"348 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



-was lost and the Wright act still stands on 

 the statutes of California. 



In the meantime, so we are told, 

 the Southern Pacific Railway and other 

 corporate interests have employed Mr. 

 Maxwell, and he was delegated by them 

 to attend the session of the irrigation 

 -congress and similar bodies, and further 

 the move for national aid. Soon the other 

 -trans-continental roads joined and Mr. 

 Maxwell established a society, known as 

 -the National Irrigation Association, which 

 has no policy except such as he may dic- 

 tate. Its principle object is to furnish 

 revenue. This is raised by annual dues 

 amounting to $5 per member. The total 

 receipts have exceeded $15,000 in one 

 year; which it is claimed by those 

 in a position to know, is at Mr. Max- 

 well's disposal. The trans-continental 

 railways furnish him $30,000 per year. 

 With this financial backing Mr. Max- 

 well has entrenched himself first, as 

 the representative of the poor neglected 

 farmer, and the would-be irrigator from 

 the over-crowded city, and second, since 

 the passage of the Irrigation Act, as the 

 mouth-piece of Uncle Sam. This latter 

 assumption on his part is only possible 

 through the consent of the servants of the 

 government, who have in charge the ad- 

 ministration of the provisions of the re- 

 cent act of congress. 



Mr. Maxwell has attended many con- 

 gresses and conventions, where he has gen- 

 erally managed to dictate the character of 

 the resolutions adopted. He is aided in 

 this work ry men whom he employs direct- 

 ly, and by employees of the corporate in- 

 terests, which furnish him with funds. It 

 is interesting to the outsider to observe 

 the manner in which Mr. Maxwell and his 

 men try to handle an irrigation congress 

 or similar convention. In the first place, 

 Mr. Maxwell and a large number of his 

 confidential men secure places on the com- 

 mittee on resolutions or any other commit- 

 tee of importance. As soon as the com" 



mittees meet, Mr. Maxwell sees that sub- 

 committees are appointed, and that he is 

 on the sub-committee which has charge of 

 the work he desires to see carried through. 

 The reader can satisfy himself as to the 

 personel of many of these committees by 

 examining the records of the session of 

 any irrigation congress, during the past 

 three years. Many of the men employed 

 by Mr. Maxwell, spend a large part of 

 their time securing members for the Nat- 

 ional Irrigation Association. 



It should not be understood how- 

 ever, that the rank and file of the National 

 Irrigation Association, are of the type re- 

 presented by Mr. Maxwell and four or five 

 of his followers. On the contrary, the 

 membership is made up of many of the 

 leading thinkers and public men of the 

 west, whose only object in joining the as- 

 sociation was to further the interests of ir- 

 rigation. 



Mr. Maxwell has always opposed reform 

 in state irrigation laws. The childish ob- 

 jection he made to such a movement at 

 the irrigation congress recently held in 

 Colorado Springs, was that the recent act 

 of congress would make water so plentiful 

 that every body would have enough and 

 the fundamental cause of litigation would 

 be destroyed. With no knowledge of en- 

 gineering or the duties of an engineer, he 

 has uniformly opposed giving engineers 

 authority when water is to be divided or 

 laws are to be administered. Engineers 

 have charge of this work, wherever irriga- 

 tion has achieved the greatest develop- 

 ment. In the older irrigated countries, 

 where the governments build irrigation 

 works out-right, not expecting any money 

 return from the farmer, the engineers not 

 only administer the laws, but frame the 

 necessary measures for bringing about re- 

 form in the laws. A knowledge of irriga- 

 tion engineering and an appreciation of 

 the essentials of irrigation law, is what 

 Mr. Maxwell needs before he will be a safe 

 exponent of the policy of the government, 



