THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



87 



'are compelled to resort to crude methods, which rob 

 them of a part of their possible profits. 



"The large stockmen pasture cattle and sheep on 

 public lands and irrigate only sufficient native mead- 

 ow and alfalfa to supply the needs of their stock in 

 midwinter. With this class irrigation is a side issue 

 and seldom receives the attention which it deserves. 



"Others again have another excuse for their poor 

 methods. They are tenants and wish to obtain the 

 greatest immediate returns for the least possible ex- 

 pense. At the other extreme one finds the so-called 

 "agriculturist," who makes his money selling merchan- 

 dise in the city and spends it on his farm in the coun- 

 try. This class is content with small returns for 

 large outlays; for to such people farming is a pas- 

 time. The size of the farm has also much to do with 

 the manner of irrigating it." 



FEDERAL IRRIGATION. 



The San Francisco Call of December 23 has the 

 following to say concerning subjects and individuals 

 with whom all of our readers are familiar : 



The National Irrigation Association, which seems 

 4o be an alias for Mr. Maxwell, is largely in evidence 

 in an attack on Senator Hansbrough, of North Dakota, 

 one of the authors and promoters of the. Federal irri- 

 gation law. Mr. Maxwell in his incorporated capacity 

 has memorialized Congress in a general attack on the 

 Senator, and belabors him with the same fervor he 

 used in attacking the Modesto and Turlock districts in 

 this State, to prevent their completion of one of the 

 finest irrigation plants in the world, which is now fer- 

 tilizing a quarter of a million acres of land. 



The Federal irrigation fund now amounts to about 

 $30,000,000. It is to be hoped that it will not come 

 to be consideerd a companion pork barrel to the river 

 and harbor bill. It is growing at the rate of $3,000,- 

 000 a year by the sales of the public land. Mr. Max- 

 well has tried hard to stop this increment by lobbying 

 for repeal of existing land laws, under which alone does 

 the irrigation fund get additions to its volume. Senator 

 Hansbrough seems to favor not only the enlargement of 

 the fund, but its conservation, by putting its expendi- 

 ture under proper official and professional supervision. 

 To do this he has proposed that a supervising engineer 

 be appointed 'by the President, who, under direction of 

 the Interior 'Department, shall have general supervision 

 and direction of the engineering work required by the 

 law. 



At present this task is assigned to an employe of 

 the Geological Survey, who has neither the time for the 

 work nor the compensation to justify his giving the, 

 attention it needs. It is easy to foresee that under 

 such circumstances the fund will begin to spring leaks. 

 The Government has a military engineer in chief, who 

 has supervision of the large expenditures made under 

 the engineer corps of the army. This system deposits 

 authority and responsibility in one place. The author- 

 ity is ample as the responsibility requires, and the effect 

 is to protect the public funds. It is doubtful if au- 

 thority and responsibility can be found hand in hand 

 anywhere in the administration of the Federal irriga- 

 tion law. Each work now in progress seems quite in- 

 dependent of any relation to any other work, and if there 

 be any connection between them it is through a sub- 

 altern of a subordinate of the Interior Department. 



We submit that a work as great as this, presenting 

 as many complexities, and implying such ultimate risks 

 to the National Treasury, was never before left as 

 slipshod in respect to oversight and exactness in ad- 

 ministration. Government, of necessity, does such 

 things wastefully and therefore there are safeguards, 

 audits, countersigns and all sorts of riffles established 

 by law to catch such things as they flow and reduce to 

 the minimum the inevitable waste. To say that this 

 stupendous experiment and enormous expenditure of 

 money shall go on under the normal conditions of Gov- 

 ernment waste, without the safeguards proved necessary 

 by experience, is to utter folly of the flathead brand. 



It is not proposed to disturb in any way the pres- 

 ent corps of construction engineers, nor to revise or can- 

 cel existing contracts, or in any way check the progress 

 of work now under way. But it is proposed to put it 

 all under the direction of a supervising engineer of the 

 highest qualifications, equal -to those of the chief en- 

 gineer of the army, in whose office and under whose 

 eye every plan made, contract let, dollar expended, 

 'shovel of dirt moved and drop of water impounded shall 

 be focused. 



Those who are to occupy the lands irrigated and 

 pay back the expenditures of the Government have 

 rights in the matter and the most at stake. It is al- 

 ready known that the cost of works under way will be 

 $20 for every acre irrigated. That has to be paid back 

 by the man who occupies the land. When it is known 

 that the cost per acre of the irrigation plant in the 

 Modesto and Turlock districts is $10 per acre, the in- 

 terest of the land holder looms largely. The Modesto 

 and Turlock plant was not a Government enterprise, 

 and economy and efficiency went together in its con- 

 struction. One may easily see that it would be a 

 blessing to the future land holders in the Federal irri- 

 gation districts" if the burden per acre could be as low. 

 It may not make any difference to Mr. Maxwell, who 

 is not going to farm any of that land, but will gratify 

 his agricultural heart by farming the farmers, but it 

 does make a great difference to a tiller of the soil 

 whether the Government mortgage on his land is $10 

 an acre or $20. He has to take the risk of frost and 

 wind and weather, equip his land with buildings, teams 

 and implements, support his family and pay off a mort- 

 gage of $20 an acre in a limited time. Farmers read 

 this who have undertaken such jobs and they wince at 

 the recollection. Senator Hansbrough seems to be ac- 

 cused of entertaining the malign purpose of making 

 the mortgage as light as possible. Whereupon the Na- 

 tional Irrigation Association is incensed and calls names 

 and is afraid ! 



That association in its corporeal form, which pre- 

 ceded its corporate form, as the abalone precedes its 

 shell, undertook for a salary of $30,000 a year paid by 

 the Western railroads to get appropriations for irrigat- 

 ing direct from the treasury. When Senator Hans- 

 brough proposed to derive the fund from the sale of 

 the public land the corporeal part of the association 

 fought it. Finding it would pass, the abalone acquired 

 its shell by incorporation, in which form it claimed a 

 caveat on all plans for irrigation. There is a suspicion 

 now that it desires to stop accretions to the irrigation 

 fund and to use a bungstarter on what is already in the 

 barrel, in order to make good its contract to get direct 

 appropriations. We shall see. 



