206 



THE IEKIGATION AGE. 



be something higher than to merely furnish a 

 sinecure for officers who have demonstrated their 

 gross incapability. 



As one correspondent expresses it, "Is it not a 

 crime, I ask you almost seven months since the 

 Salt Lake congress the legislatures of the seven- 

 teen arid-land states in session all winter and now 

 adjourned for two years the cry heard on every 

 hand for remedial legislation and what has the 

 congress done to exert its influence in behalf of 

 better conditions? Not a thing, beyond paying the 

 secretary's salary of $300 per month !" 



As stated in a former issue, it is the opinion 

 of IRRIGATION AGE that this congress has outlived 

 its usefulness and, while it may be revived by the 

 men who held office under the old regime and de- 

 rived financial benefits therefrom, it is doubtful if 

 it will ever attain the position held during the days 

 when such men as John Henry Smith, Judge Shurt- 

 liff, Fred J. Keisel and others of that stamp took 

 active part. 



It is doubtful if the Board of Governors will 

 find a city that will be willing to guarantee the ten 

 or more thousands of dollars necessary to entertain 

 the 1913 congress. 



If, however, some city should decide that it is . 

 willing to put up that amount, all of the Executive 

 Committee, of which the writer is a member, should 

 take firm hold and assist that city so that a good 

 showing may be made. 



A bill was recently presented in Con- 

 Endangers gress that may endanger all Carey 

 Carey Act projects throughout the west. 



Act The feature of the bill is that when 



Projects five settlers on any Carey Act 



project petition the Secretary of the 

 Interior, mentioning that the management and the 

 state are not properly executing the laws under the 

 Carey Act, and are not properly carrying out their 

 contract, then the Secretary of the Interior shall 

 cause the Carey Act company to show cause why 

 the permit to operate under that act shall not be 

 revoked. In other words, a petition of five persons 

 on any Carey Act project in any state would cause 

 the matter to come to a trial before the Secretary 

 of the Interior and could, under certain conditions, 

 result in a forced abandonment of the entire project. 



The matter has been called to the attention of 

 western people by Congressman Taylor of Colo- 

 rado, who has sent a copy of the bill to his constit- 

 uents, accompanied by a report made by a special 

 committee on Carey Act projects. 



This committee was appointed by the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior and the report criticises in the 

 most severe terms the general proposition of Carey 

 Act projects in the west. The inference from this 



report is that Carey Act ventures on the whole 

 have been failures, and abandonment of such fur- 

 ther projects. 



Our informant states further that the report 

 goes on to' say that there are not ten thousand 

 acres under actual cultivation as a result of Carey 

 Act projects in the entire west. Among the reasons 

 given in this report are: 



First Inactivity of the people in the states 

 where Carey Act projects can be formed. 



Second Segregation of lands without funds 

 to complete the irrigation projects. 



Third- Underestimation of the cost of put- 

 ting water on the land. 



Fourth Careless and inefficient state super- 

 vision. 



Fifth Insufficient water supply caused by 

 careless surveys and estimates. 



Sixth Dishonesty of state officials. 

 Seventh Failure to appreciate the distance 

 to market the products produced. 



Eighth General lack of confidence of pros- 

 pective settlers, living in the east in western 

 irrigation schemes. 



It is difficult to believe that the Secretary of 

 the Interior, who should be posted on western con- 

 ditions, whould permit the statement to go out 

 that there are not ten thousand acres properly cul- 

 tivated under the Carey Act in the west. 



Anyone who would visit the Snake River Val- 

 ley in Idaho and investigate the matter carefully, 

 wiH find at least 200,000 acres that are being prop- 

 erly cultivated under this act, and for this reason 

 we are inclined to question our informant, as the 

 Secretary of the Interior or his assistants would 

 not be likely to make so broad a statement in the 

 face of facts with which almost everyone in the 

 west is familiar. 



There are more than that number of acres de- 

 veloped and in cultivation under the Carey Act in 

 many individual counties in the west. It is safe to 

 say that there are that number in the Big Horn 

 Valley in Wyoming, ignoring all other sections of 

 that state where Carey Act projects are in oper- 

 ation. 



If Congressman Taylor, who furnished the in- 

 formation from which our correspondent bases his 

 statement, will take the matter up with the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, he can very readily show him 

 that there are that number of acres in cultivation 

 under the Carey Act within a half day's ride from 

 the city of Denver. 



It is, therefore, impossible to conceive of a con- 

 dition that would permit the Secretary of the In- 

 terior to allow a statement of this character to go 

 forth through the newspapers or appear in connec- 

 tion with the bill above mentioned. 



