WILL CAPITAL BE TREATED FAIRLY. 



BY D. W. ROSS, OF IDAHO. 



UPON the theory that the federal gov- 

 ernment will not build many irrigat- 

 ing canals for us during the coming year, 

 a few reasons why our next legislature 

 should continue the good work along the 

 line of irrigation legislation begun by the 

 last will perhaps not be out of place at 

 this time. 



For several sessions past bills have been 

 introduced for the regulation of the use of 

 water for irrigation, but they were of local 

 character, and no general scheme for own- 

 ership and control was proposed until the 

 last session, when a law similar in charac- 

 ter to the "Wright law "-of California 

 was enacted. 



The principle of common ownership of 

 laud and water was also incorporated into 

 the act passed at the same session, accept- 

 ing the grant of one million acres of land 

 from the United States. Thus the found- 

 ation was laid, it was hoped, for future 

 legislation. 



Several "districts" were formed under 

 the " district law," but owing to doubt as 

 to the decision to be rendered by the Un- 

 ited States Supreme Court on the validity 

 of the "Wright law" all work was held in 

 abeyance. 



All right-thinking men, however, have 

 agreed that we have started in the right 

 direction, and with a few amendments our 

 irrigation laws should be operative for 

 great good. 



In answer to the pertinent question, 

 " Will capital be treated fairly?" I desire 

 to explain operations under our "lack of 

 system," which, I trust, will convince 

 thoughtful men of the necessity of a radi- 

 cal change in our present policy, a policy 

 which has retarded settlement and which 

 threatens the good name of the state. 



The "promoter" has always been an 

 important man in the development of new 

 countries. In Idaho the " Irrigation Pro- 

 moter" has held undisputed possession of 

 the field of irrigation enterprise. No laws 

 have yet been passed circumscribing his 

 actions, but he has stood before our legisla- 

 tive committees and in the name of ' ' capi- 

 tal " has objected to every class of legisla- 



172 



tion on this important subject. Starting 

 with a proposition based upon wind and 

 water, the water belonging to the state and 

 the wind his own, he has succeeded in 

 making more colossal failures than any 

 other public figure. 



Two important reasons will account for 

 such failures. First, he attempts to arbi- 

 trarily establish certain relations between 

 the land owner and his water company; to 

 this the land owner objects; and second, in 

 a few cases, the project has been wrecked 

 because the promoter tried to make his 

 profit out of the capital, which neressarily 

 passed through his hands during the con- 

 struction of the works. While there are a 

 few successes due to his fairness and hon- 

 esty, the above reasons will account for 

 most of the failures of irrigation enter- 

 prises in this state. 



The promoter has been given a free 

 hand, his reports in many instances will 

 not stand investigation, and, taking into 

 full account "hard times," the policy 

 adopted through his representations prom- 

 ised nothing but disaster. Yet he has 

 been abetted by many prominent citizens 

 on the plea that we will reap great advan- 

 tages through the ''expenditure of capi- 

 tal." In the attempt to mitigate the 

 wrong done capital all manner of coloniza- 

 tion schemes are placed before the people, 

 which in many cases have only added new 

 victims. 



There has either been an exception to 

 the proverbial "timidity of capital" in 

 the case of irrigation investments, or the 

 irrigation promoter is the prince of charm- 

 ers. In all, large undertakings of this class 

 capital is absolutely necessary. It is gen- 

 erally supposed that capital's first inquiry 

 is regarding the security offered. Whether 

 the profits of the promoter be great or 

 small, whether the relations between the 

 management and patrons be cordial or 

 strained, is of but little moment to the 

 holders of the bonds, provided the security 

 for said bonds is good. 



With the constitution of the state before 

 him, which declares the use of appropri- 

 ated waters to be a public use and within 



