THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



167 



The hitter fight that has extended over 

 Repealers the past two years in the effort to repeal 

 are Defeated, all the general land laws of the country 

 has been practically ended by the Senate 

 committee on public lands. This agreement resulted 

 in the introduction of a bill by the committee, which 

 does not affect the commutation clause of the homestead 

 act, but which affects the stone and timber and desert 

 land acts. Amendments prohibit the selection of timber 

 lands in lieu of forest reserves, except that to allow own- 

 ers of forest lands which have not been denuded of 

 timber to exchange them for other vacant, unsurveyed 

 lands without mineral or timber, subject to homestead 

 entry. The amendment is a wise one and will prevent 

 the land-grabbing Octopus from continuing its prac- 

 tice of taking up valuable timber land through agents, 

 cutting off the timber and then exchanging the value- 

 less land for other valuable agricultural lands. Per- 

 sons who have holdings in forest reserves and have not 

 denuded them of the timber are protected in their 

 rights. 



The fight in the Senate committee over this mat- 

 ter was the most bitter that has characterized the work 

 of Congress during the present session. Senator Quarles 

 was the father of the original bill, which provided for 

 the repeal of the timber and stone act and the desert 

 land act and the commutation clause of the homestead 

 act. The last meetings of the committee to consider 

 this bill were marked by discussions which became 

 strongly personal in one or two instances. At the out- 

 set all of the Democratic members of the committee, 

 except Senator Dubois, and three Republican members, 

 Senators Bard, Nelson and Dietrich, were in favor of 

 the Quarles bill, which was backed by the Octopus, but 

 Senator Hansborough sturdily refused to report the 

 bill without having a chance to be heard in opposition 

 to it. On two occasions he forced the committee to ad- 

 journ without action. 



In the meantime the true friends of irrigation ral- 

 lied for a final defense of the rights of the common 

 people as against the land-grabbing Octopus, and Sena- 

 tor Nelson was won over from the opposition. Senator 

 Quarles finally agreed to drop the fight on the commu- 

 tation clause. 



The greatest victory next to the saving of the com- 

 mutation clause is the provision which requires the 

 secretary of the interior to turn the money acquired 

 from such sales into the reclamation fund for irrigation 

 purposes. The Octopus has been making its fight to 

 repeal the general land laws for the express purpose of 

 depriving the reclamation service of the use of any fur- 

 ther funds. The success of the reclamation measure 

 depends entirely upon the funds to be obtained from the 

 sale of Government lands. If the Octopus could have 

 succeeded in taking these lands out of the market the 

 supply of money from this source would have been 

 stopped and the general irrigation movement would 



hav.e become a failure. The provision, however, to turn 

 all money from the sale of timber into the reclamation 

 fund will enable the Government to carry out its plans 

 of irrigation, and the service will not be hampered for 

 lack of money. 



The fight upon the general land laws, and particu- 

 larly upon the commutation clause of the homestead 

 act, has been backed by the most powerful interests of 

 this country. Money has been spent without stint, 

 newspapers have been subsidized, speakers have been 

 hired to travel over the country and address boards of 

 trade, labor organizations and any public meeting that 

 would listen to them, and Congress has been besieged 

 by an army of salaried lobbyists, more insolent and ag- 

 gressive than has ever been launched against any meas- 

 ure in Congress during recent years. The fact that the 

 true friends of irrigation have been able to defeat this 

 mighty combination of corporate interests, whose aims 

 were purely selfish, is a matter of congratulation to the 

 entire country. 



While on a recent trip through Ohio, a 

 The Age representative of THE AGE talked with a 

 Pays manufacturer, who informed him that 



Advertisers, they had sold machinery to one firm in 



Australia, as a result of advertising in 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, to the amount of $2,800. This 

 order the purchaser stated resulted from seeing the ad- 

 vertisement of the firm in the columns of THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE, and is only a starter which will no doubt lead 

 up to large sales in the future. The firm making the 

 sale has paid us about $200 per year for their adver- 

 tising and have expended in all not to exceed $300 for 

 space in the columns of this journal. Assuming that a 

 profit of 30 per cent is made on the goods and that no 

 more sales are made as a result of the advertising al- 

 ready carried, it can be seen that a handsome marginal 

 profit is still allowed the manufacturer. Another view 

 of the case, however, is that this order may lead to many 

 more from the same Australian house, which will no 

 doubt develop a fine trade for the goods in that far 

 away country. 



Our conclusion is that advertising in THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE has paid this firm well and we are publishing 

 these facts in order to attract the attention of the large 

 number of other manufacturers who may get some of 

 this business by patronizing these columns. Why not 

 write us for rates and, if you are not posted, learn 

 definitely about our circulation. 



Many years ago some far-seeing gentle- 

 Water Rights man practically captured all of the Arkan- 

 in Colorado, sas River and its Iributaries through 



Colorado and much of it down through 

 Kansas as well. Twenty years ago water rights in the 

 arid West were not regarded as highly as they are now. 



