THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



267 



HUMAN PROBLEMS TOLD TO CONGRESSMEN 



THE Congressmen, who will control largely the 

 appropriations for future work on the Fed- 

 eral irrigation projects, are getting just a fleeting 

 glimpse of the vast Reclamation works on their 

 journey through the West. They are nearly all 

 from the East, however, many of them have never 

 previously seen an irrigation ditch or had any 

 k n o w 1 edge of 

 the trials of the 

 irrigation farmer, 

 so even this 

 moving picture 

 sort of trip may 

 prove of great 

 value to them. 



The entire 

 R e c 1 a m ation 

 Commission and 

 many of the 

 Re c lam ation 

 Service En- 

 gineers are sleep- 

 ing, eating and 

 talking with the 

 Con gressmen, 

 day and night. 

 Despite this, the 

 settlers on most 

 of the projects 

 are finding op- 

 portunity to let 

 the Congressmen 

 know something 

 about the hu- 

 man problems of 

 government irri- 

 gation. 



The mem- 

 bers of the Con- 

 gressional committee, a sub-committee of the com- 

 mittee on Appropriations, visiting the projects are : 



John Fitzgerald of New York, chairman. 



Swager Sherley, Kentucky. 



Joseph W. Byrnes, Tennessee. 



\\m. P. Boreland, Missouri. 



Geo. W. Rauch, Indiana. 



Jas. W. McAndrews, Illinois. 



Frederick H. Gillett, Massachusetts. 



Charles R. Davis, Minnesota. 



Frank W. Mondell, Wyoming. 



Water users on the Truckee-Carson project in 

 Nevada were loaded for the visiting Congressmen. 

 At least one settler, who was not afraid to talk of 

 the difficulties which the water users face in try- 

 ing to .develop a farm home on the project and in 

 dealing with the Reclamation Service, was assigned 

 to each auto used to show the party over the proj- 

 ect. The settlers pointed out the spots of inter- 

 est, but also kept the ear of the Congressmen with 

 statements of conditions which they felt should be 

 remedied. 



An irrigation pumping plant in the Mimbres valley of New Mexico. 



At a public meeting, Fulton H. Sears, a set- 

 tler and member of the executive committee of the 

 National Federation of Water Users' Associations, 

 and A. D. Drumm, who had been selected by the 

 settlers, made short, pithy talks. 



"It is a question," said Mr. Sears, "whether we 

 shall have funds or have them cut off; we came here 



with full faith 

 that the govern- 

 ment would ful- 

 fill its promises ; 

 any one familiar 

 with irrigation 

 knows that with 

 it must go a 

 drain age sys- 

 tem ; the first 

 drain age here 

 was inadequate ; 

 then $3,500 was 

 spent on a sys- 

 tem that was a 

 failure, and now 

 we are asked to 

 pay $9 an acre 

 and the farmers 

 of the project 

 rejected the 

 p r o p o s i tion. 

 Men, women 

 and their chil- 

 dren have been 

 brought here 

 and we expect 

 the government 

 to keep faith 

 with us." 



Mr. Drumm 

 asked how 500 



poor water users could be expected to carry the 

 burden that was intended for 2,500 people and then 

 pay for an irrigation system. 



"We started in at 40 cents an acre for mainte- 

 nance,'' he said, "and this year it will in some cases 

 be $1.40 and $1.50. This community cannot carry 

 it. We cannot exist and carry the burden. Take 

 a proposition that is intended for 2,500 people and 

 let 2,000 of them step out, and what is the result?" 

 Congressman Byrnes of Tennessee said it was 

 the desire of Congress to aid the people in every 

 way and he trusted the project settlers would re- 

 ceive all that it was possible to do for them. 



Commenting on the visit to the Truckee-Car- 

 son project, the Churchill County Eagle of Fallon, 

 Nev., says : 



"Several members of the appropriation com- 

 mittee expressed themselves very favorably im- 

 pressed with the possibilities of the West, and espe- 

 cially with the actual development in Carson Valley 

 and the conditions thus far attained on the Truckee- 

 Carson project." 



