THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



301 



SOME R. S. METERS WHICH FAILED TO METER 



Also Another Vigorous Demand for a Reclamation Service Investigation 



By H. A. BUSTRIN 



Vice-President of the Land Owners' Protective Association 

 of Phoenix, Ariz. 



1WISH to criticise a recent article by W. A. Ryan, 

 comptroller of the Reclamation Service, on the 

 liberality of the 20-year extension bill. In the first 

 place, conditions he refers to do not compare with 

 irrigation under our Federal projects. They can 

 only be compared with Rural Credits, as now 

 planned. If he wishes to be fair why does he not 

 make his comparison with foreign irrigating proj- 

 ects? Since he has seen fit to compare with strictly 

 farm loans, I will answer in that line. 



In the first place, Mr. A. borrows a given sum 

 on his land, or he buys his land for a price and bor- 

 rows to improve his future home. That money is 

 his. He does not have to support an army of gov- 

 ernment engineers, clerks, and helpers, who spend 

 this cash for him without his consent or even ask- 

 ing him whether he wants certain work done, and 

 sometimes even without his knowledge as to what 

 they are doing. This army often does experimental 

 work, one piece after another, which is all lost and 

 all because these government experts are ignorant 

 of the practical way of doing things, and have no 

 knowledge or concern as to Mr. A y s needs or his 

 ability to pay. 



Now, Mr. Ryan was here and I am informed 

 that he found some terrible things here. His re- 

 port was so strong that Secretary Lane almost ac- 

 cused him of hobnobbing with Sam Barrett. If he 

 had, Sam Barrett could have shown him more 

 things than he could find in the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice books in Phoenix. 



For instance, a certain man invented a water 

 meter. To test it a certain concrete box had to be 

 built and it was very expensive. 



Instead of building one such box they built 

 several hundred, and the aforesaid meter was a 

 failure. 



Mr. A in that foreign land of which Mr. Ryan 

 speaks, borrows and spends only the amount he 



feels able to repay, and uses it for his own benefit. 

 But we are not asked as to our ability to pay back. 

 Cost is piled on cost until it makes the best of us 

 stagger. And now they are willing to give us 

 twenty years instead of ten, hoping that we will 

 take the bait and not question their wisdom, much 

 less their honesty. I verily believe that the Recla- 

 mation Service has spent enough time and money 

 on this project to build two. The meter boxes men- 

 tioned are only one instance out of hundreds where 

 money has been wasted or thrown away and from 

 \vhich we get no benefit. 



Another thing Mr. A does not have to pay for 

 is a lot of engineers, helpers, visitors, and hangers- 

 on who gather sixty miles from the railroad for a 

 "banquet," and all the food and drink the very 

 best on the market was freighted to that banquet 

 hall and charged against the farmers as labor per- 

 formed. Neither does he have to support an adver- 

 tising outfit taking pictures boosting the same en- 

 gineers. On this project alone such advertising 

 had cost more than $9,000 up to 1912. Their travel- 

 ing advertising man has been here several times 

 since. 



Now, do you blame us for asking relief? We 

 are not responsible for that waste, incompetence 

 and "ignorance." The Reclamation Service office 

 is so full of incompetents that they are in each 

 other's way. And their only purpose seems to be 

 to spend money and draw their pay. The extension 

 of payments will not still our cry for justice. Every 

 unnecessary item of cost must be eliminated and 

 the house must be cleaned from top to bottom. 

 Then and then only will we be content. 



Water Users on every project stand firm and 

 demand justice and I am sure justice will be given 

 us. Congress is awake, they know we are being 

 worse than robbed. They may be waiting for us to 

 act. Why not ask a sifting of the Reclamation 

 Service to the very bottom? I am sure they will 

 give it. 



WATER USERS PLAN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 



'"THE foundation on which the Federal Water 

 1 Users on the Truckee-Carson project in Ne- 

 vada hope to see built within a few years a great 

 agricultural college, have been laid. The founda- 

 tion is a ten-acre playground and park, carved out 

 of the desert in a day. 



With true community spirit and enterprise, the 

 farmers of the Harmon district on the project 

 banded together, and with 140 head of their horses 

 and machinery leveled the land in a day. Five acres 

 , are being set out in ornamental trees, shrubbery and 

 lawns. The balance of the land will be used for a 

 ball grounds, an athletic field and as a site for a 

 school building. A bond issue for the construction 

 of a public school will be voted on soon. 



About two months ago the people of the Har- 

 mon district asked the government to set apart 40 

 acres of land for the benefit of that locality. Among 

 the points that they urged was that in all the proj- 

 ect there is not a place where the farmers can take 

 their families for Sunday's rest or a day's picnic ; 

 that in the timber along the river the mosquitoes 

 are bad and the groves are not in condition for en- 

 joyment. 



The government agreed to give them 10 acres, 

 with free water, and withdraw the 40 so that when 

 they proved that they made good use of the 10 

 acres they could have the rest. The people of the 

 district immediately went to work and cleared the 

 (Continued on page 311.) 



