434 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



its passage a little over two months ago. Secretary 

 Lane was reported, while the fate 01 the bill was 

 in doubt, as refusing to act upon any new business 

 until its passage. This was business-like on his 

 part. But many feel, very likely, that there has 

 been time enough to have the boards of estimate 

 meet and determine this much-talked-of final cost 

 of each project. 



"At first glance, this feeling appears justifiable. 

 But we must remember, for one thing, that the gov- 

 ernment bureaus move slowly a iact which we 

 have to accept just as we admit that ice is cold. It 

 must also be admitted that the boards of estimate 

 will have to consider a vast mass of more or less 

 complicated data before arriving at the final figures. 



"The foregoing shows, we hope, that no definite 

 knowledge of what each project, or part of a proj- 

 ect, would ultimately cost could be looked for be- 

 fore spring. In the meantime, payments that had 

 been repeatedly put off were coming due December 

 1. Should they be put off again till next spring? 

 If so, what surety would the government have that 

 the settlers would even then accept new contracts? 

 So, to argue from the Washington standpoint, it 

 would seem best to get these acceptances as soon as 

 possible so that a sound basis for action might be 

 had. Again, this is good business. 



"And in order to induce the settler to execute 

 this acceptance before a fixed date, a reduced pay- 

 ment only was to be required ; and further, to safe- 

 guard the interests of the settler in signing this 

 early acceptance, the proviso is made that the new 

 building charge shall be in effect only when it shall 

 have been accepted by a majority of the entrymen. 

 If there should be an apparent injustice in these 

 new charges they will hardly get by a majority of 

 the settlers. This last is the big, important point 

 and it -ought to reconcile everyone to the workings 

 of the new law. 



"We believe the thing to be all right. We be- 

 lieve that Secretary Lane and the Commission can 

 be trusted to do the square thing. The new law 

 was framed with the interests of the people in view 

 , and we believe it will work out in that way. An 

 especially admirable feature is the provision which 

 gives the people a voice in the determining of what 

 new expenditures shall be entered into on each 

 project. A careful perusal of the letter of the Com- 

 mission will repay our readers and very likely put 

 the whole matter in a different light to some who 

 have hitherto been inclined to disparage it." 



At the special meeting of the Lower Yellow- 

 stone Water Users' Association called for the pur- 

 pose of considering the General Orders of Septem- 

 ber 24, 1914, and the correspondence received in 

 relation to the order, after careful consideration, the 

 following resolution was passed by the Board of 

 Directors : 



"That the general public notice of September 

 24, 1914, is not applicable to the Lower Yellowstone 

 Project. First, because it is in direct conflict in 

 both spirit and letter, with the rental order of 

 March 4, 1914, which provides that applicants 'may, 

 by the acceptance of the provisions of the order, 

 obtain a supply of water for the irrigation season 

 of 1914, and thereafter until further notice, on a 

 rental basis of fifty cents per irrigable acre for the 



irrigation season,' and as this order was issued after 

 a careful investigation on the project by Mr. I. D. 

 O'Donnell, personal representative of the Secretary 

 of the Interior, who recommended that this project 

 be placed on a rental basis for a term of years be- 

 fore coming under Reclamation Extension Bill, 

 which was then under consideration, and he re- 

 ported, both by letter and by wire, that the people 

 under the Lower Yellowstone Project were in dire 

 financial straits, and unable to pay maintenance and 

 operation charges. 



"That we believe that the keeping of 'good 

 faith' with the people of this project requires and 

 demands the withdrawal of the order of September 

 24, 1914, and we believe if this is not carried out 

 there would be no hope of inducing the Water 

 Users to sign or accept any further orders ; 



"We must even go further and demand that 

 the provisions of the Order of March 4, 1914, be 

 carried out in its relations to the people of this 

 project, for otherwise they will have no confidence 

 either in the Commission or this Board, and this 

 notice in conflict with an existing agreement, has 

 shaken all confidence at this time ; 



"We recommend that the order of September 

 24, 1914, be revoked as to this project, and made 

 again of date of January 1, 1916, so that the spirit 

 and letter of the order of March 4, 1914, and the 

 conditions on this project be met, and provided for. 



"By Board of Directors of Lower Yellowstone 

 Water Users' Association. 



"E. C. HICKS, President, 

 "BURTON S. ADAMS, Secretary." 



O. E. Farnham, Secretary of the Belle Fourche 

 Valley Water Users' Association, which voted to 

 ignore the new law, wrote the following letter to 

 the editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE concerning the 

 feeling on his project: 



"On tlie Belle Fourche Project we have aban- 

 doned the idea of revaluation for the present. For- 

 mer public notices have fixed our building charges 

 at $30 and $40 per acre, and these, we understand, 

 are to be recognized by the extension measure. 



"There are some matters which the law does 

 not make clear to us, and we are trying to get an 

 understanding with the Department as to these 

 questions before advising our people to accept the 

 new law. Of course, a few of our Water Users 

 have signed and filed their acceptance of the law, 

 but a large majority are standing with the Board 

 of Directors of our Association with a view of get- 

 ting all our difficulties adjusted. 



"The operation and maintenance charge in the 

 past has been in part made up of many overhead 

 expenses and expenditures for construction work 

 and betterments, items which we think are not 

 properly chargeable to operation and maintenance, 

 and which have created a deficit against the O. & 

 M. fund of the project of hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars, and it is our purpose to secure a definite 

 understanding with the Department as to the na- 

 ture of the items to be included in this charge in 

 the future. 



"We had hoped to get a decision of the courts 

 interpreting the Reclamation Act and our con- 

 tracts with the Department before required to ac- 

 cept the new law, but under the provisions of the 



