166 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The settlers should not be made to par one dol- 

 lar for any piece of work which does not represent 

 actual value to them. 



Any attempt to make the revaluation political 

 buncombe should be resented sharply by the set- 

 tlers. They have to pay its costs and they have 

 accepted it as a sincere effort to right the wrongs 

 which the Newell bureaucracy inflicted or at- 

 tempted to inflict upon them. But without most 

 earnest participation by every settler, these revalua- 

 tions are liable to prove of more damage than good, 

 for if only the Reclamation Service presents evi- 

 dence of cost and values, what opportunity will the 

 settlers have when the day of judgment comes 

 the day when either the present administration or 

 some other must go to Congress and ask permission 

 or legislation to charge off the charges for "lost 

 work" or excessive costs, probably $40,000,000. 



This will be a bitter pill for Congress to swal- 

 low and one around which much politics will be 

 juggled, but if the settlers have made out a good 

 case at the revaluation hearings, Congress will have 

 to accept it. And while the amount which probably 

 will be charged off looks very big, if considered in 

 the right light, it will not be such a tremendous loss 

 to the United States. 



Much of it will come back indirectly from the 

 homes and farms established on the previously un- 

 productive desert. And then there is the knowl- 

 edge which the United States has been able to 

 obtain and give to the world through this irrigation 

 construction. The cement tests which have been 

 made and are being made on the various projects 

 alone are worth millions, if utilized in future con- 

 struction work by the government and its citizens. 



Irrigation 

 Investment 

 Market Soon 



We have met two or three men 

 this month with courage enough 

 to talk to Eastern bankers about 



Co-operation an idle dream? Well, 

 8,500 that is what the wise men called co- 



Co-operative operation not very long ago. 

 Associations Facts offer a different answer 



In the U. S. today. 



There are now 8,500 marketing 

 associations of a co-operative nature in the United 

 States. Of this number, 2,700 are co-operative and 

 farmers' elevators, 2,500 are co-operative and farmers' 

 creameries, and more than a thousand are fruit and 

 produce associations. More than a billion dollars' 

 worth of agricultural products are marketed annually 

 by co-operative and farmers' marketing associations. 



The meanest man in the world is the one that 

 will misuse a cow in the spring of the year when she 

 is all of a quiver over the little thing that has been 

 born to her. Her whole life is bound up in that calf 

 and she must show it. So be kind, be gentle and be 

 a man. 



investments in irrigation securi- 

 Must Open Up t ; es 



They met with more en- 

 couragement than even Western optimists that 

 they are they had hoped to receive. 



This is a good sign. Due to the stabilizing 

 influences, which have been at work in state legis- 

 latures in the West and in Western banking circles, 

 irrigation securities are beginning to be looked 

 upon more favorably by the man with money to 

 invest. 



And we believe the American bankers are soon 

 going to take off their coats and help finance the 

 big projects of the West, which, if handled in a 

 practical manner, will show sufficient profit to war- 

 rant investment by private capital. 



The money market, however, is still unsettled. 

 Sentiment is still influenced by the war news. 

 There is no definite light as yet in this direction. 

 The best judges do not believe that this country 

 will get drawn in either in Europe or in Mexico, 

 although the bare possibility of such an outcome is 

 sufficient to restrain the disposition to increase com- 

 mitments on the constructive side. 



The security market continues to reflect the 

 general uncertainty prevailing. Those interests 

 that have the greatest faith in the early termination 

 of the struggle abroad lack the courage of their 

 convictions. Undoubtedly the supply of securities 

 is being increased by reason of foreign liquidation 

 and by new financing. 



There is still good investment buying on re- 

 cessions, but the market remains narrow, and under 

 such conditions it is difficult to detect the absolute 

 trend. The market becomes over-bought as well as 

 over-sold at times and prices respond easily to the 

 technical position. 



Apparently the large financial interests are not 

 favorable to the activity and strength in certain 

 specialties, notably the motor stocks. This may ac- 

 count partly for the recent setback in the standard 

 shares. 



The wheat market holds strong on continued 

 export demand. 



The domestic trade situation is surely improv- 

 ing, even if slowly. There is a disposition to in- 

 crease the capacity of the steel plants, which is an 

 important consideration. But people will not see 

 fully the returning prosperity until railroad earnings 

 improve more largely, until clearing house ex- 

 changes increase perceptibly, and until there is a 

 larger demand for money from commercial sources. 



