46 THE IRR1 GA TION A GE. 



These were the class of certificate lately held good by the Federal 

 Court and are the ones upon which the water right of Redlands has 

 always rested. The dam was built when evolving hard cash from the 

 inner pocket was different thing from what it now is and a few men 

 almost beggared themselves to raise the sixty thousand the dam cost. 

 But the stockholders did it and built the dam without bonding the 

 work. The water was as good for cash as wheat the moment the 

 gate was opened. The certificates were issued in amount sufficient to 

 reimburse each stockholder for what he had paid out and a profit in 

 addition that was satisfactory all around. The certificates were sold 

 for cash and parties got back what they had put in and good interest 

 upon it. This transaction is not heard of. The subsequent manipu- 

 lation of the stock and wrecking of the company years afterward is 

 now charged up against irrigation works. The fact is the proposition 

 paid and paid well. And it always would have paid, even with bal- 

 looning, if the balloonists had not had a little too much confidence in 

 the bouying power of their gas. All calculations as to the value of 

 the water, its selling price for spot cash, the rate of settlement under 

 the .works, the value and productive power of the land and the amount 

 of money it would bring in every year have all surpassed the expec- 

 tations af the projectors. It was one of the most successful irrigation 

 projects ever started, and solid as the pyramid of Cheops. But it was 

 turned bottom upward to build upon its base another pyramid to reach 

 the stars. 



In the above case every thing was not only honestly done in dis- 

 tributing the assets as dividends but every one had his full share and 

 everybody was satisfied. This is not always the case and the re-im- 

 bursement bears heavily on a few who are not on the inside. There 

 are companies paying the president ten thousand dollars a year salary 

 to do almost nothing but look wise at a perfunctory directors' 

 meeting. As this is five per cent on nearly a quarter of a million he 

 must have put in considerable money in order to lose anything. In 

 most cases it is thirty to fifty percent on what he did put in and has 

 been paid long enough to more than pay him a good profit. In the 

 same way a superintendent in one company I know is paid two hundred 

 and forty a month while the secretary and ditch tender at small wages 

 do about all the work. 



In other cases the water or land of the company has been distrib- 

 uted to some of the parties who put in the most money and have been 

 wise enough to keep control of the stock, but not to all equally, the 

 distribution being in the form of a sale or an option to some relative 

 in such a way that the minority cannot easily object. Some enter- 

 prises have paid very well in this way to those who put in the most 

 money, the others not being considered. But if a company is not op- 

 erated for dividends how can it be said to be a failure because it does 

 not pay them? The right or wrong of the matter does not affect that 



