THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



199 



But the bureaucracy must live. The pay-roll 

 must not decrease. So blame the Service. It won't 

 hurt the Service, as long as none of its big or little 

 cogs are removed. 



Such a condition as this is undemocratic. It is 

 dangerous. The Secretary of the Interior should 

 act immediately to break up this bureaucracy. He 

 can do it best by removing its most important cogs. 



Wield your axe, Mr. Secretary Lane. Let the 

 keynote of the Reclamation Service be COMPE- 

 TENCY, instead of its present motto: 



"We payrollers must stand together." 



A member of the Reclamation Com- 

 Here's a mission, whose word we believe is 



Little Story as good as gold, told us the other 

 With a day that the original bills, which he 



Moral had drawn for the relief of the set- 



tlers on the Federal irrigation proj- 

 ects met practically all the demands of the National 

 Federation of Water Users' Associations, and in 

 some respects were even "more radical." He added 

 and let us say right here, his name is neither 

 Newell nor Davis that Secretary Lane favored his 

 proposals, but the Twenty-Year Extension bill as it 

 is now before the House for passage was the best 

 measure to which the Congressional leaders would 

 agree. This bill grants the extension of payments 

 on a graduated basis and provides for the designa- 

 tion of the Water Users' Associations as fiscal 

 agencies. These are its only features, which are 

 representative of the sentiment and recommenda- 

 tions of the National Federation. The House com- 

 mittee on irrigation eliminated the "court jurisdic- 

 tion" section, added by the senate during the bill's 

 passage in the upper house, and also restored the 

 more drastic cultivation regulations in the "land- 

 lord" section of the measure. In this condition, the 

 bill will, no doubt, go to the President for his 

 signature. 



The member of the Reclamation Commission 

 hastily added that even though the Water Users had 

 been most adequately represented in Washington 

 during the formulation of the bill, Congress would 

 have granted no more. 



Here we disagree with him most vigorously. 

 We have never been a lobbyist, but as a newspaper- 

 man, we know the fear that the average member of 

 either House of Congress has of the public, if that 

 public is at all organized. We firmly believe that 

 if the Water Users had had their National Federa- 

 tion so thoroughly organized that it was in touch 

 with every Water User ; that every Water User was 

 known to be paying his mite each month toward the 

 expenses of the Federation, in order that its officers 

 might be right on the ground looking after their 



interests, the Extension bill would have read much 

 different. It would have contained all the big fea- 

 tures of the program of relief for the settlers, urged 

 upon Secretary Lane by the National Federation a 

 year ago, and for which the executive committee- 

 men have fought as hard as they knew how with 

 their meager resources, and largely at their own ex- 

 pense. 



The present bill may do much to alleviate the 

 burdens of the Water Users. We hope so. We 

 believe Secretary Lane will stretch it to its limit to 

 help the settlers, but under it, he cannot do all he 

 would like to do. 



The moral is Organize. Every Water User 

 should belong to the Water Users' association on 

 his project. Every Water Users' association should 

 be a member of the National Federation not an 

 honorary member as are some of the richer asso- 

 ciations, but real live, active, due-paying members. 

 The Federation cannot succeed without ammuni- 

 tion. This means probably less than a dollar a year 

 from each Water User, but if this fund was available 

 and in the hands of such men, as now make up the 

 Executive Committee of the National Federation, 

 Congress would be very glad yes, delighted to 

 grant any requests a Secretary of the Interior might 

 make for the relief of the settlers. And the Secre- 

 tary, knowing that the organized Water Users stood 

 behind him in his requests, would feel much more 

 inclined to ask for needed reforms. 



Organize. Concentrate your power. Make 

 your Water Users' Association something more 

 than an empty shell. Make the National Federa- 

 tion a real, live, powerful, dominant representative 

 of the Water Users. 



Get into action Mr. Federal Water User. Don't 

 wait for your neighbor to do it. Don't wait for the 

 leaders on your project to do it. Don't delay until 

 a new crisis arises. 



Do it yourself. Give a little time each day to 

 putting life into your project association ; to spread- 

 ing the gospel of strong national organization. It's 

 going to mean money as well as comforts for you in 

 the end. 



Remember you are on the eve of revaluation of 

 your project. That's just one reason for need of real 

 organization. You cannot afford to neglect this 

 matter. 

 Organize. 



The United States Senate has passed a bill 

 authorizing the President to send a government 

 engineer to China to aid the yellow men's republic 

 in controlling its flood waters. Now, would not 

 this be an ideal assignment for F. H. Newell? 



