THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



167 



ness. While this may seem a peculiar comparison it is 

 nevertheless applicable from the fact that a man to be 

 broad enough should first be capable of conducting some 

 moderate commercial enterprise for himself, hence our 

 remark that a goodly number of the men who are con- 

 trolling the expenditure of millions of Government 

 money would be absolute failures in conducting som? 

 mediocre commercial enterprise for themselves. 



There is no question but that when these facts 

 are brought to the attention of the President and the 

 Secretary of the Interior an investigation will be made 

 in certain cases which will relieve the department of 

 men of this class. The unfortunate feature in the case 

 is, however, that such information may be long delayed 

 in reaching the proper authorities and much damage 

 will result meanwhile, not only to the Government itself 

 and the cause of irrigation under government aid, but 

 to many legitimate private irrigation projects as well. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE is well aware of the fact that 

 many good men are to be found in the reclamation 

 service, men who are conscientious and painstaking, 

 who are desirous of performing good work for the 

 Government and who are not made drunk by ambi- 

 tion or unjustified value of their ability or services. 

 These men are a credit to the department and it is, 

 moreover, a pity that they are frequently misjudged as a 

 result of the actions of their superiors and co-workers. 



MAXWELL'S HIRELINGS. 



As an illustration of the audacity of the active 

 heads of the National Irrigation Association, and the 

 interference of the paid representatives of this asso- 

 ciation with State affairs, we are reproducing here- 

 with an article from the Tacoma Ledger of February 

 19th. The article is published in full in order that 

 our readers may understand how active the few mem- 

 bers of this association are in affairs in which they have 

 no right to interfere. The article also shows plainly 

 that the statements of this journal as to the association 

 being a representative of the Reclamation Service, are 

 quite true. It will be noted in the last paragraph that 

 one of the paid representatives of the association 

 states "it is composed of thousands of great business 

 interests scattered over the country who are interested 

 in pushing this irrigation work as far as possible/' 

 The fact of the matter is, that fully one-half of the 

 manufacturers of the country who were induced to 

 support the National Irrigation Association, withdrew 

 this support as soon as they learned the character of the 

 men at the head, and it is safe to say that fully eighty 

 per cent of the original members have drawn entirely 

 away from the association. 



In view of these facts does it not appear auda- 

 cious for Mr. Maxwell and his hirelings to go about 

 the country posing as representatives of the Govern- 

 ment while its only means of existence is through the 

 contributions of such individuals as may be secured 

 by such articles as the following. Some day the people 

 in the west will awake to a realization of the fact that 

 they have paid out money without a possibility of either 

 direct or indirect returns. 



"A. W. Hadley, traveling representative of the 

 National Irrigation Association, Chicago, and Secre- 

 tary C. E. Bortle, of the northwest section, National 

 Association, of Spokane, were in the city yesterday 

 conferring with Tacoma business interests regarding 

 irrigation matters. They are en route to Olympia, 

 where they will spend several days in securing support 

 of a bill to be introduced in the present session of the 

 legislature, authorizing appropriations for topographic 

 and hydrographic surveys in co-operation with the 

 Government work of this nature. 



"An appropriation of $25,000 will probably be 

 asked for, and if the same is secured, the Federal 

 Government will make a like appropriation. This 

 proposed $50,000 will be used in carrying out surveys 

 over the entire State with a view, for the present, of 

 investigating the sections suitable for irrigation and 

 in this way pave the way and facilitate the work of the 

 Federal Reclamation Service. 



TIME FOR STATE TO GET IN LINE. 



"When seen yesterday regarding their visit to the 

 capital, Messrs. Hadley and Bortle stated: 



" 'It is high time for the State of Washington to 

 get into line with her sister States and Territories and 

 secure the co-operation of Government surveys which 

 have been carried out for a number of years in almost 

 all other sections. 



" 'Washington is far in the rear as regards national 

 reclamation, and the only thing that has placed other 

 States to the fore is the fact that the people of other 

 sections have become awakened to the great benefit? 

 it is possible to realize from the provisions of the 

 reclamation act and have therefore put forth every 

 effort to facilitate the investigations which are neces- 

 sary before actual results can be accomplished. 



" 'California, we understand, has just appropriated 

 $60,000 for the second time, to be used in carrying on 

 topographic work in conjunction with the Government, 

 and to this activity can be traced, beyond doubt, the 

 recent appropriation of $3,000,000 for the construc- 

 tion of the great Colorado River irrigation project. 



WHAT ARIZONA HAS DONE. 



" 'Arizona has been interested in this work for 

 years, and as a result an appropriation of $3,000,000 

 has been set aside for constructing the great Tonto 

 basin dam and the necessary canal system, upon which 

 there are already more than 2,000 men actually en- 

 gaged at this time. It should be borne in mind in 

 connection with this fact, that there has accrued from 

 the sale of Government lands to the national reclama- 

 tion fund from Arizona but a paltry $166,000, while 

 from the State of Washington there has accrued more 

 than $3,000,000; yet not a shovel of earth has as yet 

 been turned within the boundaries of the State. 



" 'The National Irrigation Association is composed 

 of thousands of great business interests scattered over 

 the country, who are interested in pushing this irri- 

 gation work along as rapidly as possible, for it means 

 increased productive acreage which, in turn, means in- 

 creased population and trade field. This is one of the 

 ways in which it is trying to facilitate matters and if 

 Tacoma would realize the attendant benefits to be de- 

 rived from a possible doubling of the population of the 

 State within the next very few years as a result of 

 quadrupling the productive acreage and the enormous 

 influx of settlers which will surely follow, then it is 

 a matter 'up' to every business man in the city to 

 take hold of and 'see it through' with all speed." 3 



