238 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



ver, 'Colcr., made' the argument against the court 

 amendment. 



Chairman Smith also presented these docu- 

 ments as a final clincher against the amendment: 



"My Deal 1 Mr. Smith: In relation to Senator Ster- 

 ling's amendment to the reclamation extension bill (S. 

 4628), I inclose copy of memorandum from the chief 

 counsel for the Reclamation Service. 



"Personally I see no reason for the adoption of this 

 a'mendment. 



"Cordially, yours, Franklin K. Lane." 



"Department of the Interior, 

 "United States Reclamation Service. 

 "Memorandum for the Secretary: 



"The proposed amendment of Senator Sterling to the 



reclamation extension bill (S. 4628) is objectionable in the 

 following particulars: 



"1. It will produce great confusion, as the United 

 States district and appellate courts may make decisions 

 wholly inconsistent, which must govern within their sev- 

 eral jurisdictions until the Supreme Court has decided 

 the specific question. 



"2. Any vvater users' association or irrigation district 

 may bring suit and delay the application of necessary 

 rules and regulations. In many such cases the Secretary 

 must either refuse to furnish water or furnish it without 

 payment for an indefinite period. 



"3. It confers no rights on the United States that it 

 does not now enjoy. The water users and water users' 

 associations have now the same rights of suit as other 

 persons dealing with the department under the public- 

 land laws. 



"Will R. King, Chief Counsel." 



CONGRESS PROBES RECLAMATION SERVICE 



The Irrigation Age Wins Fight for Investigation; Newell's Job in Peril 



The lid is off. 



The Reclamation Service is under Congressional 

 investigation. 



The repeated demands of THE IRRIGATION AGE 

 for a thorough house cleaning of the Service have 

 borne results. 



The sub-committee on Permanent Appropria- 

 tions of the House Committee on Appropria- 

 tions, of which Representative Borland of Missouri, 

 a Democrat, is chairman, is making the inquiry. In 

 opening the investigation before his committee, 

 which, it develops, is the only one in Congress 

 charged with the investigation and supervision of 

 such permanent funds as the Reclamation Fund, 

 Chairman Borland declared : 



That the Reclamation Service is in a stage of 

 stagnation. 



That the intent of the Reclamation Law has 

 been. violated in many important respects. 



That the Reclamation Service is sadly in need 

 of reorganization. 



That much of the land on the Federal projects 

 is in the hands of speculators. 



As a basis for the reorganization of the Service, 

 Mr. Borland said it was important that Congress 

 should be informed fully as to the expenditures 

 which have been made on the project and the utility 

 of these enterprises. 



Hearings on alternate days were opened im- 

 mediately, and Reclamation Service officials are 

 being questioned as to the estimated and actual 

 costs of each project. 



Mr. Borland states that Federal Water Users 

 will also be permitted to testify, if they are present 

 when their project is taken up. As Water Users 

 have had practically no notice of the inquiry, few, 

 if any, have had an opportunity to present their 

 side of the Reclamation problem. 



Mr. Borland has been pledged the thorough 

 support of Water Users on a number of projects, 

 providing he leads a complete investigation of the 

 Reclamation Service, and it is believed that he will 

 arrange to give the Water Users a thorough hear- 



ing. Pressure is being brought to bear upon him 

 tu prevent such a hearing. 



The Missouri Congressman insists he is sin- 

 cere, and is going to the bottom of the matter. In 

 rather vague letters, he has invited the co-operation 

 of all the Federal Water Users' associations in help- 

 ing him obtain changes in the method of handling 

 the Reclamation fund. 



There is still a lot of mystery surrounding the 

 investigation and Mr. Borland's exact purposes. 

 There are some in Washington who pretend to see 

 the hand of the administration behind it. They de- 

 clare it is the first move by Secretary of the In- 

 terior Lane to clear the Service of F. H. Newell, 

 director; A. P. Davis, chief engineer, and others 

 who have been the head and front of the bureau- 

 cracy, whose reign has become insufferable to the 

 settlers. They declare that the acts of the Recla- 

 mation engineers have cost the government more 

 than $40,000,000 expenditures from the Reclama- 

 tion fund on the various projects, which the settlers 

 under any rule of justice cannot be forced to pay 

 back into the United States treasury. They de- 

 clare Secretary Lane has come to realize that under 

 his proposed revaluations, at least a very large pro- 

 portion of this vast sum lost through errors, waste 

 and incompetency must be charged off, if the re- 

 valuations are honest, and that he wants to be in 

 position to place the blame for this enormous loss 

 to the government. 



Certain it is that Mr. Borland is a very promi- 

 nent Democrat in the House and on very good terms 

 with the administration. To this fact those who 

 believe the administration is behind the inquiry, 

 add these other pertinent and significant facts: 



Sir William Willcocks, builder of the Assuan 

 dam in Egypt, which stores water for the greatest 

 irrigation project in the world, has been retained as 

 consulting engineer for the Reclamation Service. 

 Sir William is now in the West inspecting the proj- 

 ects. He is accompanied by W. A. Ryan, comp- 

 troller of the Reclamation Service. According to 

 President Wilson's own announcement in appoint- 

 ing him. Mr. Ryan is the confidential man of Secre- 

 tary Lane on the Reclamation Commission. 



