THE* IRRIGATION AGE. 



ject for the purpose of securing water through the aid 

 of the United States. 



"Said lauds to share with the other lauds in the 

 ownership of the irrigation works when turned over to 

 the landowners after payment and in the service of 

 water for irrigation in the meantime, but subject to the 

 regulations of the Reclamation Service as to the amount 

 of water to be actually delivered to any one holding. 

 And the fact that a larger area has been paid for or is 

 held liable for payment shall not entitle such extra 

 area to water so long as the title thereto remains in 

 the original owner of the whole." 



Add to the above some provision for paying for 

 improvements where a party in good faith has obtained 

 water sufficient for the proper irrigation of a tract, or 

 else allowing, him to sell to some other landowner his 

 share of the water due from the Government's sys- 

 tem. 



Now who can be hurt by such a law? It is cer- 

 tain that the Government is not going to build water- 

 works except on desert or something very near it. Any 

 one of sense can quickly measure the probabilities of 

 the nation doing anything on a certain tract. If he 

 settles there for the purpose of reaping any benefits, 

 then the above ought to apply to him. If he does it 

 in ignorance, then he can not be much damaged if 

 he is allowed to sell the water the land has to pay for. 



A bill of that sort introduced in Congress would 

 at once test the sincerity of those who want the laws 

 repealed. I can not imagine a railroad man so unwise 

 as to imagine that private capital will build water- 

 works with every alternate section out of market, or 

 that any settlement that could be made by individual 

 waterworks would amount to anything compared with 

 what private capital can do where it can so control the 

 whole land that settlers have to buy water instead of 

 holding the . land dry for speculation. Nor can I 

 imagine any one so rabidly in favor of Government 

 works only as to believe that the Government should 

 take up every small proposition in the country or take 

 up every dubious one. Nor does private capital inter- 

 fere with the joint ownership of land and water to 



nual payment. How one man owns the laud another 

 the water when the landowner has a perpetual contract 

 for the water at a fixed price is too much for my feeble 

 intellect. You might as well say the Camden & Amboy 

 railroad still owns the Pennsylvania's line between 

 New York and Philadelphia. It was only leased for 

 999 years. 



Very few waterworks are now built subject to a 

 fluctuating annual payment. And where they are it 

 is fixed by supervisors, who are as likely to favor the 

 folks who have the votes as those who have the money. 

 Where they are fixed by contract they are generally no 

 more, often less, than the cost of good maintenance, or 

 enough more to cover risks. The water-right price is 

 generally little more than the cost of getting the water 

 on the land after all the contingencies which the en- 

 gineers failed to figure on have continged something 



First Crop Under Irrigation, Payette Valley, Idaho. 



ay such extent as is 'imagined. Most waterworks are 



low built with the intention of turning over the stock 



the landowners when enough has been sold, or else 



he water is sold or contracted subject to a fixed an- 



Payette Valley Orchard. Second Year After Planting. 



they arc sure to do. All this talk about "water ba- 

 rons" and the immense profits from the sale of water 

 is pure nonsense. Money is made, but it is generally 

 on the rise in value of the land which parties interested 

 in the company have bought. And, instead of holding 

 this out of the reach of that mass of poor suffering 

 humanity we read about, they are only too glad to sell 

 it to them mighty quick for far less than any settler, 

 or combination of mere settlers, could put the same 

 amount of water on the land with the same certainty 

 and the same cheapness of maintenance. The money 

 made merely by building waterworks and selling water 

 is largely in your eye. I have made a little in that 

 way, but I don't want any more at the same figures. 

 It was the dearest money I ever bought. Most of the 

 money others have made is in stocks and bonds put up 

 as collateral in some bank for money to maintain the 

 waterworks. And if they don't finally break the bank, 

 the bank is in luck, for most of them are utterly un- 

 saleable in a pinch. I have been at both ends of the 

 line and also in the middle. And for sure coin and 

 sound sleep give me the hoe-handle end every time. 



Now this is a matter in which none of us can 

 afford to have our motives impugned. The rainy part 

 of the country is watching the irrigation movement, 

 and tlio first mistake in it will be the signal for a howl 

 that may increase until it means something. If we let 

 slip tli'. 1 present means of revenue we may have trouble 

 in .setting it again. 



