THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



71 



REPEALERS IN DEEP WATER. 



Organized and Active Lobby in Washington Spend- 

 ing Money But Accomplishing Little. 



[SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE IRRIGATION AGE.] 



WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 10. Hon. Frank W. 

 Mondell, representative in Congress from Wyoming, in 

 talking to a group of Congressmen at the Willard 

 Hotel recently on 

 the activity of the 

 repealers' lobby in 

 Washington, said : 



"I am c o n- 

 vinced that there 

 is no crying need 

 for a radical 

 change in the land 

 laws at this ses- 

 sion of Congress. 

 For the first time 

 in our history we 

 see an active and 

 well- organized 

 lobby in Wash- 

 ington supported 

 almost entirely by 

 contributions o f 

 great corporate 

 landscrip owners. 

 These unscrupu- 

 lous fellows have 

 been industriously 

 and persistently 

 magnifying every 

 irregularity and 

 local abuse of our 

 land laws by send- 

 ing broadcast the 

 most grossly mis- 

 leading and un- 

 truthful state- 

 ments as to the 

 volume and effect 

 of the transfer of 

 Government lands 

 into the hands of 

 private indi- 

 viduals. 



"The most 

 persistent of these 

 representations is 

 regarding the dis- 

 position of lands 

 under the timber 

 and stone act, the 

 desert land act 



and the commutation clause of the homestead act. The 

 acreage of lands disposed of under these acts the last 

 few years has been grossly exaggerated. In the last 

 five years the Government has parted title to only 

 8,083,090 acres of land under these laws. 



"Another argument used by the lobbyists who, in 

 the interest of large corporate holders of land and 

 scrip, are desirous of having most' of the public land 

 laws repealed is based on the hypothesis that the present 

 alleged rapid disposal of public lands will interfere 

 with irrigation reclamation and particularly with the 



HON. FRANK W. MONDELL. 



Mr. Mondell, the representative from Wyoming in Congress, is chairman of the 

 House Committee on Irrigation and in that capacity will be in a position to do good 

 work for the service. He is one of the ablest young men in Congress, a tireless 

 worker, and his long experience with the actual conditions in the arid West makes 

 his appointment peculiarly fitting. He is very popular among the members of Con- 

 gress, and his intelligent and successful work in the past in the interest of irriga- 

 tion has given him a wide influence. Mr. Mondell is serving his fourth term in 

 Congress. As a member of the Wyoming Senate for four years he took a large 

 part in aiding in the perfection of the arid land law, which the Wyoming "people 

 believe to be the best in the land. 



operations of the national irrigation act. This plea 

 rather loses its force when they say that the desert land 

 act is the only law compelling irrigation. It is ad- 

 mitted even by those who favor repeal that by it more 

 lands have been irrigated than under all the other land 

 laws combined. Inasmuch as lands taken under the tim- 

 ber and stone act are unfit for agriculture, there remain 

 only the lands commuted under the homestead law 

 within the arid region as the area which, accepting the 



most extremestate 

 ments of the repeal- 

 ers, passes from 

 public into private 

 ownership without 

 being reclaimed. 



"At the present 

 time approxi- 

 mately 25,000,000 

 acres of land are 

 reserved under 

 the national irri- 

 gation act, none 

 of which can be 

 entered according 

 to the laws in 

 question. 



"In view of the 

 undertaking b y 

 the reclamation 

 service of the Salt 

 River irrigation 

 enterprises, cover- 

 ing land entirely 

 in private owner-> 

 ship, as one of the 

 first two projects 

 inaugurated, it 

 appears that those 

 in charge of work 

 under the nation- 

 al irrigation act 

 do not consider 

 that the passing 

 of land into pri- 

 ' vate ownership se- 

 riously interferes 

 with undertakings 

 under the act. 

 The fact is that 

 the three laws in 

 question furnish 

 nearly four-fifths 

 of the entire re- 

 clamation fund 

 and their repeal 

 _ _ would mean the 

 side tracking of 



the national irrigation law, after the $20,000,000 

 now in the treasury was exhausted. The desert 

 land act properly administered is the best land law 

 on the statute books. The final entries under it 

 amounted to only 264,593 acres in the last year out 

 of the estimated 50,000,000 acres of irrigable lands on 

 the public domain. There can be no doubt that in 

 some localities the law has been abused, but this is a 

 matter for administrative, not legislative, action. 



"The commutation clause of the homestead law is 

 utilized to but a limited extent in the strictly arid 



