THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



143 



JONES BILL WILL GIVE IDAHO BIG BOOST 



THE irrigation 

 district bill, 

 which Senator 

 Wesley L. Jones 

 of Washington has 

 introduced in Con- 

 gress, is creating 

 a great deal of 

 favorable comment 

 t h r o u g hout the 

 West. 



In replying to 

 a letter from Mr. 

 L. W. Rice of 

 Seattle, Wash., 

 former Governor 

 Haines of Idaho 

 says of the Jones 

 Bill and irrigation 

 matters in Idaho : 



The state of 

 Idaho has 2,500,- 

 000 acres of land 

 reclaimed by irri- 

 gation, and with 

 Senator Jones' bill 

 in operation we 

 could build irri- 

 gation works for the reclamation of 2,500,000 acres 

 more. No new irrigation works are being built 

 in the state of Idaho at the present time for the 

 reason that there is no market for irrigation se- 

 curities and the principal reason that there is no 

 market for irrigation securities is because of a lack 

 of faith in the financial success of irrigation projects. 



About ten years ago a great many irrigation en- 

 terprises were undertaken in the West without due 

 investigation and consideration, with the result that 

 a number of them were financial failures. Heavy 

 bond issues were placed against these enterprises 

 and these bonds were purchased all over the United 



An apple orchard in the Belle Fourche Valley (S. D.) irrigation project, built by the government. Courtesy of the 



Chicago & Northwestern Railway. 



for irrigation securities, but when there was such a 

 market irrigation bonds sold at from 60c to 80c on 

 the dollar, with a liberal supply of the capital stock 

 of the company thrown in for good measure. 



For example, if it was desired to raise $1,000,000 

 to build a given project, it would be necessary to 

 issue securities against it amounting to $1,660,000. 

 These would then be discounted at 60 per cent to 

 raise the required $1,000,000. Not only were the 

 bonds sold at a ruinous discount, but the interest 

 rate was higher and on the basis of the discount it 

 was an enormous burden for the constructing com- 

 pany to carry. Considering- the interest and dis- 



States and many of them were sold in foreign coun- count charges, I think I am entirely safe in saying 

 tries. The losses that followed have caused the pur- that a project could be built for one-half the sum 

 chasing public to become very skeptical in reference 

 to the financial end of irrigation enterprises. 



This might all be cured by the Jones bill. If 

 these bonds were made to run for a long period and 



that it would cost under the system that we were 

 pursuing, because interest on government guaran- 

 teed bonds at 4 per cent would sell at par. 



The government of the United States could 



the interest on them was guaranteed by the United very properly and safely guarantee the interest on 



States government, they would be almost as attract- 

 ive as government bonds and would sell at a very 

 low rate of interest, possibly four per cent. With 

 a market for such securities we could readily finance 

 2,500,000 acres in Idaho. We have the land and 

 the water. This would afford homes for many thou- 

 sands of worthy and industrious citizens of the 



these bonds in view of the fact that before such 

 guarantee was given the feasibility of the project 

 was to be investigated and approved by the United 

 States Reclamation Service. The United States 

 Reclamation Service has established a splendid or- 

 ganization of competent and experienced men and 

 there should be no element of doubt in reference 



United States and add to the general greatness of to an irrigation enterprise approved by the Recla- 



the country. 



Not only would the Jones bill enable us to re- 

 claim this vast area, but it would enable us to re- 

 claim if 'at a practically one-half cost that we have 

 paid for reclamation in the past. 



As before stated, there is no present market 



mation Service. The feasibility of a project may 

 safely be determined with our present knowledge 

 of irrigation. The water supply of all important 

 streams in the arid country has been determined 

 and the area of irrigable land has always been 

 known. The principal element of doubt about the 



