70 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



ever charges "as cost of 'a project or for operation and 

 maintenance of a project that they might see fit, and 

 the settler could not do anything except pay the 

 bills. If he refused to do this, they claimed the 

 royal prerogative to shut off the water, which gave 

 life to his land, thus robbing him of all his posses- 

 sions and then drive him from the land itself. They 

 scoffed at the sacred contract between the govern- 

 ment and the water users. 



On and on they went with their riot of rule or 

 ruin. Patiently the settlers bore acts of injustice 

 and persecution. At last they could stand no more. 



Mr. Farnham, who is secretary of the Belle 

 Fouche association, as well as secretary of the Na- 

 tional Federation of Water Users' Associations, 

 proposed suit for injunction to restrain the illegal 

 acts of the Reclamation Service and to prevent the 

 ruin of many settlers. His proposal was greeted 

 with little enthusiasm because of the fear that per- 

 haps the Reclamation Service was right in its con- 

 stant preachment that there was no power which 

 could overrule its acts. Every citizen has a deep 

 respect for his government, no matter how badly 

 some of the servants of the government may treat 

 him. Finally a limit to the patience of the settlers 

 was reached, and Mr. Farnham was told to do the 

 best he could with the meager resources of the set- 

 tlers against the high priced lawyers of the Reclama- 

 tion Service, backed by the unlimited funds at the 

 disposal of the bureaucracy, which quickly realized 

 its very life was being attacked. Mr. Farnham was 

 permitted to have some legal aid, but as a very 

 close student of Reclamation law and as an actual 

 water user and an official of the association, naturally 

 it was upon him that the major part of the work 

 devolved. He did nobly, as a careful reading of 

 Judge Sanborn's opinion will show. 



The Belle Fouche water users are not yet 

 through with their battle for rights as citizens. No 

 doubt this case will go to the Supreme court. It 

 should, for these newly established rights of the 

 water users should be written firmly and incon- 

 testably into the law of the land by decision of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States. The Reclama- 

 tion Service will appeal the case in all probability. 



All this means heavy financial outlays. Every 

 Water Users' association should come to the aid of 

 the Belle Fourche settlers immediately with such 

 financial assistance as they can afford. The Belle 

 Fourche people should not be permitted to become 

 crippled or to be halted in this valiant fight because 

 of lack of funds. The Irrigation Age urges every 

 Water Users' association to act promptly and liber- 

 ally in this matter. 



Because Judge Sanborn's opinion is the big- 

 gest piece of news for the settlers on the Federal 

 project and for others, who are interested in national 

 irrigation affairs and irrigation law, The Age prints 

 this opinion in full in this issue. Read it. 



Secretary of the Interior Lane says 

 Mr. Lane in his annual report to the President : 



Sees a "While it is matter of the larg- 



Great est concern that the Government 



Light should be wise in determining what 



it- policies for the future shall be, 

 it is, I respectfully submit, a matter of no less mo- 

 ment that its administration of the law that already 

 is shall be responsive to the needs of the people. 

 I would therefore present to your eye in succinct 

 form a picture of the effort that this department is 

 now making to so administer existing law as to 

 stimulate confidence in the Government and a cheer- 

 ful acceptance of its policies. 



"It can not be unknown to you that there is 

 throughout the country, more . especially in the 

 Western States which because of their ambition 

 are naturally impatient of obstruction a very real 

 fear of what is called 'the bureaucracy of Washing- 

 ton.' This is said to be a 'system' or organized ma- 

 chine, the spirit of which is to oppose action or to 

 effect negative action. It is visualized as either 

 cynical or malevolent, altogether out of sympathy 

 with those who needs must come to the Government 

 for some form of help, and so wound round and 

 round with the red tape of officialdom as to resemble 

 a barbed-wire entanglement which, if not absolutely 

 impregnable, is only to be passed through after much 

 suffering and toil. It is a matter of no immediate 

 concern how much basis there is for this belief. The 

 presence of the belief makes it a real problem, 

 and the destruction of the belief a necessity, if the 

 Government itself is to remain an object of pride 

 and its beneficent efforts understood and appre- 

 ciated." 



Secretary Lane evidently has been reading the 

 Irrigation Age. 



We believe the Secretary has seen a great light. 

 We hope that his actions in the future will be such 

 as to remove the conditions which have created the 

 feeling throughout the West which the Secretary 

 has been forced to recognize. 



As a western man, the West expected much 

 from him and had great confidence in him. That 

 these expectations were not realized is not the fault 

 of any man except the Secretary, himself. There is 

 still time to remedy the bureaucratic evils, against 

 which The Age has voiced the feelings of the West 

 in almost every issue. We trust Secretary Lane 



