422 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



tell you of at least one book on farming as well as 

 good works of literature, which your children will 

 enjoy reading. You are building for the future of 

 yourself as well as your nation, when you give your 

 children good books. Build well. 



We in America have become so fetish about 

 Christmas that we are inclined to give more than 

 we can afford, and as a result Christmas is looked 

 forward to with horror rather than joy. Start right 

 now to make this a Christmas of joy. Be sane 

 about your Christmas shopping. Join the Society 

 for the Promotion of Useful Giving. It does not 

 cost you anything to belong to it. You do not even 

 have to fill out a membership blank. 



Better than gifts, give to all the world smiles 

 and words of cheer. They count more than gold. 

 Let us make the next year a year of smiles and 

 optimism. You cannot do anything more patriotic 

 or more noble and God-like than to pass the smile 

 along. 



A Merry, Merry Christmas to you ! 



We regret very much that Secretary 

 Why Not of the Interior Lane should have laid 

 Help the himself open to comment such as this 

 Settlers, from the Churchill County Eagle of 

 Mr. Lane? Fallen, Nev. : 



There was a large crowd present, but there was 

 sad disappointment in the reclamation talk that was 

 expected. For, instead, Mr. Lane made a straight- 

 out political speech for Francis G. Newlands' can- 

 didacy for the United States Senate. Several of the 

 farmers came into this office after the meeting and 

 expressed their indignation that they should have 

 been called from their work under the pretense of 

 hearing the Secretary of the Interior talk on recla- 

 mation affairs. They said the Secretary of the In- 

 terior did not come that instead, it was a stump 

 speaker. 



Because he comes from the West, the settlers 

 on the Federal projects have had unusual confidence 

 in Mr. Lane. This seemed fully justified when he 

 called a conference of water users in May, 1913. 



When the first draft of the Twenty Year Exten- 

 sion law was made public by THE IRRIGATION AGE, 

 some of the settlers shook their heads, but the ma- 

 jority still felt Mr. Lane would obtain justice for 

 them. The bill as it finally became a law was mere 

 political sop, containing relief with many strings 

 and some of them very dangerous strings tied 

 to it. 



Still, under the law as bad as it is Mr. Lane 

 has it in his power to confer some real benefits 

 upon the settlers. No steps, however, have been 

 taken by the Reclamation Commission tb do any- 

 thing under this law except to drive the farmers to 

 accept it by using the lever of the loan shark. Ac- 



cept this law and pay 84 cents an acre or stay under 

 the old law and pay $18 or $24 an acre by March 1 

 or lose your farm is, in plain English, the ultimatum 

 delivered to the settlers on the Umatilla project. 

 It reads about the same way on the other projects. 



Does acceptance of the new law also mean ac- 

 ceptance of the increased charges, which are cer- 

 tain to result on practically every project from the 

 revaluations? Settlers have asked this question re- 

 peatedly. They have received no answer except 

 these cryptic words : "No increased charges will be 

 assessed unless a majority of the water users agree 

 to accept them." What does that answer mean? 

 When are the settlers to vote on these charges? 

 Before they are fixed? 



Is it Mr. Lane's duty to recoup the vast finan- 

 cial losses incurred by the Reclamation Service un- 

 der the administration of F. H. Newell, whom Mr. 

 Lane is pleased to keep in office as Director of the 

 Reclamation Service? 



No ! we answer. It is his duty to see that the 

 solemn contracts between the United States gov- 

 ernment and the settlers are fulfilled, even though 

 it costs the reclamation fund $40,000,000. The 

 settlers must not be made to pay for the mistakes 

 and experiments and engineering foolishness of the 

 Newellites. Such action would be un-American and 

 dishonest. 



If anybody starts to talk hard times 

 Some or depression to you, just refer him to 



Figures the "Statistical Record of Progress of 



That Will the United States, 1800-1914." 

 Cheer You We all get some bumps occa- 



sionally. We all run into spells of 

 slow pay or poor markets. There is no such con- 

 dition as perfect in this nation or any other, but 

 when things look blue or some one tries to discour- 

 age you, we repeat, just study the government 

 figures. 



Those cold figures are startling. They will 

 make you swell with pride because you are a part 

 of what those figures represent. They show 

 clearly how well founded is this nation ; how firm 

 it has been builded and how even world-wide war 

 conditions cannot shake it. 



Those figures spell on-coming prosperity. 



The population of the United States today is 

 more than 100,000,000 and the money in circulation 

 totals $3,419,000,000, while 11,000,000 of the thrifty 

 inhabitants have $4,375,000,000 in the savings 

 banks. The farms of the nation are worth $41,- 

 000,000,000. 



Commerce has grown from $318,000,000 to 

 $4,259,000,000 and the per capita value of exports 

 from $16.96 to $23.27. 



