THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



101 



Rural Credits The Oregon Drainage, Irrigation 

 Bill Prepared an< i Rural Credits Conference, 

 for Oregon which had some hard sledding at 



Voters * ne Salem convention, has now 



drafted the measure which is to 

 be submitted to the people of Oregon. The Port- 

 land Telegram has this to say of the proposed legis- 

 lation : 



"The first essential is to have a law that is gen- 

 uinely a rural credit law and nothing else. The 

 second essential is to provide for simple machinery 

 and minimum expense in the administration of the 

 law. The third essential is that the moral as well as 

 the financial quality of the security to be accepted 

 shall be established and maintained throughout the 

 life of the loan. The fourth essential is that the 

 interest rate should be low and the terms of pay- 

 ment such that the obligation may be met with 

 reasonable certainty from the improved conditions 

 which the use of the money borrowed will bring 

 about. A fifth, but by no means the least impor- 

 tant feature, should be an administrative system that 

 will prevent the money being used to boost the 

 speculative value of farm lands. 



"The foregoing enumeration does not preclude 

 the consideration of other important features, but it 

 indicates in the outline what a rural credit law 

 should be to give the farmer maximum help and 

 the state maximum service properly, safeguarded 

 against loss or exploitation in any direction. 



"The tentative draft of the bill submitted em- 

 bodies these points. Its purpose is clearly and dis- 

 tinctly to furnish the farmers of Oregon with the 

 money they need at the lowest practicable cost. It 

 creates no new commission for administration. It 

 provides that all initial expense shall be borne by 

 the borrowers. It keeps whatever administrative 

 expense there may be, aside from that, strictly un- 

 der the eye of the legislature, and consequently 

 within the knowledge of the people. It provides 

 for investigation as to the character of the bor- 

 rower and the purpose for which the loan is asked. 

 It makes that purpose a condition expressed in the 

 note. It requires supervision calculated to secure 

 the fulfillment of the contract in this as in all other 

 respects. It limits the amount of the loan per acre. 

 It seeks to propose a law that shall be really what 

 it purports to be a rural credit law in aid of Ore- 

 gon agricultural development. 



"This measure should be subjected by thinking 

 people to analytical discussion. There should be 

 willingness on every side to help the committee 

 perfect it." 



GOVERNMENT EMPHASIZES NEED OF 

 WATER USERS ASSOCIATION 



Mr. F. G. Hough, manager of the Truckee-Car- 

 son project, has issued a circular addressed to the 

 Water Users in his district, which, in the opinion 

 of THE IRRIGATION AGE is of great value to all the re- 

 claimed west. We publish his letter in full, as it is 

 well worth the attention of water users everywhere : 



The Circular Letter 



The project office is in receipt of a circular let- 

 ter from Director A. P. Davis in which the follow- 

 ing quotation is given from a letter to the director 

 from the First Assistant Secretary of the Interior : 



"In the consideration of the claim for damages 

 of H. G. Stewart, North Platte Project, Nebraska, I 

 find in the record a letter from Project Manager 

 Andrew Weiss, of Mitchell, Nebraska, to the Chief 

 of Construction, Denver, Colorado, in which it is 

 suggested 



that this or any other similar matter be re- 

 ferred to the Board of Directors of the 

 North Platte Valley Water Users Association 

 prior to the settling of such claims, unless 

 settlement be made of a special appropria- 

 tion by Congress without charge against 

 the project. This would be in accord with 

 the Mutual Amendment of June 3, 1914, re- 

 garding acquisition of lands. 



"The suggestion of Mr. Weiss should, in my 

 judgment, be followed in this case and in other 

 similar cases. You are accordingly directed to se- 

 cure from the Board of Directors of the North Platte 

 Valley Water Users Association a report upon the 

 facts relative to the claim of Stewart, together with 

 such recommendation as the association may deem 

 proper." 



This furnishes an excellent illustration of the 

 value to the project of a water users' association and 

 of the assistance that it can give to the project man- 

 ager in conducting the business of the project. 

 There are many other matters which it would be 

 desirable to have the authorized board of directors 

 of an official water users' association consider be- 

 fore action is taken. Among these are the frequent 

 requests received from water users for betterments 

 in the arrangement of ditches, drains or structures. 

 These betterments must be charged to the operation 

 and maintenance account and tend to increase the 

 amount to be paid by water users, yet in many cases 

 the changes requested would be very desirable and 

 no doubt a water users' board authorized to act for 

 the majority would feel disposed to approve work 

 of this kind possessing real merit and manifestly 

 necessary for the proper protection of the water user 

 or for the more efficient operation of the system. 

 The project manager hesitates, however, to make 

 expenditures of this kind which will increase the 

 maintenance cost without the co-operation and ad- 

 vice of a representative body of water users. 



A duly authorized board of directors could also 

 assist the project office greatly in coming to a proper 

 decision on various complaints made by water users, 

 also in handling and adjusting complaints made by 

 the Reclamation employes of improper handling of 

 the water by water users. In many instances condi- 

 (Continued on Page 107.) 



