206 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



consulted the highest engineering talent in this country 

 and obtained the best legal advice obtainable, and have 

 concluded that everything is extravagant that Mr. 

 Newell is remarkably incompetent as engineer, direc- 

 tor and business man ; that he has gone ahead regardless 

 of law and his own contracts. He even denied that he 

 wrote the letter to the Yuma County Water Users' As- 

 sociation giving the details of the estimate and that he 

 knows nothing about it. 



Under Newell's interpretations the law is nonsense. 

 Suppose they go on for ten more years and run the cost 

 up to twenty or thirty millions, can the land stand 

 it, and are not the objects, of the law defeated by its 

 administrators? 



But this is enough for this communication. I am 

 willing to aid you in any investigation with documen- 

 tary evidence that you may call for, for you should 

 know the facts more than any other man outside the 

 present government. With highest regard, I remain, 

 Very truly yours, 



EARL B. SMITH, 



Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Na- 

 tional Federation of Water Users' Associa- 

 tions. 



ADDENDA. 



Congressman Hayden in Congress February 12, 

 1915: (p. 4023). 



"Mr. Chairman, of course I do not ask for a cent 

 to be spent on the Yuma project that is not necessary, 

 because it must all ultimately come out of the pockets 



of the farmers there." 



* * * 



Secretary Lane has now been in office for over 

 two years since all these matters have been brought to 

 his attention in a 17-day conference, and it is time that 

 he came to some conclusion as to what is the matter. 

 Of course he inherited Newellism when he became the 

 Secretary of the Interior. Congressman Borland's 

 remarks quoted in this letter let the cat out of the bag 

 when he explained on the floor of the House how the 

 Secretary is holding up the settlers to agree to a differ- 

 ent bargain when they ask for extensions of time on 

 payments due that they could not possibly pay under 

 the circumstances brought around not by their acts, but 

 by the policy of the Reclamation Service. A wobbling 



policy still prevails. 



* * * 



Of all the nonsense appearing in the official organ 

 of the Reclamation Service when dealing with so grave 

 a proposition as is involved in this discussion, and upon 

 which depends the success or failure of thousands of 

 settlers, the following article taken from the May issue 

 (1914), page 168, I think this is the worst that has 

 ever appeared, and shows the weakness of the position 

 maintained by the Department. I quote the article in 

 full as follows: 



VARIETIES OF ESTIMATES. 

 "In connection with the question more or less fre- 

 quently raised regarding the "estimated" cqst of a pro- 

 ject, it is interesting to note the following classification 

 of estimates suggested by Allen Hazen, Consulting 

 Civil Engineer of New York City : 



"1. Preliminary estimates, being estimates made 

 in advance of the preparation of detailed 

 plans and specifications for the purpose of 

 discussing a project for deciding as to its 



adoption, and for making the necessary 

 financial arrangements for carrying it out. 

 "2. Detailed estimates, being estimates based 

 upon detailed plans for the execution of 

 the work, and usually made shortly before 

 bids are asked for the particular work 

 covered, or in advance of undertaking to 

 carry it out by day labor. 



"3. Final estimates, being made to the contractor 

 at contract prices for the actual work done. 

 The term 'final estimates' may also properly 

 be applied to a statement of the cost of a 

 completed work based upon actual expend- 

 itures made in carrying it out. 

 "It has been suggested that the term 'estimates' as 

 used in the Reclamation Act, obviously refers to the 

 final estimates as defined above, while the so-called 

 estimates of the engineers and others, made in the 

 early stages of consideration of a project, were just 

 as obviously merely preliminary estimates as above 

 noted." 



The above constitutes the only discussion ever ap- 

 pearing in the Reclamation Record on this important 

 subject, and if our destinies are to depend on the mere 

 passing remarks or obiter dictum of Mr. Allen Hazen, 

 then he had better be immediately employed as the 

 government's engineer, legal counselor, director, etc., 

 and let him complete the job undertaken by Congress 



on June 17, 1902. 



* * * 



In my humble opinion this uncertainty has gone 

 on long enough. That the lands are not going into 

 cultivation after this enormous expenditure is suffi- 

 cient reason that somebody ought to do something to 

 ascertain, officially, the real cause. 



* * * 



A few words about real values. Congress has 

 just passed appropriation of $725,000 to continue the 

 work on the Yuma project from June 30, 1915, to July 

 1, 1916, or approximately $2,000 per day including Sun- 

 days and holidays. This daily expenditure is sufficient 

 to purchase, at present values, an ordinary farm unit 

 each day of the year, and during the year 365 units will 

 have their present entire value expended simply to con- 

 tinue the work for the twelfth year of operations. 

 While the towns-people want the appropriations, the 

 settlers do not want them, for the reason that each ap- 

 propriation simply adds to the already heavy burden, 

 that is, according to the Department's interpretation of 

 the law. These 365 units constitute a very large por- 

 tion of the entire project. The settlers do not thank 

 our Congressman Hayden for helping to secure this 

 appropriation, but would thank him if he could hold 

 up every appropriation until the law of estimated cost 

 is finally settled and settled right in accordance with 

 terms agreed upon, by every possible precaution, at the 

 time the project was started. 



* * * 



Dear Colonel, the reclamation law is a child of 

 yours. Are the views of the men you intended to assist 

 in establishing homes in the far west of any material 

 interest to you ? 



Yours truly, 



EARL B. SMITH, 



Chairman. 



