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T II H IRRIGATION AGE. 



no doubt to the best of their ability, but of which 

 in many cases they made almost total failure. 



Secretary Lane made this reorganization only 

 after a very careful study of the entire 'situation. He 

 is a western .man and knows many of the problems 

 of the pioneer. He gave a very extended hearing to 

 the officers of the National Federation of Water 

 Users' association, to representatives of -the various 

 project organizations, to individuals acquainted with 

 irrigation and to the reclamation officials. When 

 he had thoroughly digested all this information, he 

 acted. He divided the Reclamation Service into five 

 divisions, as follows: 



Scientific, Statistical and Historical division, in 

 charge of F. H. Newell, as director. 



Engineering and Technical division, in charge 

 of Arthur P. Davis, as chief engineer. 



Law division, in charge of Will R. King, chief 

 counsel. 



Fiscal and Accounts division, in charge of W. 

 A. Ryan, comptroller. 



Operation and Maintenance division, in charge 

 of I. D. O'Donnell, supervisor of irrigation. 



The engineering and technical features of the 

 service thus remain in the hands of Director Newell 

 and Chief Engineer Davis. This is proper. While 

 these two men have made mistakes and many 

 enemies, they have long been the directing heads of 

 the construction work of the irrigation projects and 

 have done work that will stand for centuries as 

 monuments to their engineering ability. There is 

 still millions of dollars worth of work to be done 

 and their supervision and counsel will be of vast 

 value to the government and to the project settlers. 



Although the five division chiefs will act as a 

 board, the real business management of the projects 

 and of new construction work falls on the shoulders 

 of Comptroller Ryan, it is understood in Washing- 

 ton. 



Mr. Ryan is the personal appointee and rep- 

 resentative of Secretary Lane. He was employed 

 on some big investigations for the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission, when Mr. Lane was a member 

 of that body, and the secretary thinks very highly 

 of him. 



Organizing ability and business acumen are de- 

 clared to be prominent attributes of Mr. Ryan's 

 make-up, and he has already shown something of 

 these in the short time he has been on the Reclama- 

 tion Commission. He has expressed some rather re- 

 markable ideas about the reorganization of the 

 water users. Some of these ideas will no doubt 

 prove of value ; others are so revolutionary that the 

 settlers' interests might be jeopardized, should he 

 succeed in carrying them out. 



It is worth a great deal to the settlers to know 

 that he has the full confidence of Secretary Lane 

 and through the secretary, of the administration. 



Supervisor O'Donnell comes from Billings, 

 Mont., adjacent to the Huntley project. Secretary 

 Lane is reported to have called him "the ideal man 

 for the place." 



The duties of Mr. O'Donnell, if carried out fully 

 as outlined, may make him a man of immense value 

 to the water users. He is the adviser of the Recla- 

 mation Commission on all matters concerning irri- 

 gated lands. He directs and conducts the manage- 



ment of all the irrigation systems on the govern- 

 ment projects. He will advise with water users and 

 their associations concerning the best methods of 

 irrigation and cultivation of their lands, the develop- 

 ment of their markets and upon other problems af- 

 fecting the welfare of the settlers and the projects. 

 All project managers and maintenance employes are 

 under Mr. O'Donnell's supervision. 



One of the first acts of the new commission 

 was to cause a reiteration by Secretary Lane of his 

 order of June 23, 1913. And this time he spoke in 

 language so plain that every project employe could 

 understand it well enough to let the settlers know 

 about it. Under this order, slightly modified, no ac- 

 tion will be taken for the cancellation of entries for 

 non-payment of building or operation and main- 

 tenance charges before March 1, 1914. 



The Commission has also made a very impor- 

 tant concession to the settlers, as the result of a 

 request of the Elephant Butte Water Users' associa- 

 tion on the Rio Grande project. This association 

 has been given permission to employ an engineer, 

 empowered to check all plans and specifications and 

 estimates of cost prepared by engineers of the 

 Reclamation Service. Secretary Lane directed the 

 Commission to grant the same right to any other 

 water users' association that may apply for it. This 

 is an important reform and will, no doubt, prevent 

 in the future many extravagances, useless expendi- 

 tures and foolhardy pieces of engineering, such as 

 have cropped out in the past on practically every 

 project and cost the settlers millions of dollars. 

 Some of these mistakes have been matters of pub- 

 lic scandal and efforts are now being made by con- 

 gressmen and others to work out some way by 

 which the settlers, entirely innocent, can be relieved 

 of paying for them, and yet not violate their solemn 

 obligations to pay back to the government every 

 cent put into the construction of the projects. 



The' new method of administering the projects 

 will be considerably more expensive, so far as the 

 payroll is concerned, and, of course, the settlers 

 must ultimately pay these bills. All in all, however, 

 the extra cost now looks like money well invested. 



CORRECTION. 



An explanation is necessary in item which ap- 

 peared on page 54 of our December number, under 

 the subhead, "Kansas" in Reclamation Notes, about 

 a well near Modoc, Kan., in which it was stated 

 that a Mr. Churchill had invented an irrigation 

 pump that would lift 800 gallons of water per min- 

 ute and from a depth of 128 feet. It should have read 

 300 gallons as per the copy prepared, which allows 

 for a more reasonable efficiency. The fault was with 

 the proofreader and not with the one who prepared 

 the copy. 



Send $1.00 for 1 year's subscription to the IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE and bound copy of THE PRIMER OF IRRIGA- 

 TION. If you desire a copy of THE PRIMER OF HY- 

 DRAULICS add $2.50 to above price. 



