THE IREIGATION AGE. 



199 



of gross violation of the veiy Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence. Other and less autocratic means ought to 

 have been adopted by the Reclamation Service and its 

 agents. 



In his article, admirable for its scope in many 

 directions, Mr. Hastings fails to enter discussion of the 

 problem that caused much comment a few years ago 

 the lack of proper colonization work for government 

 projects. It is a notorious fact that while the ma- 

 chinery of the government is vainly endeavoring to 

 lead prospective settlers to homes on the irrigation 

 projects, private companies are meeting with excellent 

 success in their colonization work. Nor can there be 

 hope for change in the existing conditions until the 

 government shall so change its operations, perhaps 

 the laws that regulate its work, to afford settlers the 

 same rights and privileges allowed under, for instance, 

 the Carey Act. 



To the Carey Act settler who has proved up his 

 land, broken the soil, constructed laterals and is dis- 

 tributing water over his crops, there is an avenue 

 through which he may gain of the comforts of life, 

 even though he has found it necessary to invest his 

 entire savings to become thus established. Through his 

 title to the land he may seek the bank or other money 

 lending institutions and secure sufficient funds to build 

 a respectable home for his family or buy such machin- 

 ery as is necessary for the proper working of the 

 land or the harvesting of crops. His ownership of the 

 land and his proven intention to make it his home 

 are enough to satisfy the money loaner. 



Contrast with these conditions the situation as re- 

 lates to settlers on government tracts and the reason 

 for the prompt sale and settlement of district, pri- 

 vate or Carey Act projects is readily understood. 



But there are other- esssential differences between 

 the conditions that obtain among settlers on private 

 projects and those under Federal control. Having 

 completed the work as outlined by its engineers and 

 supplied water to the land, the government assumes no 

 further responsibility for the welfare of settlers. There 

 is no paternal interest on the part of the government. 

 It has supplied the water ; settlers must care for them- 

 selves. Reclamation service officials have no interest 

 in the individual settler. There is a lack of coordi- 

 nated effort, for the various departments exist sepa- 

 rately and official precedent prevents cooperation. 

 Reclamation work is too often viewed from an engi- 

 neering standpoint and the great object of all the 

 creation of a prosperous community is subordinated 

 to the technicalities of the work. 



Here again the private enterprise gains an advan- 

 tage. From inception of construction work until the 

 last acre is sold, each division of the private project 



works together for the common end the creation of 

 real value that shall be saleable upon the open market. 

 An aggressive campaign of exploitation is opened. 

 Peculiar values of land are proven by attractive pub- 

 licity matter ; provision is made, by employment of ex- 

 pert agriculturists, to insure heavy crops and prevent 

 failure ; the growing colony of settlers is watched 

 with an interest that not only brings aid to the un- 

 fortunate but results in each settler becoming an en- 

 thusiast and a booster for his own community. The 

 old saying that "each friend that has a friend, has 

 a friend that has a friend" is fully recognized in the 

 settlement of these private projects. It is to the com- 

 pany's interest that only optimistic reports shall be 

 sent to the "friends" in the east. The head of a pri- 

 vate company not only supplies the water, as does the 

 government, but he takes another long step to success- 

 ful colonization by insuring, so far as is within his 

 power, the prosperity and happiness of the individual 

 settler. 



Forced into competition with these private pro- 

 jects, the government is at a long disadvantage. Or- 

 ganized effort is woefully lacking; cumbersome prac- 

 tices destroy attempt at modern methods. The chief 

 agency of the government at present is to stir up in- 

 terest in irrigation only to have private companies 

 catch the intending settler and close the deal by 

 superior salesmanship. 



For many years the IRRIGATION AGE has consist- 

 ently urged the necessity of a government colonization 

 system similar to that adopted by Carey Act and pri- 

 vate project managers. This problem has confronted 

 the Reclamation Service for many months yet no so- 

 lution has been presented. It is to be believed that 

 the all powerful rules of precedent have prevented 

 any employe in this department from taking the initi- 

 ative. No manager of a private project would permit 

 of inaction in this direction were his organization suf- 

 fering from similar trouble. 



Unless Reclamation officials realize the impor- 

 tance of colonization work and open their eyes to the 

 prospective loss to the government, great areas with 

 the federal irrigation projects, now nearing comple- 

 tion, must remain unsettled and the burden of carry- 

 ing high maintenance charges will fall heavily upon 

 the few hundreds of settlers. 



In the course of his article, Mr. Hastings discusses 

 the subject of forcing a land owner to relinquish all 

 but 160 acres of his holdings. He says : 



"How would it seem to the owner of 160 city 

 houses should he be told that one home is enough for 

 on man and that he could not have the benefits of a 

 new water works or sewerage system if he did not 

 sell off his surplus possessions. Yet this is exactly 



