56 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



SOUTHERN PACIFIC TAKES OVER 

 IMPERIAL DISTRICT 



The Southern Pacific Railroad Company had 

 signed a contract with Imperial Irrigation District, 

 which assures possession of the $3,000,000 irrigation 

 system of California Development Company. 



The execution of this agreement marks the con- 

 summation of negotiations covering pract ; cally the 

 entire period since the organization 

 of the irrigation district four years 

 ago. Heavy judgments against the 

 defunct California Development Com- 

 pany by the Southern Pacific and 

 New Liverpool Salt Companies, as a 

 result of the break in the Colorado in 

 1906, caused the affairs of the big 

 irrigation system to be under litiga- 

 tion continually, and kept the water 

 supply in doubt until the present 

 time. The Southern Pacific has 

 finally reached an agreement with the 

 Salt Company, together with Boaz 

 Duncan and other bondholders of the 

 Development Company, whereby the 

 Southern Pacific will deliver title of 

 properties on both sides of the Mexi- 

 can boundary line to the irrigation 

 district, according to the contract 

 just signed. 



A recent decision of the state Su- 

 preme court ordered an appraisal and 

 public sale of the irrigation system to 

 the highest bidder, and the Southern 

 Pacific has agreed to bid the system in and turn 

 it over to the irrigation district in return for bonds 

 at par. With the signing of the contract comes the 

 announcement that all claimants to the irrigation 

 system have agreed to waive appraisal of property 

 and permit the sale to be made. 



the very small per cent of the people who produce 

 the raw material the farmers. 



"In all years when conditions are normal, 

 prosperity abounds throughout the nation, when 

 big crops of all kinds are produced throughout the 

 nation. 



"The opposite is true in all years when crops 

 are scanty. 



FARMER REPLIES TO ELWOOD MEAD 



In a recent article contributed to THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE, Mr. Elwood Mead, of the Reclamation 

 Service, indicates that if a bill were introduced in 

 Congress which would prov-ide Reclamation farmers 

 with that needed relief, a terrible howl would be 

 heard that such a law would be class legislation ; 

 that it would be subsidizing one class of citizens 

 and thus giving them an advantage over other 

 classes. 



In reference to the matter, an Olathe, Colo., 

 farmer has written Mr. Mead about conditions in 

 that valley, and in regard to the class legislation 

 proposition, the farmer's letter said : 



"The farmers of every agricultural nation must 

 first be prosperous before the nation can become 

 prosperous. 



"The very great per cent of the people of every 

 agricultural nation depend for their prosperity on 



Main Irrigating Canal, Imperial County, California. 



"To help the farmer is to help everybody else, 

 and help all others as much as the farmer. 



"A large production of raw material sets in 

 motion the wheels of all classes of commerce, trans- 

 portation and manufactories, and the activity 

 spreads to all avenues of labor and trade, the ma- 

 terial handled increasing in value with each han- 

 dling, and every handler getting a 'divy' and getting 

 it. not by robbing some other fellow, but from the 

 nation's increase in wealth. 



"And it is to be kept in mind that the farmer's 

 'divy' is greater than that of any other man who 

 has anything to do with the stuff from the time 

 it leaves the farmer to the time it returns to him in 

 the form of finished products. 



"The man who produces the raw material is 

 the only fellow who can properly be subsidized or 

 otherwise assisted. 



"He is the only person who can receive assist- 

 ance under circumstances that will cause every 

 other person in the nation to receive equal assist- 

 ance." 



The farmer explains that when he was writing 

 the foregoing, he did not flatter himself that he 

 was telling Mr. Mead anything which that eminent 

 economist did not know, but was writing to show 

 how the matter looks when seen from the spot 

 where the farmer stands. 



IF YOU WISH TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH IRRIGATION LEGISLATION AND 

 DEVELOPMENT, SEND $1.00 FOR ONE YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION 



