200 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



announcing a sensation about to be disclosed. Men 

 high in the walks of life, political, social, financial, are 

 presumed to be implicated in a gigantic land swindle. 



Just who the men are, or what the specific crime, 

 the statements do not include, but they are so con- 

 structed that they are intended to leave no doubt in 

 the mind of the reader that the unnamed accused ones 

 are guilty. The public mind is poisoned already con- 

 vinced that crime exists, and that federal sleuths have 

 conclusive evidence. The papers are aiding and abet- 

 ting these abortions of justice by publishing such in- 

 ferences. 



Attorney Bush thinks he has convicted some of 

 these so-called conspirators. Perhaps he has, but it 

 was the press agent of the government who did the 

 actual work. Irresponsible special and secret service 

 agents with unsworn reports, together with a slop-over 

 hysterical press, will convict any man, and there is 

 little use to protest. Trials can just as well be elimi- 

 nated, for victims will be railroaded to the penitentiary 

 just the same. 



Once again I crepeat that a square deal demands 

 that special and secret service agents should be com- 

 pelled to swear to their reports, and be under 'bonds 

 for damages if they fail to tell the truth. 



The bureaucrats are worried, but have a momen- 

 tary respite, for they have succeeded in direcitng the 

 President's virility to fighting windmills. That $5,000,- 

 000 conspiracy was concocted for no other purpose 

 than diverting attention from the evident bureaucratic 

 manipulation which is assisting the plunderbund lum- 

 ber and coal men to profit upon the people's needs. 

 Fifty million or five hundred million could not stem 

 the tide of popular approval and assure the President 

 a logical successor if Mr. Roosevelt would weed out 

 his own executive garden. 



When the President set aside those 18,000,000 

 acres for forest reserves on March 4 the lumber trust 

 advanced the price of lumber $2 a thousand feet. 

 We had then hoped that this was the last executive act 

 that would boost prices on the builders. However, it 

 is discovered that Mr. Pinchot does not need law to 

 govern his actions. In spite of express statute he has 

 segregated a million acres more in Nevada and New 

 Mexico, and we can expect another tilt 'in the price of 

 lumber. 



It is understood that a few custom mills were 

 operating under the pinions and scrub pine, cutting 

 timbers for mines, etc., hence the unlawful federal in- 



terference. "Whom the gods would destroy they first 

 make mad." 



There has been much said of the agricultural home- 

 stead bill, and the prodigal liberality of the forestry 

 service in granting free permits to use timber from 

 reserves. From that area which, if compact, would be 

 over a thousand miles across in any direction, they 

 have "permitted" settlers to use $75,OOT) worth of tim- 

 ber. The munificence of this gift to us, goods that 

 belong to us, is emphasized it strikes home and makes 

 our hearts overflow with gratitude when we compre- 

 hend that it costs the nation millions a year to main- 

 tain the service, and has cost the builders of the nation 

 billions during the last few years in excessive prices 

 of lumber made possible by closing custom mills. 



We can give Land Commissioner Ballinger a tip 

 on how to increase the irrigation fund and at the same 

 time reduce the cost of irrigation construction in the 

 West. Put back some of the old liberal construction 

 on our land laws and the people of the United States 

 will quit going to Canada and begin filling up our own 

 domain. Call off the sleuths of the land department 

 and throw open to entry a few million acres that are 

 now denied to settlers, and the irrigation fund will 

 begin to pile up as of yore, and the west will fill with 

 people who will be ready to assist in building the 

 needed canals. 



Secretary of Interior Garfield and the honorable 

 commissioner have begun well, by eliminating useless 

 bureaus and simplifying departmental work. Glory 

 be! It looks like some real live ones are at the helm. 

 Their predecessors were a decade behind the times, 

 albeit they might have been of sterling integrity. 



"Practical Irrigation," a 36-page pamphlet, has 

 just been issued by Fairbanks, Morse & Co., Chicago, 

 111. It deals very thoroughly with the mechanical irri- 

 gation problem and contains much interesting and 

 valuable information with reference to the many dif- 

 ferent types of pumping machinery used for this pur- 

 pose. 



There are many fine half-tone illustrations show- 

 ing irrigation plants in actual operation, these installa- 

 tions covering a wide range of service, including pumps 

 operated by gasoline engines, steam pumping machin- 

 ery, electrically driven pumps, and pumps operated by 

 windmills, and the advantages of each clearly defined. 



This is probably the most original and complete 

 treatise ever issued on the subject. A copy of this 

 pamphlet, No. 650 PI, will be mailed free of charge 

 to interested parties. 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Atfe 

 I year, and The Primer of Irrigation 



