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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT states in his address on the 

 man with the muck rake, "If the whole picture is 

 painted black, there remains no hue whereby to single 

 out the rascals for distinction from their fellows." 

 Generalizations which are so frequently indulged in 

 land fraud charges will make immune real thieves. 



MOBBID picturings of scribes and Pharisees are bad 

 enough, but too many good citizens are being haled be- 

 fore federal courts, and rendered objects of suspicion 

 by secret governmental process, to hope for any possible 

 conviction without the serious menace of mal-adminis- 

 tration of justice. 



ONE of two alternatives seem apparent: wholesale 

 indictments will clear the really guilty parties, or 

 subordinates in the federal service are building reputa- 

 tions at the expense of honest men. It seems incredi- 

 ble that some citizens of our acquaintance, men with 

 untarnished reputations, should suffer irreparable in- 

 jury to help the reputation of an aspiring prosecutor of 

 the government. 



PUBLISHED interviews and current events compel 

 opinion that over-zealous and over-ambitious attaches 

 of the Interior Department are not discriminating in 

 their judgment, and care not for the innocence or guilt 

 of parties accused, so long as it will give them publicity. 

 It is the fascinating allurement of the limelight for that 

 moth-brained contingent which by hook or crook finds 

 its way into the service. 



ATTORNEY FRANCIS J. HENEY is quoted in an in- 

 terview as saying that he "hopes to land" Senator 

 Herrmann of Oregon. He made no qualification of the 

 statement, no proviso "if the Senator is guilty." If he 

 can 'land" him, guilty or not guilty, the reputation of 

 Heney is made. If by a tissue of falsehood, or sworn 

 circumstantial evidence, he can fasten a stigma to an 

 honorable name, if political enemies can aid in burying 

 Bingham Herrmann, it will serve as well as fact to 

 aid the aspiring prosecutor up the ladder of fame. 



SENATOR HERRMANN may be guilty of all he is 

 charged, and more, for aught we know, but that is a 

 matter of fact and evidence, and not of hope and opin- 

 ion. By this expressed attitude toward the accused, 

 Attorney Heney has made manifest an attribute of char- 

 acter that needs repression, and declared himself incom- 

 petent to represent a government toward a citizen of 

 the government. 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age one year and The 

 Primer of Irrigation, 300 page book. 



MR. DEFREESE, a special agent of the Land De- 

 partment, has a $1,000 damage suit against him, be- 

 cause of an erroneous report upon the homestead of a 

 citizen of Nebraska. When served with papers he 

 intimated an immunity because of federal work, which 

 leads to the question : "Does the government spread a 

 mantle of protection over malefactors in charmed cir- 

 cles of its employment ?" 



WHOLESALE reports displaying an astonishing lack 

 of accurate information is making the presumed vig- 

 ilence of the Land Department a howling farce. Peo- 

 ple are becoming weary of petty annoyance and perse- 

 cution and are seeking means of redress and reim- 

 bursement for injuries inflicted in the name of the law,, 

 and there is likely to be a multiplicity of suits like that 

 against Mr. DeFreese. 



THE manifest and almost universal favor with 

 which news of this suit was greeted by local press and 

 the people, upon homesteads, indicates a public senti- 

 ment to be deplored. Antagonism between the govern- 

 ment and settlers upon public domain does not augur 

 well or encourage home-building a condition most 

 melancholy. It has made the homestead less desirable 

 and added materially to values of deeded properties, 

 where dominance, or arrogance, or ignorance, or incom- 

 petence, or ambition of special agents availeth not. 



IT is time to call a halt. It is time to invoke a 

 higher order of government procedure. Encourage, 

 not discourage settlement. Citizens of the republic are- 

 entitled to its protection. Prosecutors should hope that 

 the accused may prove his innocence, but get all possi- 

 ble evidence leading to a just conclusion. 



SECRETARY HITCHCOCK'S recent order making a 

 reserve adjoining Lake Alice in Western Nebraka for 

 "park, experimental and demonstration purposes," can 

 be made a most propitious initiation for beneficent re- 

 sult. The agricultural Department and Reclamation 

 Service are to co-operate, and our horoscope includes a 

 brighter future for semi-arid areas. Intelligent experi- 

 ments along lines of range culture, and improvement by 

 introduction of new forage plants, will make the range 

 yield vastly increased pasturage, and consequently more 

 and better homes will eventually find lodgment nestled 

 among the hills. 



CERTAIN specialized adjuncts of press lately have 

 contained "trade marked" editorials and "news" items 

 complimentary to the Reclamation Service business 

 efficiency. What was the necessity which inspired the 

 reclamation press bureau ? It is possible that good man- 

 agement now needs constant self-commendatory adver- 

 tising. 



