THE IEKIGATION AGE. 



399 



to have greater advantage than he would in a county or state 

 election. 



I am suggesting this because I believe that the outcome 

 will be more satisfactory in having your representative se- 

 lected for this particular purpose with your full knowledge 

 of his qualifications for acting in this somewhat difficult 

 and complicated situation. 



Cordially yours, 

 (Signed) FRANKLIN K. LANE. 



A later issue of the Powell (Wyo.) Tribune 

 says : 



"According to instructions received at the local 

 office from Comptroller Ryan of the Reclamation 

 Service at Washington it is going to be practically 

 obligatory upon the entryman to file his acceptance 

 of the terms of the Twenty-Year law before the 

 final fixing of the cost of the land. This communi- 

 cation from Mr. Ryan is clear and to the point and 

 is doubtless law to us unless it should be overruled 

 by a decision of the Secretary of the Interior. It 

 states positively that the entryman will be urgently 

 requested to file his acceptance of the provisions 

 of the new law before December 1. In case he does 

 this, he will be required to make a payment equal to 

 two per cent of the balance remaining unpaid. That 

 is, if an entryman has made three payments on a 

 forty amounting, say, to $6.50 per acre, or $260 in 

 all, and the total cost of his land at $50 per acre is 

 to be $2,000, then he has an unpaid balance of 

 $1,740, and on December 1 he will have to pay two 

 per cent of this, or $34.80. If, on the other hand, 

 he does not accept the new law, a payment will 

 become due which will be regulated according to 

 the terms of the previously existing act. 



"In regard to the many cases where seepage 

 conditions have brought about a reduction in pay- 

 ments, it is uncertain just what the procedure will 

 be. What is pretty certain, however, is that ac- 

 ceptances of the new law will have to be filed be- 

 fore December 1, or you will remain under the 

 former law. It looks as . if this was food for 

 thought." 



The Belle Fourche Association explains its re- 

 fusal to join in the proposed revaluation in the fol- 

 lowing letter: 



Newell, S. D., October 14, 1914. 



To the Water Users' Associations and the Water Users on the 

 Various Federal Projects: 



Fellow VVater Users: The Belle Fourche Valley Water 

 Users' Association has during the past thirty- days received 

 communications from a number of the other associations 

 with reference to Secretary Lane's plan of revaluation of 

 the projects under the terms of the new extension measure, 

 or presumably so. And it has been suggested that a meeting 

 of the various associations should be held in order that some 

 united action might be taken for the protection of the rights 

 of the Water Users. 



It doesn't occur to me that the act contemplates a re- 

 valuation, except in the event of extensions or betterments 

 in addition to the plans upon which the original estimates 

 and contracts are based, or upon which the public notices 

 now in effect were issued. If this interpretation of the law 

 "is correct, then the Water Users should be informed on this 

 point, as it seems to be the general impression among the 

 Water Users that in order to secure the advantages of the 

 extension 01 time they must submit to a revaluation of their 

 project and enter into a new contract with the Department 

 based upon the findings of the Central Board of Review. 



The matter came before the annual mass meeting of this 

 association October 10, and the association refused to appoint 



a representative to act on the revaluation board. As you 

 are probably aware, we have a suit pending in the Circuit 

 Court of Appeals, instituted by the association against the 

 local officials of the Reclamation Service, in which suit we 

 are asking for an interpretation of the Reclamation Act 

 of 1902 and the contract which our association entered into 

 by virtue thereof. It is not a fair proposition, to say the 

 least, to ask our Water Users to submit these honest and seri- 

 ous differences involving as they do so vitally their vested 

 rights, to a partisan tribunal for adjustment. 



In our opinion we believe it the utmost folly for the 

 Water Users on any project to take such action as might be 

 construed a waiver of their rights under the original law 

 and an acceptance of the more recent reclamation legisla- 

 tion, especially until their rights are definitely and finally 

 determined by the courts. 



A meeting of the associations may accomplish something, 

 and if it is the intention of Secretary Lane to readjust the 

 charges on the various projects and fix a new charge to be 

 based upon justice and equity, charging off certain items 

 where the circumstances seem to justify, then it would seem 

 that the secretary should be prevailed upon to give us at 

 least a non-partisan board, and that this board should be 

 governed in its deliberations by the laws in effect at the time 

 our rights accrued, and in accordance with the interpreta- 

 tion of the law at that time by those who had to do with 

 its enactment and putting it into operation. 



First in importance, is a non-partisan tribunal before 

 which to try our case, free from the influence of Newellism. 

 Respectfully, 



O. E. FARNHAM, 

 Secretary Belle Fourche Valley Water Users' Association. 



Surely this presents a situation which demands 

 the most earnest consideration of the Federal 

 Water Users. As Mr. Farnham's letter suggests, a 

 meeting of the Water Users' Associations might 

 accomplish something such a meeting, no doubt, 

 would accomplish a great deal. Steps should be 

 taken by the officers of the National Federation of 

 Water Users' Associations to call such a meeting 

 immediately. Delegates from every project should 

 attend. 



BIG FIELD FOR U. S. PUMPS 



As a result of the need of irrigation being con- 

 stantly impressed upon the farmers of the Trans- 

 vaal, the Orange Free State, and Rhodesia, and the 

 formulation of irrigation schemes by the govern- 

 ments of these countries, a big impetus is coming 

 in the imports of engines, pumps, and other ma- 

 chinery for irrigation purposes. In these lines 

 American manufacturers should be preeminently 

 qualified to enter the district with a good prospect 

 of success. Broadly speaking, there is no preju- 

 dice against American goods or methods. On the 

 contrary, American products, as a rule, are in favor 

 with both dealers and consumers. 



Send $1.00 for 1 year's subscription to the IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE and bound copy of THE PRIMER OF IRRIGA- 

 TION. If you desire a copy of The Primer of Hy- 

 draulics add $2.50 to above price. 



