THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



233 



plan whereby the West is to be reclaimed, it would be 

 to his advantage to have his friends maintained in 

 places where they would be valuable in carrying out 

 the policies of the National Irrigation Association. We 

 have a bale of newspaper clippings sent out by this 

 bureau relating to the thorough training and wide ex- 

 periences of the men with whom Mr. Maxwell has 

 found it advisable to work. 



Mr. Maxwell has always been active in working for 

 specific appropriations for the construction of projects 

 which he has already selected. These projects need not 

 be mentioned here, as they are enumerated in the report 

 of the Secretary of the Interior for the year 1901 pub- 

 lished eight months prior to the passage of the irriga- 

 tion bill. No reliable preliminary surveys had been 

 made to determine the feasibility of these projects up 

 to that time and this work has not yet been completed. 

 Why should the Secretary of the Interior place himself 

 on record as favoring one or all of these projects unless 

 his subordinates had so recommended ? Through whose 

 influence were the subordinates induced to advocate 

 Government construction of these projects? It is not 

 our place to guess or surmise as to how the Secretary 

 of the Interior was thus led to commit himself. We 

 feel, however, that an explanation should be made as to 

 why, if the Secretary of the Interior should advise the 

 construction of these projects two years ago, the recla- 

 mation service has found it necessary to spend much 

 time since then making surveys as to their feasibility? 



Mr. Maxwell has led the way in planning the work 

 of the Government during the past year. He goes here 

 and there promising what the reclamation service will 

 do for this or that community and formulating regula- 

 tions Tinder which the Act of June 17th can be carried 

 out without delay. He has been especially active along 

 the Salt River Valley in Arizona, where conditions are 

 rather unusual. Mr. Maxwell was hailed first as a 

 prophet, but his domineering tactics have robbed him 

 of much of his power and influence. Men with whom 

 he first co-operated have turned against him, and it 

 is extremely doubtful if any of the measures he has 

 advocated will be indorsed by a majority of the people 

 of the valley. In a number of states those chosen by 

 him to act as vice-presidents of his associations are now 

 using their influence to make known the character of 

 the organization and the man who dominates its policies. 



The question as to who has given Mr. Maxwell per- 

 mission to represent the Government in irrigation mat- 

 ters is often asked. If you should ask him, he would 

 probably answer that he is acting as the chairman of the 

 executive committee of the National Irrigation Associa- 

 tion. Those who have read what has gone before know 

 what this means. He does not get his position from 

 the association, however, but from Government officials 

 who are willing that he should represent them. That 

 this places the national irrigation program in the hands 

 of those who furnish the financial support to the propa- 

 ganda is plain. 



To show how Mr. Maxwell attempts to control the 

 reclamation service through his association a copy of a 

 letter sent out recently to the members of the organi- 

 zation is given. Attention is called to his demand for 

 the construction of "specific projects" and his refer- 

 ence to his "own work." 



CHICAGO, ILL., Feb. 14. 1903. 

 DEAR SIR: 



The National Irrigation Association is working for 

 results. We want to see the irrigation works built, and 

 the increased population and trade actually created. 



Wl.i-ii completed the Tonto, or Salt River, reservoir 

 in Arizona, costing $'3,700,000, with a capacity of 1,500,- 

 000 acre-feet will rival the Nile dam as a great engi- 

 neering work. It will more than double the produc- 

 tiveness, population and trade of the Salt River Valley. 



To make the influence of the National Irrigation 

 Association effective it must be concentrated on specific 

 projects which will demonstrate the benefits of national 

 irrigation to the entire country, and this Salt River 

 reservoir is such a project. 



The Homema'ker for January contains in both the 

 illustrated section and the editorial section, articles giv- 

 ing in detail an account of this great project, and my 

 own work in connection with it. Read it carefully. 



The enemies of the national irrigation movement, 

 our erstwhile opponents who wanted the states to con- 

 trol the great work of reclamation, though scotched are 

 still active and venomous. They are leaving no stone 

 unturned to undo the great work we have accomplished. 



"By their fruits ye shall know them," is the rule 

 by which the friends of the national irrigation move- 

 ment who comprise the National Irrigation Association 

 must be measured. So far it is a record of things done. 



Yours faithfully, 

 GEORGE H. MAXWELL. 

 To the Members of the National Irrigation Association. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST REFORM IN STATE IRRIGATION LAWS. 



Mr. Maxwell has not only deemed it to be his place 

 to see to the enactment of a bill providing for the 

 extension of national aid in irrigation and to carry jts 

 provisions into effect, but he has also assumed the role 

 of the champion of the theory that "No state irrigation 

 laws are preferable to those that are comprehensive." 

 He has fought reform irrigation legislation in nearly 

 every western state. From favoring the Wyoming law 

 a few years ago, he has now gone to the other extreme 

 and advocates what he is pleased to call "home rule." 

 His objection to state control as expressed in his argu- 

 ment setting forth the advantages of the "home rule" 

 policy is that the states can not settle interstate com- 

 plications. We do not believe that this contention is 

 to be sustained in practice, but even if it should be, 

 would there not be far more difficulty in settling rights 

 with each district independent of those adjoining? We 

 believe that when the time comes for the settlement 

 of rights on the great interstate streams no special diffi- 

 culty will be encountered. The work of making a com- 

 plete adjudication will certainly be much reduced should 

 the states adopt a "harmonious system of irrigation laws" 

 providing for the settlement of rights. 



Mr. Maxwell is peculiarly apt in the choice of his 

 phrases. He pleads for "home rule" in irrigation, yet 

 he is fully aware that, practically, the fullest measure 

 of home rule comes with some system of public super- 

 vision, which is the only possible way, as demonstrated 

 in this and foreign countries, of preventing appropri- 

 ators near the head waters of a stream from absorbing 

 the entire water supply without any regard whatever for 

 the rights of the appropriators farther down. The near- 

 est approach to home rule in irrigation that has ever 

 been attained was under the famous Wright district 

 law of California, by which irrigators and property own- 

 ers within a section capable of irrigation from a com- 

 mon source can unite to own and control the irrigation 

 resources of the section. Mr. Maxwell began his career 

 as an irrigation "reformer" by attempting to have that 

 law declared void by the courts, with the avowed pur- 

 pose of entirely freeing his clients landowners and tax- 

 payers within several of the districts organized under 



