THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



171 



A PLAN is on foot to hold the Water Right 

 charges about wl;ere they are at present, and in 

 some cases cut them. This is to be done by giving 

 the Water Users less for their money than what it 

 was generally understood they would get. 



Supervisor of Irrigation I. D. O'Donnell let the 

 cat out of the bag during a recent visit to the Un- 

 compahgre project, when he stated that it was the 

 plan of Secretary Lane to charge the tunnels, dams, 

 reservoirs, power plants, main canals and other 

 main works of the irrigation projects to the general 

 fund of the Reclamation Service. This will permit 

 the farmers to pay for and obtain possible title only 

 to the subsidiary canals and laterals, incidental 

 power in the minor drops and other minor works. 



This juggling of the Reclamation books is to 

 be done by Secretary Lane's proposed revaluations 

 of the projects, plans for which were announced in 

 his recent letter to Water Users. The "charging 

 off" is expected to effectively stop forever the 

 Water Users' complaints against the extravagance 

 and mistakes of the Reclamation officials, because 

 under this plan the department will be able to reply : 

 "\Yell, you don't have to pay for these errors, these 

 losses, this incompetency, and therefore you have 

 no excuse to even talk about it." 



This is a great scheme. It has merit in this 

 one particular : it may serve to lighten the burden 

 of the Water Users, or at least prevent increasing 

 the already too heavy burden. 



The plan may meet with opposition in som 

 quarters because Water Users on several projects 

 have made several Water Right payments, based on 

 charges for the cost of their entire project. There- 

 fore they feel they have an equity in the main works 

 and the power development the latter being worth 

 millions of dollars in some instances. 



It will also raise another question, in which 

 Congress may become greatly interested. The 

 Reclamation Act provides for a revolving fund ; in 

 other words, the cost of the projects are supposed 

 to be returned to the Reclamation fund through the 

 payments of the Water Users, and the money used 

 for new projects. If $40,000,000 to $100,000,000 is 

 charged to the general fund, the Reclamation fund 

 is liable to stop revolving, is it not? Unless, of 

 course, these main works are sold by the Govern- 

 ment to private interests. 



It is true, as the Reclamation Act is now con- 

 strued, title to the reservoirs on the projects is 

 vested in the Government and cannot be transferred 

 except by special action by Congress. It was Chief 

 Engineer Davis who revealed this feature of the 



law, more than ten years after its passage, and after 

 some settlers had made numerous payments, based 

 on the total cost of their project. 



The revaluations of the projects are not ex- 

 pected to be made until after the twenty-year exten- 

 sion bill becomes a law. Secretary Lane let it be 

 known recently in Washington that he probably 

 would abandon his plan to have the revaluations 

 made -by a board composed of three members, one 

 to be named by him, one by the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice and one by the Water Users. The Water Users 

 generally resented this plan and told him plainly it 

 was a "packed court." Instead, the Secretary is 

 expected to name one member of each of these 

 boards, let the local Water Users' association name 

 one, and then these two pick the third member. 

 This would be fair. 



Senator Smith's report to the Senate on the 

 twenty-years bill says : 



"There is one important consideration that is 

 not included in this measure, and that is the charges 

 heretofore made against the Water Users for un- 

 necessary expense in the construction of dams and 

 other works incident to the project. The Water 

 Users under any of these projects should not be 

 required to pay more than the reasonable cost of 

 the works. The man who has to pay for the work 

 has had no voice. His protest against engineering 

 mistakes were of no avail. He has been charged 

 lor every mistake of engineers over whom he had 

 no control. He is taxed to pay, in many cases, the 

 salaries of a lot of supernumeraries whose service 

 was ornamental rather than helpful. These, orna* 

 ments of the service have heretofore had houses 

 built for them out of the farmers' pockets far more 

 luxurious than any ordinary farmer could afford 

 for his own family. There is at this time no danger 

 of a repetition of this reckless extravagance. Justice 

 will not be done until a fair and impartial tribunal 

 of competent men shall be selected to find the rea- 

 sonable and necessary cost of these works, and 

 charge the people no more and no less than that 

 figure." 



The twenty-year bill which the Senate has 

 passed, provides for a new public notice, fixing con- 

 struction charges. After these notices are issued 

 the charges cannot be raised except by consent of 

 a majority of the Water Users on a project. The 

 Senate bill also provides that the Secretary of the 

 Interior may arrange for the payment of any addi- 

 tional charges agreed to by the Water Users, subse- 

 quent to the completion of the twenty years' pay- 

 ments. Perhaps this is expected to solve the gen- 

 eral fund problem. 



