THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



203 



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A Department Devoted to the 

 Interests of the Farmers on the 

 Government Irrigation Projects 



EDITED BY GEORGE J. SCHARSCHUG 



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SOME FACTS FOR COL ROOSEVELT TO DIGEST 



ABOUT the time Secretary of the Interior Lane an- 

 nounced that he had retired Frederick H. Newell 

 as director of the Reclamation Service, Col. Theodore 

 Roosevelt wrote a letter commendatory of Mr. Newell. 



tion of the human side of the federal irrigation prob- 

 lem," etc. 



The report is 3,334 pages of typewritten matter 

 covering 17 days of the conference, therefore I deem 



This was used in connection with a letter by Gifford it undesirable for me to burden you with so great a 



Pinchot, in what appeared to be the opening gun of 

 a publicity campaign to make Mr. Newell appear a 

 martyr and perhaps so arouse the 

 ignorant public in the East as to 

 force his restoration to office. The 

 editor of the Federal Water Users' 

 department of the IRRIGATION AGE 

 promptly wrote a letter to Colonel 

 Roosevelt pleading with him not to 

 become a party to any movement 

 which would bring harm to the set- 

 tlers on the federal irrigation proj- 

 ects. In that letter he told some 

 facts about Mr. Newell and much 

 concerning the difficulties with which 

 the settlers are coping. The letter 

 was given to the press and obtained 

 sufficient circulation to halt with a 

 quick turn the Newell martyr pub- 

 licity campaign. Col. Roosevelt 

 asked for more information. The 

 editor of this department asked sev- 

 eral prominent water users to write 

 to him. One of the strongest docu- 

 ments sent to Col. Roosevelt was the 

 subjoined letter by Earl B. Smith, chairman of the ex- 

 ecutive committee of the National Federation of Water 

 Users' Associations : 



Somerton, Yuma County, Ariz., March 20, 1915. 

 Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay, N. Y. 



Dear Mr. Roosevelt : I am in receipt of a letter 

 from Mr. Geo. J. Scharschug (IRRIGATION AGE) in 

 which he says : 



"I received a reply to my letter to Col. Roosevelt, 

 concerning F. H. Newell, some time ago. 



EARL B. SMITH, 

 Of Somerton, Ariz., Chairman of the 

 Executive Committee of the Na- 

 tional Federation of Water 

 Users' Associations. 



volume. To send you extracts as suggested would in- 

 volve great labor, and if attempted, I probably could 

 not do it in a manner to relieve your 

 mind from doubt that my extracting 

 would be free from bias. Neverthe- 

 less I feel it is only a justice to you 

 and a duty to those I represent to 

 comply with your wishes in the most 

 practical manner possible. I cannot 

 part with the record as it may be re- 

 quired in evidence, but it is always 

 an open book for examination to any 

 one interested. 



The controversy is not political, 

 nor is it of a personal nature against 

 Mr. Newell, but relates to his official 

 policy, his official irresponsibility, his 

 professional incapacity and his habits 

 of deception covering a period of 

 more than ten years. The National 

 Federation of Water Users' Associa- 

 tions was formed to compare notes 

 and ascertain if the experiences of 

 settlers on all the projects were the 

 same, and they were found to be so, 

 and to devise means of correction. This latter is the 

 delegated duty of the executive committee. 



Knowing that Mr. Newell was an appointee of 

 yourself and that you have yet confidence in him, I 

 deem it best to give you data rather than the language 

 of the complaints founded on the data, for you can 

 then judge for yourself as to the merits of the con- 

 troversy. Therefore I will give you some data re- 

 garding my own project on which I live and on which 

 I own and operate an 80-acre ranch, but what I say 



"As you may recall in my letter to Col. Roosevelt, wiU substantially tell the story of practically all the 



I mentioned the fact that one water user had a copy 

 of the report of the water users' hearing before Secre- 

 tary, Lane. 



"Col. Roosevelt expressed a desire to see this re- 

 port or portions of it. If you have the time, there- 

 fore, I will appreciate it if you will give the Colonel 

 some extracts from the report as it concerns the set- 



projects. 



Yuma project: 35,000 acres public and 53,000 pri- 

 vate land. Surveys completed early in 1904. Great 

 and lasting opposition to government irrigation as 

 against private proposals and many meetings held to 

 discuss relative merits. Fear of red tape and long 

 delay is great objection. Newell attended at least one 



tiers' feelings towards Mr. Newell's lack of apprecia- of these meetings and explained the law and explained 



