19U6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



427 



A few weeks ago an- 

 ing P theFund nouncement was made 



of the receipts from the 

 sale of public lands in the arid States 

 and Territories. When it was dis- 

 covered that the increment to the re- 

 clamation fund was considerably in 

 excess of the estimates there was much 

 rejoicing throughout the entire West. 

 Letters have been pouring in to the 

 office of the Reclamation Service from 

 settlers, legislatures, and other inter- 

 ested in the movement, requesting the 

 allotment of funds and initiation of 

 irrigation works in various localities. 

 It is not within the province of the 

 director to apportion reclamation 

 funds, but merely to call the attention 

 of the Secretary of the Interior to feas- 

 ible projects. The engineers of the Re- 

 clamation Service are not losing sight 

 of opportunities of extending the 

 work, and many projects have been 

 investigated and will be taken under 

 consideration as soon as funds for 

 their construction become available. 

 The Secretary of the Interior has al- 

 ready apportioned the fund for some 

 years in advance, and although the re- 

 ceipts from the sales of land may be 

 larger than anticipated by the General 

 Land Office, yet this increase is more 

 than offset by the recent advance in the 

 price of labor and materials and the 

 diminished efficiency of ordinary labor. 

 The rigid enforcement of the eight- 

 hour law has also contributed to the 

 general increase in costs to the con- 

 tractor. A number of prominent con- 

 tractors are failing or on the verge of 

 bankruptcy and prices of construction 

 are running up rapidly. When the 

 contractors become unable to fulfill 

 their contracts the Reclamation Ser- 

 vice is obliged to carry on the work 

 by paying higher prices than the con- 

 tractors can afford to give. But even 

 under such circumstances the labor 

 supply is unequal to the demand. 



Most of the reclamation works are 

 situated in regions remote from large 

 towns, and after eight hours of labor 

 there is little opportunity for relaxa- 

 tion or enjoyment. During the long 

 hot days the man who is exercising 



moderately in the sun fares more com- 

 fortably than the one who has noth- 

 ing to distract his attention from his 

 discomfort in the hot bunk house. 

 When life grows too monotonous the 

 men throw up their jobs, secure in 

 the knowledge that in these prosper- 

 ous times they can secure employment 

 elsewhere without much trouble. 



Another factor to be considered in 

 the allotment of the reclamation fund 

 is the fact that there has already 

 passed the Senate and been favorably 

 reported to the House, a bill taking 

 $1,000,000 out of the reclamation fund 

 for drainage in North Dakota, and 

 there are a number of other bills pend- 

 ing which, it is asserted, have fair 

 chance of passage if the first bill gets 

 through Congress. Under these cir- 

 cumstances the Department may not 

 consider it advisable to enter upon any 

 further proiects until the probable di- 

 minution of the reclamation fund is 

 made known. 



Several of the twenty-two projects 

 now under way, as well as numerous 

 others which will be taken up immedi- 

 ately funds become available, will re- 

 ceive a serious set back if the recla- 

 mation fund is diverted for other pur- 

 poses. Citizens of the West are even 

 now impatient that the Department is 

 forced to delay in talking up the pro- 

 jects that would make productive mil- 

 lions of acres of arid land and afford 

 homes for a multitude of settlers. All 

 these projects require large sums of 

 money to complete, and it is only by 

 the wisest use of the fund designed 

 for the purpose by Congress that the 

 work can be carried to successful com- 

 pletion. That other improvements in 

 other States are needed there is no 

 doubt, but this nation is able to make 

 them without endangering the benifi- 

 cent work of homebuilding in the 

 West. 



It has been said of a Roman Em- 

 peror, "He found Rome brick ; he left 

 it marble." So of this generation of 

 Americans let it be said "They found 

 the West a desert ; they left it a Gar- 

 den of Eden." 



