816 



THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



western conditions than the majority of senators now hold- 

 ing office, prepared the report with the assistance of some 

 of his colleagues and attempted to have the Committee 

 listen to the reading of it 



It is stated by those who opposed the report that one 

 copy only was prepared and no advance copies were given 

 to those who opposed it for consideration before the final 

 vote was taken. As a result, no definite action is reported. 



It is stated that Senator Chamberlain, who was one 

 who opposed the report which was prepared by a majority 

 of the Committee, demanded that it be printed and handed to 

 each member for careful perusal. 



It is noted also by western papers that Senator Chamber- 

 lain is upheld in his stand, which would be concurred in, no 

 doubt, by all fair minded readers. 



There is another phase to the situation, however, which 

 is not generally understood by the reading public, viz., that 

 Senator Chamberlain who has been carefully handled by 

 the coterie of reclamation and forestry officials at Washing- 

 ton, has as a result been extremely friendly to them and 

 has favored them in every way. This was distinctly notice- 

 able at the time of the Sacramento Congress, of which 

 Senator Chamberlain was president, he being at that time 

 governor of Oregon. 



The writer was secretary of this Congress and natur- 

 ally in close contact with conditions and political manipula- 

 tions of the meeting. It is a well known fact that Chamber- 

 lain was dominated absolutely by the government officials 

 and assisted in his work by that oily politician, ex-Governor 

 Pardee, of California, who had been president of a previous 

 Congress. 



There is no doubt in the world that Chamberlain was 

 made president of the Congress at the time of the Boise 

 Congress through the manipulation of Pinchot, Newell, Par- 

 dee and others and there is no doubt, moreover, that the 

 Boise Congress was more largely attended by paid govern- 

 ment officials than any meeting in its history. Government 

 employees were so bold on this occasion as to deliberately 

 hiss a United States Senator (Heyburn), who attempted to 

 expose some of the fallacies of our forestry and reclama- 

 tion bureaus. In those days Pinchot, as the personal rep- 

 resentative of Roosevelt, was supreme, and would allow no 

 one to stand before the delegates of the Congress and criti- 

 cise the work of either the forestry or irrigation bureaus, 

 if it could be prevented. 



It should be remembered also that these Congresses 

 were organized by people interested in conservation with the 

 understanding that open discussion would result in general 

 good to the western country. After mistakes began to 

 be noticeable, however, and the delegates attempted to 

 criticise, this band of "progressives," (all of whom were in 

 the government employ and servants of the people,) got to- 

 gether and changed, or handled, the by-laws to suit them- 

 selves and no one was permitted to voice a protest; if by 

 chance some individual delegate offered criticism, he was 

 immediately attacked by the Pinchot-Newell crowd and, so 

 far as possible, discredited ever after. 



It transpired that Senator Carter had knowledge of many 

 of the short-comings of both of these bureaus and being a 

 United States Senator, could not be denied the privi- 

 ledge of expressing his views, even in the presence of this 

 august crowd. Hence, he was attacked on all sides and it 

 was a great blow to them when he was made chairman of 

 the Committee which was appointed to investigate the nume- 

 rous charges by westerners whose interests were being ef- 

 fected. It was reasonable to suppose that in the appointment 

 of this committee men favorable to both sides would be 



named, and it turned out, after a careful investigation, that 

 many faults were brought to light and these were the mat- 

 ters that Senator Carter attempted to present to the public 

 in the form of a report signed by a majority of the Com- 

 mittee. It can be readily understood, therefore, that the 

 Reclamation Bureau would do all in its power to forestall 

 an unsatisfactory report and their efforts seem to have been 

 successful, in view of the fact that the report has not as yet 

 come to light. 



These facts are given briefly so that the readers of the 

 AGE may understand the antagonism of Chamberlain and 

 others who were friends of Newell and his people, to the 

 report being made public, and this brings to mind that a 

 prominent engineer, who has been connected with the Recla- 

 mation Service for many years, one of the most competent 

 men in the service in his day, stated to the editor of this 

 journal recently that the report gotten out by the Board of 

 Army Engineers, which has never yet reached our hands, 

 supports every contention made by this journal as to the in- 

 competency of Newell as the head of the Reclamation 

 Service. 



Those who have read the AGE for ten or twelve years 

 will remember the strong fight that was made against the 

 methods of the reclamation people and it is our intention, 

 later on, to publish extracts from the report of the Army 

 Engineers which will verify the position of this journal in the 

 past. 



It is a pity that Senator Carter has been supplanted by 

 another Montanian as it is doubtful now if the report will 

 ever be made public. Senator Carter is not the man we 

 think he is, however, if he allows this matter to remain 

 inert. All of the facts contained in this report should be 

 made public through the newspapers in the central and 

 western states. 



The Ambursen Hydraulic Construction Company of Bos- 

 ton -have been employed as consulting engineers on a dam 

 tor the St. Stephens Land & Irrigation Company, who are 

 developing a project on the Alamito river in Texas. The 

 dam is 75 feet high and 1,000 feet long in its immediate con- 

 struction, but is so arranged that it can be raised to a height 

 of 100 feet to met future requirements. 



Mr. Gilbert Altman, who has been connected with the 

 United States Government as a chemist, has opened offices 

 at 1028 First National Bank Building, Chicago, Telephone, 

 Randolph 895. Mr. Altman makes a specialty of analyzing 

 soils, fruits and vegetables. 



John Hayes Hammond, the American mining engineer 

 and promoter, is reported to be making extensive investi- 

 gations in Russia to direct investments in irrigation and 

 public utility companies. It is claimed that the Russian 

 government will encourage the American enterprise. 



Send $2*50 for The Irrigation 



Age one year and 

 The Primer of Irrigation 

 Cloth Bound 



