THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



105 



FOR A SUPERVISING ENGINEER. 



Senator Hansbrougb's Bill Providing an Important Officer for 

 the Reclamation Service. 



On January 4 Senator H. C. Hansbrough, of Min- 

 nesota, chairman of the Senate Public Lands Commit- 

 tee, introduced a bill to provide an engineer to super- 

 vise the work of irrigation which the government is 

 about to undertake. Senator Hansbrough has been bit- 

 terly assailed by the 

 Press Bureau of the 

 repealers and the 

 corporations for 

 thus daring to "in- 

 terfere" with their 

 plans .as they ex- 

 pect to carry them 

 out through Engi- 

 neer Newell of the 

 Eeclamation Serv- 

 ice. A representa- 

 tive of THE IRRI- 

 GATION AQE inter- 

 viewed Senator 

 Hansbrough in 

 Washington as to 

 the purpose of the 

 bill and why there 

 should be any ob- 

 jection to it. 



"The purpose of 

 the bill which I in- 

 troduced, providing 

 for the appoint- 

 ment of a super- 

 vising engineer in 

 the reclamation 

 service of the gov- 

 ernment," said the 

 Senator, "is quite 

 fully expressed in 

 the bill itself, a 

 copy of which I 

 herewith enclo se. 

 The Government of 

 the United States is 

 just entering upon 

 a policy involving 

 the construction of 

 great irrigation 

 works. These works 

 will consist of enor- 

 mous dams and ex- 

 tensive canals. It 

 must not be consid- 



SENATOR HENRY CLAY HANSBROUGH. 



Senator Hansbrough is chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Public 

 Lands and one of the most energetic advocates of irrigation in public life. Senator Hans- 

 brough formerly lived in California and went to Dakota in 1882 when that state was then a 

 territory. He was elected a member of the Lower House of Congress in 1889 and was elected 

 tothe Senate in the winter of 1901 and 1902. He has always served on important committees 

 in both houses of Congress and his influence on all matters pertaining to the development of 

 the West is very great. A copy of his bill providing for a supervising engineer to take charge 

 of the proposed irrigation work of the government and his explanation of its meaning is 

 published in this issue of THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



ered as any reflection whatever upon the present recla- 

 mation service when I say that the Congress of the 

 United States feels that nothing should be left undone 

 to secure the most perfect results, especially in the mat- 

 ter of construction. 



"This generation is under a great responsibility 

 for the safety and happiness of future generations. 

 Fifty or one hundred years hence there will doubtless 

 be an enormous population dependent upon irrigation 

 established and controlled by the Federal Government. 

 If it should occur that any of the great dams which are 

 soon to be constructed were not properly built, both life 



and property would be in danger. Speaking for myself, 

 I think it is no more than right that we should take the 

 necessary precautions now and guard against the pos- 

 sibility of catastrophes such as I have already sug- 

 gested. There are many bright young engineers now 

 connected with the reclamation service, and, under the 

 irrigation law, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized 

 to call to his aid such consulting engineers as he may 

 deem necessary. I do not recall that any Secretary 

 of the Interior, who has held office since I have been in 



Congaess, has been a 

 civil engineer. It 

 follows, therefore, 

 that, in the employ- 

 ment of consulting 

 engineers, the Sec- 

 retary must be 

 guided by the engi- 

 neers in the recla- 

 mation service. I 

 think it far better 

 that there should be 

 one scientific head 

 to the construction 

 department of the 

 service, and that he 

 be placed under 

 proper bonds and 

 paid a sufficient sal- 

 ary to secure the 

 best results. 



"That is all there 

 is to the bill, and 

 the only purpose I 

 have in introducing 

 it. Several of the 

 leading members of 

 the Senate and 

 House have person- 

 ally urged me to 

 press the measure 

 to passage, which I 

 hope to do at the 

 present session." 



FULL TEXT OF THE 

 BILL. 



Be it enacted by 

 the Senate and 

 House of Kepresen- 

 tatives of the Unit- 

 ed States of Amer- 

 ica in Congress as- 

 sembled, That the 

 President of the 

 United States be, 

 and he is hereby, 

 authorized and empowered to appoint, by and with the 

 advice and consent of the Senate, a supervising engi- 

 neer, who shall be under the direction of the Secretary 

 of the Interior, and who shall have immediate charge 

 of all construction work under the Act of June seven- 

 teenth, nineteen hundred and two, entitled "An Act 

 appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal 

 of public lands in certain States and Territories to the 

 construction of irrigation works for the reclamation of 

 arid lands." That the salary of the said supervising 

 engineer is hereby fixed at ten thousand dollars per an- 

 num. 



