us 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



SECRETARY LANE'S LETTER 



(Continued from page 107) 



successfully making final proof, but if the survey made 

 four farm units of these 160 acres, he should be required 

 within one year to sell three of those units. These 

 irrigated lands are valued at $20 to $100 per acre. If sold 

 at these prices the entryman will have from $2,400 to 

 $12,000 to invest in improvements on the unit he retains. 

 This should be a sufficient reward for the industry and 

 sacrifice of those who have waited so long for the settle- 

 ment of this vexed question. There seems to be no justice 

 in the demand to permit patent to be issued for 160 acres. 

 To do so would be to encourage speculation and the with- 

 holding of irrigable land from cultivation. Under the 

 above plan patents would only issue to one person for 

 the area embraced in one farm unit, as these are now or 

 may hereafter be fixed. The assignees of the original 

 entrymen would receive patent when the provisions of 

 the law have been complied with. If it were possible, I 

 would limit the delivery of water to one farm unit only 

 for each owner. There appears to be no legal means of 

 accomplishing this as to lands now in private ownership. 



Costs of Operation and Maintenance. This is a sub- 

 ject so vitally connected with size of farm units that it 

 must be considered in connection therewith. 



If authority shall be granted by Congress, I propose: 



That hereafter no part of building costs nor better- 

 ment costs shall be charged to this account. Neither shall 

 charges be assessed and collected in advance upon an 

 estimate as to what may be the expense of a given year's 

 service, except in case of default. Full and explicit month- 

 ly statements of the cost operation and maintenance shall 

 be made monthly and posted in all the offices of the 

 Reclamation Service on each project and in the office 

 of the Water Users' Association. The totals shall be 

 carried forward from month to month and on November 

 30th of each year the total cost as shown by such state- 

 ments shall be increased by 5 percent to cover the cost 

 of collection and the total thus obtained shall be assessed 

 proportionately to the amount of water used upon each 

 acre of irrigable land in the project. 



The charge assessed upon each farm unit shall not 

 be less than a reasonable minimum to be established by 

 agreement with the Water Users' Association on each 

 project. This minimum charge shall be assessed against 

 the total irrigable area of each farm unit and shall be 

 the same if the farm unit is uncultivated and uses no 

 water as if it were cultivated and irrigated. 



These charges shall fall due and be payable December 

 1st and if payment is made on or before December 15th 

 the 5 percent added to maintenance and operation ex- 

 penses to cover the cost of collection shall be rebated. 

 If not paid by January 1st a penalty of 1 percent per 

 month for each month of delinquency or for each fraction 

 of a month shall be added. 



The above provisions recommend themselves to me 

 as being reasonable regulations and such as should be 

 desired by the water users. Operation and maintenance 

 charges must be paid. If farming operations are not 

 sufficiently profitable to cover this service then irrigation 

 is a failure. There can be no valid excuse for neglect 

 to pay such charges and the very existence of the Recla- 

 mation Service and the water users' organizations as well 

 depends upon prompt payment. 



I trust that water users will soon be taking over the 

 management and operation of the projects. There should 

 be a well-ordered definite system as to such collections, 

 and calculated to produce the best results. I am advised 

 that the cost of collecting delinquent assessments amounts 

 to more than 5 percent thereof. The water user who 

 promptly pays his assessments should not be burdened 

 with a share of this cost as he is at present. By providing 

 a rebate or discount of 5 percent and not less than 5 cents 

 per acre to the man who pays within 15 days, this burden 

 is lifted from him. The delinquent, however, should be 

 required to pay the full amount and 1 percent pier month 

 additional for each month, or fraction of a month, of his 

 delinquency. It should also be provided that any water 

 user who is delinquent for operation and maintenance 

 charges for the year ending November 30th shall not be 

 served with water for any ensuing season unless he shall 



on or before May 1st pay the operation and maintenance 

 charges for the then current year on an estimated basis 

 of 25 percent increase over the charge for the preceding 

 year, ended November 30th. It is believed that these 

 provisions will encourage the thrifty to pay promptly and 

 compel the unthrifty to pay eventually all that may be 

 due. If water is not turned on May 1st for delinquents, 

 unless charges are paid in advance for the coming season 

 and at an increase of 25 percent over delinquent charges, 

 it is believed the delinquent charges will be paid to 

 escape the higher advance payment. 



It must be apparent to you that if there is a large 

 accumulation of unpaid charges due the Service there 

 must be some adjustment made to recover the loss. In 

 private business this loss is recouped by an arbitrary 

 charge which rests upon the paying customer the burden 

 of unpaid accounts. The government is not, perhaps, 

 justified in adopting this business rule, but it is justified 

 in adopting such restriction as will reduce such losses to 

 a minimum. 



I want you to think this over carefully and remember 

 that sooner or later the burden of carrying delinquents 

 will fall upon your shoulders, that you and not the 

 impersonal government will have to deal with them. The 

 question is, shall the government enforce a hard and fast 

 rule, or shall it leave you heir to an unbusinesslike and 

 inefficient system. 



The man who tries to hold 160 acres and pay opera- 

 tion and maintenance charges has four times the burden 

 of the man with 40 acres, and while it is true that he has 

 four times as much land, it is also true that no 160-acre 

 tract ever seems to produce as much per acre as 40 acres. 

 The projects which conform most nearly to the 40-acre 

 standard have the highest average yields. The margin 

 of profit is much greater. It follows, therefore, that 

 there will be fewer delinquents where the 40-acre tracts 

 prevail than where the larger are. The total delinquencies 

 for this account on Huntley project are less than 9 per- 

 cent, the forfeitures less than 1 percent. Huntley has 

 generally 40 acres of irrigable land in each farm unit. 

 On Lower Yellowstone, where the land is chiefly in large 

 holdings, the delinquencies are over 73 percent. I think 

 it may be said to be axiomatic that land greed induces 

 land poverty. You men who are making homes for 

 yourselves and your families over-reach yourselves when 

 you struggle under a burden to acquire title to a large 

 tract. The small farm, the good farm, first; then out of 

 its profits, the large farm; rather than the large farm, the 

 large debt, the big failure, and the big regret. 



Economy in the Use of Water. Perhaps the most 

 vital question confronting the water user today, and 

 really of greater importance to his future welfare than 

 the question of deferred payments for the water used, is 

 the determination of what is the proper use to be made 

 of the water which is available for use upon the land. 

 The prevailing disposition appears to be to use more water 

 than is absolutely necessary for the best results on 

 plant growth. The experts of the Service and those out- 

 side of the Service who have been longest accustomed 

 to irrigation and who have developed all that is known 

 on that subject, as applied to agriculture in this country, 

 are unanimous in recommending a system of rotation, pay- 

 ment to be made in proportion to increased quantity, and 

 of measuring according to predetermined schedule the 

 amount of water that shall be delivered to each user to 

 be regulated in accordance with the character of the land 

 and the nature of the crops. The deleterious effect of 

 the use of too much water upon the land is becoming 

 more evident with each year. 



The accumulation of ground water with a resulting 

 water-logging of large areas is but a reproduction of the 

 natural conditions prevailing in humid countries where 

 rainfall is excessive and the run-off limited. 



If farmers will insist upon pouring water upon the 

 higher lands in excessive quantities, not only will the 

 plant food be leached from the soil, but the encroachments 

 of the ground water will continue year by year and 

 eventually will neutralize the benefits of irrigation by 

 destroying more land than is reclaimed. 



Not only does this bad result appear to be inevitable, 

 (Continued on page T2o) 



