THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



167 



It may be possible that the glorious atmospheric 

 conditions of Chicago permit one to read more deeply 

 from the Governor's call than is possible under the 

 conditions existing in the West in California, for in- 

 stance. It will require something more than the evasive 

 answer of the esteemed Governor to convince us that 

 his influence will not be used wholly or in great part 

 during the session of the Congress to the purposes of 

 the Reclamation Service and its officials; but while 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE in no wise attempts to shape 

 the policy of the Governor, nor would it criticise ;i 

 plan of this character if carried out clearly and openly 

 during the Congress, it still insists that the Governor 

 has no right to attempt to shape the policy of this 

 Congress by the means adopted in this his official call 

 to that gathering. 



It is reasonable to expect that Governor Pardee 

 will question our right to criticise his position and he 

 is at perfect liberty to do so. We, however, maintain 

 equally as good a right to criticise as he has to sug- 

 gest. It is doubtful if any move would have been 

 taken at all in this Congress of a critical nature against 

 the Reclamation Service, that is to say, the tendency 

 among those who are following this situation closely, 

 is to give the Service full credit and all the assistance 

 possible, and it is doubtful if this call of the Governor's 

 has been the means of stimulating the harmonious 

 inclinations of those whom the Reclamation officials 

 are pleased to term the mal-contents. In view of this, 

 however, we still emphasize the fact that Governor Par- 

 dee is one of the best men who has ever presided at 

 an Irrigation Congress and it is to be hoped that he 

 may so govern his actions as to retain the good opinion 

 and respect of the delegates. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



ON BENDED KNEE. 



Is This a Fair Sample of How the Reclamation Bureau 

 Will Look After the Interest of Different Localities? 



F. H. Newell, chief of the reclamation service, and 

 N. E. Webster Jr., chief accountant, both having head- 

 quarters at Washington, visited the Truckee-Carson pro- 

 ject last Sunday. These gentlemen are in close con- 

 tact with "the power behind the throne" in matters relat- 

 ing to this project, and our citizens regret that they 

 could not make an inspection tour of our great system, 

 instead of a flying visit, as it were. With all due respect 

 to the powers that be, 'it may be truthfully stated that 

 there is a woeful lack of knowledge at Washington of 

 the true conditions here; and this state of affairs will 

 exist so long as the chief officials continue these fly-by- 

 night excursions. It would certainly seem that the 

 Government project rivaled at this time by the Panama 

 canal only in importance should command more atten- 

 tion. The Herald, in perfect good faith, extends to Mr. 

 Newell and his associates a hearty invitation to visit 

 us again, and stay long enough to get an accurate per- 

 sonal knowledge, more to be depended upon than the 

 tons of tabulated reports that have passed over their 

 desks at Washington annually. Fallen (Nev.) Herald. 



A YEAR ago President Roosevelt appointed the Reep 

 commission to investigate business methods of various 

 departments, and, where possible, cut out bureaucracy 

 and red tape. Undoubtedly the commission has found 

 its work extensive, and in some departments handicapped 

 by attitudes of chiefs. It is unlikely that men of the 

 Newell-Pinchot character will encourage effort directed 

 in opposition to bureaucratic tendency, or admit of a 

 necessity for improving the business of their depart- 

 ments. Their efforts have heretofore indicated a desire 

 to hopelessly entangle the forestry and irrigation bu- 

 reaus, and compel subordination of the land department. 

 Hasty acquiescence on their part to executive plans is 

 likely to include sinuous endeavor to deceive. 



LAND COMMISSIONER Ross, of Washington, at the 

 last Irrigation Congress, challenged the assertion of F. 

 H. Newell that red tape had been eliminated so far as 

 the forestry division was affected. With specific claims 

 for Ihe school children of his State, he went to the 

 national capital, where entrenched behind impassable 

 red tape, sat the imperturbable Mr. Pinchot. Weeks of 

 endeavor are fruitless when such systems and such offi- 

 cials dominate. 



NOTHING appears to excite instant resentment of 

 Reclamation officials like a suggestion to improve busi- 

 ness details of the Service. Mr. Newell's interpretation 

 of such a suggestion as an attack upon the President 

 illustrates the far-fetched conclusions by which he hopes 

 to divert attention from his department. How a propo- 

 sition made by the National Irrigation Congress, along 

 lines which the Reep commission is presumed to operate, 

 can be interpreted as a "direct slap at the President" 

 we trust Mr. Newell will elucidate. 



PERHAPS the same authority can explain how an 

 attack upon the character of a critic, can be constructed 

 as answer to unselfish effort to protect the best interests 

 of his community. Perhaps he can tell how impersonal 

 correspondence to his department from citizens sug- 

 gesting lines of policy and action, finds its way to local 

 engineers, and is exhibited by them, only to men of 

 known opposing sentiment, and the controverting argu-. 

 ment is volunteered assertion that the critic is "a 

 kicker" and "unpopular." 



A DEPARTMENT of the United States Government, 

 skirmishing under cover, to damage a citizen's character, 

 that his logic may be unavailing, is an extraordinary 

 condition. The Reclamation Service should come out in 

 the open and give those whom it accuses an opportunity 

 to answer. This covert assassination of ideas, of orig- 

 inality, of initiation by federal attaches, calls for Exec- 



