68 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



cost canal companies hundreds of thousands of dollars 

 to learn one of the most important items of construc- 

 tion the necessity of the absolute waterproof charac- 

 ter of flumes. The loss of water by leakage and the 

 damage by seepage is enormous, and future canal build- 

 ers will profit by the' experience of the past. . 



The Iowa Drainage convention, whose 

 Iowa sessions commenced at Ames, January 



Drainage 15, and continued several days, was one 

 Convention, of the most important meetings in the 



interest of modern agricultural develop- 

 ment that has been held during the past year. The 

 convention was attended by a large number of the 

 most intelligent farmers and land owners of Iowa, and 

 among the visitors from other States were some of the 

 most prominent drainage scientists of the country. 

 Professor W. H. Stevenson's report of his investiga- 

 tion of the drainage conditions of Iowa is intensely in- 

 teresting and quite significant in its character. He 

 conducted this investigation in the most thorough 

 manner, sending out carefully prepared questions to 

 every part of the State, from which he received nearly 

 2,000 replies in detail. Of these replies, Professor 

 Stevenson estimates that there are nearly four and a 

 half millions of acres of nonproductive land in the 

 State through lack of drainage, and that this land 

 could be made to increase the wealth of the farmers 

 by proper methods to the extent of 324 millions of 

 dollars. The subject of drainage in the humid sections 

 of the United States is now one of the most important 

 problems that confronts progressive agriculturists, and 

 when the people thoroughly understand its benefits 

 the increased wealth of the country will be almost be- 

 yond computation. 



A very curious- procedure is that of the 

 Curious publication of the official proceedings of 



Procedure. the Eleventh National Irrigation Con- 

 gress at Ogden under the management 

 of Gilbert McClurg and Willis T. Beardsley. When 

 the congress adjourned at Ogden last summer, the 

 local committee of that city undertook the publication 

 of the proceedings and it was understood that copies 

 would be supplied to the members of the Congress 

 without cost. Now Messrs. McClurg & Beardsley have 

 issued a circular announcing that the proceedings are 

 being published by the Proceedings Publishing Com- 

 pany, of Ogden. and that the price of $1 per copy in 

 paper and $2 per copy in leather has been placed on 

 the work. In addition to this source of income these 

 gentlemen are asking advertisers to take space in this 

 pamphlet at the rate of $50 per page. As the total 

 cost of publishing these proceedings does not exceed 

 $200 in fact, this price was named as a total cost dur- 

 ing the convention the Proceedings Publishing Com- 

 pany, which is doubtless composed of Mr. Gilbert Mc- 



Clurg and Willis T. Beardsley, will make an exceed- 

 ingly good profit out of it. It would seem that the 

 National Irrigation Congress is a body of sufficient 

 strength and dignity to publish its own proceedings 

 for free distribution, at least among the delegates, and 

 without resorting to the cheap claptrap methods em- 

 ployed by these gentlemen. The officials of the con- 

 gress will doubtless be surprised when they discover 

 that the name of the congress is being used in this 

 manner to further the interests of an advertising 

 project solely for the benefit of its promoters. Dele- 

 gates to the congress are being asked to contribute 

 from ten to twenty dollars apiece for the privilege of 

 having their photos appear in connection with this re- 

 port. 



The combination of interests which op- 

 Combination posed the passage of the national irriga- 

 of tion law by every means in its power, but 



Interests. which has now assumed the general direc- 

 tion of the whole irrigation business of 

 the Government, is sending out through its news bureau 

 bitter personal attacks upon Senator Hansbrough of 

 North Dakota, because he has introduced a bill provid- 

 ing for the appointment of a chief engineer to super- 

 intend the construction of irrigation works. These self- 

 constituted bosses of the Government's business have 

 boasted privately that they control to a large degree the 

 reclamation service, and it is only natural that they do 

 not want any officer appointed to interfere with their 

 plans. They assert that Mr. Newell is the most com- 

 petent engineer in the United States, and is the only 

 man who ought to have charge of the vast expendi- 

 tures of Government money incident to the irrigation 

 act. But the record of Mr. Newell's achievements tell 

 a different story. Personally a most estimable gentle- 

 man, and above all reproach as a private citizen, he has 

 not done anything in the line of his profession, which 

 has fitted him by education or experience as an engineer 

 for the trying duties of his great position. His ap- 

 pointment to the Government's service was brought 

 about through a political and business combination, and 

 it is well known that he owes his position mainly to 

 the forces that are now attempting to control the 

 reclamation service. Senator Hansbrough's precaution 

 in asking for the appointment of an engineer of un- 

 doubted ability and experience to take charge of the 

 vast projects which the Government is expected to carry 

 out within the next twenty years is a wise one, and 

 intended solely to safeguard the interests of the people. 

 The only objection to this appointment that is made 

 by the corporate interests is that Mr. Newell should 

 be allowed to work out their plans without interfer- 

 ence. But that is the best reason in the world why 

 the appointment of an engineer, as provided in the 

 bill of Mr. Hansbrough, should be made. Judging from 

 the sentiment of Congress, as privately expressed by 

 many members to THE IRRIGATIION AGE, it looks as 



