case a 

 dry ditch, for which there can never be an adequate 

 water supply, was foisted upon foreign bondholders at 

 high figures. Both of these were instances of delib- 

 erate dishonesty. Under the head of blundering inca- 



pacity come several splendid enterprises that were 

 simply mismanaged, either by means of wasteful con- 

 struction, or by the issue of more securities than the 

 plant could earn interest upon. In the case of the dry 

 ditch referred to there is, of course, no escape from 

 loss, but in most of the others, even where the failure 

 was due to dishonesty, the enterprises will work out 

 to success with careful management hereafter. 



But there are instances where enter- 

 The Colonist 

 the Missing prises managed by honest men, and 



L,ink. bonded on a conservative basis, have 

 found themselves in difficulties during the past few 

 months. It is this class of failures which it seems 

 difficult to explain, and yet those who are familiar 

 with the irrigation industry from the inside are at no 

 loss to understand them. The unsolved problem is 

 successful colonization. The assets of an irrigation 

 company consist of water rights and land. These 

 assets possess only prospective value. They require 

 to be developed and the missing link is generally the 

 colonist. Money is not made when the water is di- 

 verted from the river, when canals are constructed 

 and the ditch brought to the head of the field. That 

 is only the foundation of success. The point is now 

 reached where the presence of the colonist becomes a 

 necessity. And it is the failure to attract settlers, and 

 thus to convert the company's assets into money, 

 that accounts for the disappointments which have 

 been encountered in connection with companies 

 whose plans are intrinsically good and whose mana- 

 gers are perfectly reliable. In the end there can be 

 no fear for the outcome of these enterprises. The 

 settlement of the future must necessarily be on irri- 

 gated lands. The time will come when every acre of 

 land now under irrigation, or to be brought under 

 irrigation hereafter, will be in demand. But if quick 

 results are desired a way must be found to provide 

 a constant stream of colonists to occupy the lands. 



The Need There is still another reason why the 

 Trained industry has not been as prosperous as 

 Men. it will some time become. This is the 

 fact that there have not been developed a class of 

 trained irrigation managers. When a great railroad 

 system has a presidency to fill it chooses its man 

 from the ranks of those who have been trained to the 

 business. It chooses men for their special fitness, 

 pays them handsomely, and, as a natural conse- 

 quence, receives the best that talent, training and in- 

 dustry have to give. It is seldom that men corre- 

 sponding in their business to first-class railroad execu- 

 tives in theirs find their way to the head of great irri- 

 gation companies. One reason is that there has 

 not been time to develop a class of irrigation mana- 

 gers. But another reason is that the men who have 

 discovered an opportunity for an attractive project, 



