THE IEKIGATION AGE. 



201 



THE WEST JOLTS DREAMERS AND BUREAUCRATS 



T 



II E Conference o f 



Western States on ir- 

 rigation problems, called by 

 Secretary of the Interior 

 Lane, demonstrated very 

 forcibly during its three 

 days' sessions at Denver 

 last month : 



FIRST The West is 

 through with blue sky 

 dreamers and is seeking de- 

 velopment only on clean, 

 business-like, legit i m a t e 

 lines. 



SECOND -The West is 

 thoroughly tired of being 

 used by Federal bureaucra- 

 cies and their fund-solicit- 

 ing henchmen to boost the 

 pet ideas, legislation and 

 propositions of these bands 

 of pay rollers. 



THIRD The West is 

 quite willing to work out 

 most of its own problems, 

 if left alone by the blue- 

 fa 1 o o ded, silk-stockinged, 

 millionaire reformers from 

 Pennsylvania and other 

 states of the East. 



1 '< IT-RTH The West 

 will appreciate and wants 

 government aid in working 

 out its great Reclamation 

 projects, but it wants this 

 aid only on such terms as 

 will be recognized in all 

 quarters as good business terms. 



FIFTH The West resents the packing of its con- 

 ventions of public-spirited men, seeking to help the 

 nation, with large numbers of Federal supernumera- 

 ries. 



The Conference also developed some ideas on 

 financing crippled private and Carey Act projects and 

 helping the settlers upon them, which may be rounded 

 into beneficial legislation. Other movements were also 

 set in motion, such as standardization of irrigation 

 laws of the various states, and more liberal construc- 

 tion of the land laws and so-called conservation laws. 



The governors of the Western states showed their 

 displeasure at the manner in which the Conference 

 had been packed by such astute Federal employes as 

 F. H. Newell, director of the Reclamation Service : 

 George H. Maxwell, widely known solicitor of funds 

 for various propositions to aid the "poor, misguided 

 West," and others of their ilk. So displeased were 

 the governors that they practically withdrew from the 

 Conference until the last day. 



Then they discovered that the meeting, which 

 had been named by many "The Governors' confer- 

 ence," had endorsed the Newlands-Broussard bill. 

 The governors entered the meeting in white heat. 



Governor J. M. Carey of Wyoming. 



Governor Carey of Wyo- 

 ming led off in the attack, 

 and he did not mince words 

 in his denunciation of Max- 

 well, of New Orleans, chief 

 lecturer for the bill, who 

 was there as a delegate 

 from California. Maxwell's 

 motives in working for an 

 endorsement of the meas- 

 ure were questioned in no 

 uncertain terms, and some- 

 thing of his past record was 

 bared. 



Boiling with rage, 

 Maxwell relpied, but with 

 little or no effect. The en- 

 dorsement of the bill, which 

 Governor Carey character- 

 ized as a measure giving 

 the West a little financial 

 sop, while the treasury "of 

 the United States was 

 thrown wide open to the 

 South and the East, was 

 quickly withdrawn. 



Assistant Secretary of 

 the Interior A. A. Jones, 

 who presided at the Con- 

 ference, offered a sugges- 

 tion in regard to Carey 

 Act project financing which 

 was quickly grasped at as 

 that of Secretary Lane and 

 the administration. He 

 said : 



"We might do this: 



Provide a fund to start and finish a project; put the 

 farmer on the land ; give him water ; look after his 

 wants and earnings and then turn the whole thing 

 over to a local association. With the project com- 

 pleted and with liens on your land you ought to be 

 able to dispose of the bonds. But there should be 

 nothing payable except interest for the first ten years, 

 and the bonds should be long-term and guaranteed. 

 There is $100,000,000 in the Reclamation fund and 

 Congress might be persuaded to use this to care for 

 the defaults in interest payments. In that way the 

 interest might be made as low as 3 or 4 per cent with 

 the government practically standing behind the bonds." 



PLAN MORE WINDMILL PLANTS 

 The Kansas Irrigation Commission expects to 

 establish further windmill and pumping experimen- 

 tal plants in the western part of the state this 

 spring. Irrigation plants have already been estab- 

 lished at Dighton, Tribune, Syracuse and Leoti. 



According to Bert Walker, of Osborne, Kans., 

 the commission has spent less than $20,000 of the 

 $125,000 appropriated by the 1913 legislature. The 

 experimental plants are operated by windmills and 

 water is supplied from wells sunk under direction 

 of the commission. 



