136 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



that they cost many times over the amount for which 

 private capital could have constructed them. But no, 

 Mr. Newell must have a part in the management of 

 these projects; he must show the settlers how to run 

 their farms ; he- must help Congress frame laws to 

 make the Reclamation Act of 1902 read just the oppo- 

 site to what is the commonly accepted meaning of the 

 words and sentences of the English language, in which 

 the bill is written. As a result, in the words of an 

 old Helena, Mont., friend of ours, Mr. Newell "has 

 got himself in the middle of a bad fix." 



Here is an editorial squib from the 

 Change Norfolk, Va., Virginia-Pilot: 



This Kind "That million-dollar appropria- 



of Public tion for investigating irrigation res- 



Thought ervoirs in the middle west partakes, 



in a way, of the nature of throwing 

 good money after bad. There has so far been no 

 iota of occasion for the federal government to en- 

 gage in reclamation work, and the sooner it gets out 

 of it the better." 



The Federal Water Users are not to blame for 

 this sad condition of public thought in the east and 

 south concerning government reclamation. Such 

 editorial expressions are due to the incompetency 

 with which vast portions of the $81,000,000 or more 

 of funds, derived from the sale of public lands in 

 the arid states, have been spent. Once this incom- 

 petency is eliminated from the United States Rec- 

 lamation Service and responsibility for the foolish 

 mistakes and waste is fixed, confidence in Federal 

 reclamation will be restored. Then the south and 

 the east will again take pride in the government's 

 efforts to reclaim the desert, and will give this great 

 work the support it is entitled to, when done hon- 

 estly and efficiently. 



We find that the Milwaukee Daily 

 Huntine News, one of the newspapers which 



Source printed a three-column picture of the 



of False Reclamation Commission under the 



Information caption : "New Reclamation Commis- 

 sion, Composed of Experts, Makes 

 Good ; Settlers Who Were Dissatisfied, Complain No 

 More," obtained this layout from the Central Press 

 Association of Cleveland, O. We are now endeav- 

 oring to learn from this press association who in 

 Washington was responsible for the information that 

 all is peaceful and rosy on the Government irrigation 

 projects and that the settlers have no complaints to 

 offer. 



We are determined, if possible, to reach the 

 source of such information as this particular layout 

 and others of its ilk carry to the citizens of the East. 

 We believe in giving the Federal projects a boost 



wherever and whenever possible, but we are against 

 inducing any man to settle on one of these projects 

 through false publicity or deception. 



There is also a still greater peril in the spreading 

 of false information concerning the conditions of the 

 Federal Water Users. This lies in the impression it 

 makes upon members of Congress not directly con- 

 cerned with the affairs of the Water Users. Their 

 votes are needed to pass any measure of relief that 

 the Federal Water Users may obtain, and they will 

 not consent to aid such measures until they are made 

 fully aware of their real need. 



One official of the Reclamation Service, who has 

 much to do with its publicity work, promptly dis- 

 claimed any responsibility for the "Settlers Com- 

 plain No More" layout. 



Watch out for the back firing ! 



They're Letters have begun already to 



Again come into the IRRIGATION AGE office, 



at the some of them honest, no doubt, and 



Old Game others plainly inspired, declaring that 



the February issue of the AGE, in 

 which some plain truths were told about the difficulties 

 of the Federal Water Users under the bureaucratic 

 rule of the Reclamation Service, had "put a different 

 color" on the story of living on a government project. 

 There will be more of these letters. Out on the. proj- 

 ects, too. Reclamation officials, in more or less diplo- 

 matic language, will preach of the great harm to Fed- 

 eral Reclamation and the projects the AGE is doing in 

 telling the truth about conditions. It is an old, old 

 method. The Reclamation Service has thrived by this 

 sort of back-firing almost from its inception. It has 

 on its payrolls one high-salaried man, who for years 

 has done little else but visit the projects and bring 

 pressure to bear to suppress the truth if it was thought 

 that truth might aid the settlers and injure or weaken 



the bureaucracy. 



"No one outside the projects must know that you 



or your fellow farmers are having any trouble making 

 it go here, or Congress will stop all the work and 

 never give us any more money to complete the proj- 

 ects," has been the plaint of the Reclamation Service 

 emissaries. And the Water Users and even many 

 Western senators and congressmen have accepted this 

 as the truth. Meanwhile down in Washington the 

 chains of bureaucratic rule have been welded more 

 tightly by subterfuge legislation and departmental 

 rulings. 



These chains can only be broken by telling the 

 truth. We believe there is no better or more beautiful 

 country than those portions of the West in which the 

 Federal projects are located. The soil of every one 

 of them is rich and productive. The people living 



