NEWS AND NOTES 



713 



order that wealth may be accumulated in 

 this. The manager of a great coal or lumber 

 company, who has taken pride in creating an 

 industry, build;ng up a community, and ac- 

 cumulating wealth for himself and his asso- 

 ciates, and too much engrossed or too care- 

 less to watch the trend of public opinion, is 

 shocked some day into an amazed and re- 

 sentful consciousness of the changed public 

 attitude toward himself and his enterprise. 

 Is not the coal or the lumber to use? he 

 says. Is it not perfectly legitimate to create 

 wealth by an exploitation of these resources, 

 in the possession of which the Nation is so 

 fortunate? Suppose he does leave a path 

 of destruction behind him. Future genera- 

 tions can take care of themselves, as this 

 generation must. Is he not reaping but the 

 legitimate reward of his foresight and en- 

 terprise in acquiring these great bodies of 

 coal and oil, timber and phosphate? Are 

 they not his own? Whose business is it, 

 anyhow, how he mines or how he cuts his 

 lumber ? Of course, he does it in the way 

 that yields the largest returns. That's what 

 he is in business for. Fifty per cent of the 

 coal wasted? All the young undergrowth 

 killed? Well, that's because it doesn't pay 

 to save it. You don't expect him to waste 

 his own and his stockholders' money in out- 

 lays that bring no returns, do you? So he 

 fusses and fumes. He has not changed, but 

 his standing in the community has. It is 

 irritating beyond understanding. He may 

 even be threatened with indictment besause it 

 is found that he has acquired his large hold- 

 ings of coal or of timber in the usual way by 

 using dummy entrymen. He, the most prom- 

 inent man in the community, a criminal ! 

 Inconceivable. Who is this man Pinchot, 

 anyhow ? What is conservation ? A fool and 

 his fad. A dreamer and his dream. Away 

 with them. Let us have a business ad- 

 ministration. 



This type of man has been passed in the 

 evolution of public opinion. A few years 

 ago he represented the normal, usual atti- 

 tude toward his business. But the public 

 conscience has developed and now he rep- 

 resents only an irritated and decreasing 

 minority. But he has rights that must be 

 respected. He is not criminal in intent. 

 He deserves and will receive a hearing and 

 time to comprehend the change that is com- 

 ing about, and to adjust himself to it. Ad- 

 dress of Mr. W. C. Mendenhall, of Washing- 

 ton, D. C, before local representatives of 

 the Woman's Rivers and Harbors Congress, 

 Honolulu, Hawaii. 



S ingle <-taxers With Forester Pinchct 



Among the resolutions passed by the 

 Women's National Single-tax League in its 

 eighth annual conference at Arden, Del., 

 was the following: 



''That the league indorse the work of 

 Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot in his strug- 



gle to save the heritage of the people for 

 the people; and that the attention of single- 

 taxers be called to the growing importance 

 of water-power sites and to the equally rap- 

 idly growing danger of monopolization of 

 those water-power sites." 



Irrigation at Yakima 



Workmen in the employ of the Govern- 

 ment are building a large dredge at the 

 Sunnyside Canal in the Yakima Valley, west 

 of Spokane. 



The present water supply is inadequate 

 for the irrigation of the rapidly growing 

 Sunnyside project and it was decided to in- 

 crease the capacity of the canal, which is 

 now 600 second-feet, to a maximum of 1,080 

 second-feet, an increase of seventy per cent. 

 An excavator was put to work on the upper 

 bank of the canal. 



Many important advantages could be 

 gained by a floating dredger, ?o the con- 

 struction of one was commenced two months 

 ago. Twenty-one men are now at work on 

 it, and it will require six engines to operate 

 it. Steam will be provided by two large 

 boilers. The value of this work to the 

 valley cannot be overestimated. It will in- 

 crease the irrigated area from Parket to 

 Prosser and beyond, which means many new 

 homes, new orchards and fields, and many 

 millions of dollars to be taken from the soil. 



Reclamation Service Notes 



Mr. F. H. Newell, Director of the Recla- 

 mation Service, returned from the West Oc- 

 tober i, after a month's trip with the Senate 

 Committee on Irrigation, Hon. Thomas H. 

 Carter, chairman. 



The committee visited the reclamation proj- 

 ects in Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Washing- 

 ton, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska, 

 spending thirty days of strenuous travel. 

 Adjournment was taken until November i, 

 when the trip will be resumed to visit re- 

 maining projects in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, 

 California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The 

 results of the inspection so far have been 

 very advantageous to the work, as the Sena- 

 tors have become personally acquainted with 

 the opportunities and difficulties, and appre- 

 ciate more than ever the nature of the work 

 and the organization carrying it on. 



There was general discussion of the desir- 

 ability of expediting construction, which is 

 now being carried on with an expenditure of 

 about $8,000,000 per annum, this being the 

 present income of the reclamation fund. 

 The projects which have been undertaken 

 have been planned with a view to expend- 

 ing economically about this sum, although a 

 larger amount could be used to hasten re- 

 sults. 



It is very gratifying to note that Presi- 

 dent Taft is appreciating this matter and 



