168 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



utive action. It is unjust to individuals, to citizenship, 

 to the independent spirit which means so much to our 

 country and the West. It places our nation in the 

 cowardly role of principal or accomplice in abominable 

 effort, and the accused is not permitted to defend his 

 purposes or character. 



WE MUST congratulate Engineer Field upon the 

 originality of his conception (a plan practiced by his 

 kind ever since the world began). We congratulate the 

 coterie of hangers-on, who profit by selling supplies at 

 increased profit, or purchase slightly damaged govern- 

 ment plunder for a song. 



ALL of which might suggest to the Eeep commis- 

 sion a line of inquiry. All of which indexes reasons for 

 creating a business bureau for the Reclamation Service, 

 even though in so doing, it may be necessary to reduce 

 the imaginary dimensions of half a dozen craniums. 



FOB the appropriate consideration of the Keep com- 

 mission we commend that the expenditure of $30,000,- 

 000 in public works, needs trained business specialists 

 to observe economy and avoid mistakes. Mr. Newell and 

 his engineers can well devote their time to transits and 

 computations. Projected plans should by them be re- 

 ported. So many yards removal will water approxi- 

 mately so many acres of land; so much additional re- 

 moval will add so many more available acres. 



THE business bureau can then take up the part of 

 feasibility, the purchase of equipment and supplies, and 

 the disposition of damaged or obsolete materials, the 

 contracts, and other details. 



SINCE the last National Irrigation Congress, where 

 the National Irrigation Association was formally repudi- 

 ated, that institution has been shifting the fields of its 

 exploitation. A loss of prestige in the West has necessi- 

 tated a search for new and greener pastures. Evidences 

 of migration are manifest in several ways. THE IRRI- 

 GATION AGE, which had the temerity to attract attention 

 to some peculiar mannerisms of Mr. Maxwell, has al- 

 ready felt the pressure of southern railroad influence. 



WESTERN railroads -have discovered impelling mo- 

 tives of the combination, and have ceased to yield liberal 

 donations. Chill and frost have sent the "Byrd"-lings 

 to the sunny South. So long as this new field will feed, 

 all will be well, but when thoroughly milked, the de- 

 serted rural districts of New England, which now are 

 passing into hands of obscure syndicates, will be ripe for 

 exploitation. Thus 'round this little world this system 

 moves. 



WILLIAM E. SMYTHE, whom we imagined, and 

 fondly hoped, was loyal to his own famed common- 

 wealth and to the West, has recently (unwittingly per- 

 haps) devoted laborious endeavor to this exploitation, by 

 extended statements in Maxwelltian publications. He 

 may be blameless, and the South may see an opportunity 

 for judicious advertisement. Occasion for censure lies 

 in the fact that under the name of irrigation the mal- 

 practice operates; the name was chosen for piratical 

 purposes, intended to confuse and take all creditable 

 influence of the National Irrigation Congress, for its 

 own legitimate spoils. 



JUST now the light-weight roysterer the hot air 

 merchant of the Talisman is yapping vigorously at 

 President Eoosevelt. A layman wonders if in his vain- 

 glorious imaginings he thinks that scaling eminence 

 will render a pygmy more conspicuous, or that his ozone 

 consumption and idiotic challenge will attract the Presi- 

 dent's eye. 



THE manner of its presentation cannot fail to 

 neutralize his argument. With head-lines indicating 

 blatant ambition, the effect of logic fails. Corporations 

 are showing evidences of floundering when they con- 

 tinue in supporting contributions to self-exploitation. 



PERHAPS assurance of entrenchment in branches of 

 the Interior Department, or over-confidence that reiter- 

 ated lavish compliment will blind the Honorable Secre- 

 tary, yields an anticipated immunity from disaster from 

 that source; and again perhaps he sees inevitable a 

 clearer atmosphere in forestry and reclamation circles, 

 which even the fogs of his begetting will not hide, which 

 consciousness impels aggressive attitudes, trusting for 

 ample berth in his Master's mansions. What is to be- 

 come of Frederick, and his other pliant tools, is their 

 affair. 



SENATOR CARTER KNOWS HOW. 



According to the Washington Post, Senator Carter 

 is in a fair way to accomplish the settlement of the 

 Milk River irrigation problem. The Post says: 



"When Senator Tom Carter of Montana goes after 

 a thing he usually gets it. His latest achievement, ac- 

 complished in spite of the opposition of the Secretary 

 of the Interior, is the promise for the construction of 

 a work that will irrigate and redeem more than 100,000 

 acres of the public domain in his State and create new 

 homes to which settlers will be invited. How "Tom" 

 Carter overcame his difficulties is an interesting inci- 

 dent. 



"There is a small lake in Montana known as St. 

 Mary's, the waters of which through a stream empty 

 into Canadian territory. Milk River, in Montana, also 



