THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



273 



on his land he lets, it run. He is deceived by the 

 porousness of the soil and allows it to soak up an 

 incredible quantity. This is too bad, as it in- 

 variably means total or partial crop failure, and the 

 beginner, who does not not understand the reason, 

 is disgusted. 



Xearly all arid lands contain a large propor- 

 tion of alkali. So long as this remains incorporated 

 with the soil, distributed as nature had placed it, 

 no harm is done. But, in the process of evapora- 

 tion, the excess moisture draws the alkali to the 

 surface of the ground. Then there is trouble. 

 This chemical constituent is not friendly to grow- 

 ing crops. Its presence in any considerable quan- 

 tity on the surface of the ground means disaster. 



This was what the honest manager of the ir- 

 rigation plant tried to warn the beginner against, 

 but his friendly efforts were misunderstood and 

 misconstrued. Even where there is an abundance 

 of water it is unwise, it is detrimental to success- 

 ful farming, to deluge the land simply because a 

 limitless quantity is at hand. It means the undoing, 

 the defeat, of the man who practices it. Plant life 

 calls for just so much moisture ; any excess is in- 

 jurious. In cases where the water supply is limited 

 the practice of letting it run unrestricted is also 

 criminal. It not only injures the man who indulges 

 in it, but it assumes the phase of larceny from his 

 neighbors. 



Governor Haines of Idaho has 

 Improving shown good sense in his selection 

 the Value of of a committee to investigate and 

 Irrigation report on irrigation securities with 



Securities ' a view to making them more ac- 

 ceptable to the investing public. 

 This action was authorized by the legislature at its 

 last session, but it would have been easy to nullify 

 it by naming a commission which would accomplish 

 nothing practical. 



It is evident, however, that Governor Haines is 

 in sympathy with the movement and intends that 

 something of value is to be attained, as the men he 

 has named on the commission are not only practical 

 in their views on the subject, but are intensely in 

 earnest. They comprise : 



James E. Clinton, Jr., of Boise, a banker. 



Oliver O. Haga, of Boise, a man versed in ir- 

 rigation law. 



J. M. Thompson, of Caldwell, a lawyer, who 

 has been active in the organization of irrigation 

 districts. 



Fred W. Hastings, of Wendell, a farmer, noted 

 for his common sense and success. 



Paul Bickel, of Twin Falls, engineer, who has 

 much to do with laying out irrigation projects. 



Thus the various interests are represented. It 

 is the duty of the commission to suggest means 

 by which the issue of irrigation securities may be 

 made fair to both promoters and water users, and 

 at the same time attractive to investors. Some- 

 thing of this kind is sorely needed. 



A Salt Lake paper states that there is 

 International now a strong probability that the Inter- 

 Irrigation national Irrigation Congress will not 

 Congress hold a meeting this year. The last 

 Mixup. session was held in that city, and 



Phoenix, Ariz., was chosen as the 

 next meeting place, but that city has been unable to sat- 

 isfy the executive committee of the Congress that it 

 is in a position to care for the large number of people 

 who will attend and so the meeting has been called 

 off. Since that time, Butte, Mont., and several other 

 western cities have invited the congress to meet there, 

 but the Board of Governors fear a failure, owing to 

 the lateness in calling the meeting at a new place, and 

 has suggested to the executive comirfittee that no meet- 

 ing be held before 1914. The matter has not, how- 

 ever, been definitely settled as yet. 



There is much to be commended in the sug- 

 gestion made by Governor Oddie of Nevada at the 

 recent conference of governors of western states 

 at Salt Lake City, to the effect that the payments 

 to be made by settlers on arid lands be graded. It 

 is Governor Oddie's idea that these payments should 

 be lighter for the first three years than they are 

 later. This is sensible. The first years of a new- 

 comer in a new country are always hard ones no 

 matter how beneficent and inviting the conditions 

 may be, and it is then that he needs relief from the 

 onerous load of debt. 



Good work is being done by the Panama com- 

 mission of Idaho in working up a sentiment favor- 

 able to the making of a liberal exhibit of the 

 agricultural, horticultural, livestock and poultry re- 

 sources of the state at the San Francisco exposi- 

 tion. It would be a big thing for that part of the 

 country. 



Judge Davis, of the Idaho bench, has ruled that 

 a water company has a lien on the water rights it 

 sells until payment is completed, and that this lien 

 is independent of any claim on the land itself, so 

 that the fact that a patent has not been granted on 

 the land by either the federal or state government 

 does not enter into the question, the two properties, 

 the land and the water right, being entirely separate 

 and distinct. 



