196 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



proposed to merge it with the Trans-Mississippi 

 Congress at Colorado Springs in 1902. This move- 

 ment headed by Fred J. Kiesel and others at Ogden, 

 assisted by the people of Salt Lake and Utah gen- 

 erally, resulted in the best congress in the history 

 of the organization held at Ogden in 1903. 



If Ogden can do one-half as well in 1917 a rous- 

 ing and well-attended meeting will ensue. 



Water Users generally, under Fed- 

 Water Users eral irrigation projects, should awake 

 Study and examine the provisions of a bill 



Proposed approved by Congress August 11 



District Law providing for assessment of all 

 project lands under water for main- 

 tenance and development work, regardless of 

 whether the owners of the land are signed up for 

 water leases or whether the lands are entered or 

 unentered. This bill includes the displacement of 

 Water Users' Associations and the creation of irri- 

 gation districts. 



Thousands of acres of private lands on Gov- 

 ernment projects and unentered public land will be 

 liable for a portion of the cost of development and 

 maintenance expenses if the bill finally becomes a 

 law. 



It is claimed in favor of the bill that this pro- 

 posed change would also enable project land owners 

 to borrow money on first mortgages on their hold- 

 ings. 



This last feature of the bill has been exploited 

 through these columns for many years, but no head- 

 way has been made, owing to the fact that the 

 Reclamation officials have feared to make any move 

 that would indicate a desire to change the Reclama- 

 tion law, or cause it to be brought under the 

 scrutiny of new members of Congress. 



It is well known that Judge Will R. King, 

 Chief Counsel of the Reclamation Service, has ad- 

 vocated adoption of the district plan and it is pos- 

 sible that this bill was presented at his suggestion. 



One important point in this connection must be 

 kept in mind by the various water users' associa- 

 tions, viz. : that with the passage of a district law 

 the Reclamation Service experts will insist on a 

 clause which will load all cost beyond the original 

 engineers' estimates of "water rights" on the shoul- 

 ders of the water users, otherwise the district plan 

 will be sidetracked. 



If some plan may be brought out where the 

 cost "of enthusiastic dreams which have not in 

 every instance been realized," is borne by the Gov- 

 ernment and not by the settler, then, we say, form 

 the districts and let the Government take over as a 

 permanent investment all reservoirs and top work, 

 charging the settlers a stated sum for the water 



which will include interest on the investment. 

 This plan, when properly worked out, will 

 prove satisfactory to everyone, and it may readily 

 be enlarged upon by the adoption of some of the 

 ideas expressed in the article by Mr. John M. Hess 

 entitled "Irrigation as a Means of Preparedness for 

 Defense," which appeared in our issue of October. 



What 

 Ails the 

 Irrigation 

 Congress? 



The Irrigation Congress held re- 

 cently at El Paso, to the long-time 

 student and observer of events in 

 the field with which the Congress is 

 presumably identified, gives rise to 

 fruitful and serious reflection. The 

 dominant sentiment of one who witnessed the 

 melancholy spectacle of empty benches and absent 

 speakers, as contrasted with those former gather- 

 ings of the period prior to 1912, must inevitably be 

 one of melancholy and of regret over the decadence 

 of the once grand and powerful institution. 



The inevitable corollary of this feeling must 

 present itself in the query, "To what is the decline 

 of this potential agency of helpfulness to the entire 

 West attributable? Why has the expensive ma- 

 chinery of the Congress, instead of at least main- 

 taining its former prestige, failed to vindicate itself? 

 Were the debacle at El Paso for such it was, in 

 point of attendance an isolated phenomenon, the 

 situation could be dismissed without serious mis- 

 givings. The fact that the Congresses of 1915 and 

 1914 were also meagerly attended not to speak of 

 the failure to convene at all in 1913 points, how- 

 ever, to a deep-seated and fundamental defect. 



The doctrine has been accepted throughout the 

 entire civilized world that those who are charged 

 with the immediate responsibility of success or fail- 

 ure of institutions, whether commercial, political or 

 semi-public, shall be given a reasonable period in 

 which to demonstrate their efficiency, and that those 

 who are found wanting in the balance shall be re- 

 tired. This is a wise provision, which is recognized 

 at the annual meetings of corporate bodies, where 

 officers must stand or fall upon the record of their 

 achievements. In the cabinets of all enlightened 

 governments, those whose conduct fails to justify 

 their titles or emoluments are permitted to retire 

 with more or less aplomb. There can be nothing 

 personal in the statement that five years of uninter- 

 rupted power should prove an adequate period in 

 which to test the measure of a man's ability. The 

 activities, the aims and ideals, everything that can 

 be assumed to represent the constructive policies 

 and the excuse for existence of the Congress, are 

 centered in its permanent executive officer its sec- 

 retary. He is not one who is asked or required to 

 do what his forerunners of conspicuous achievernent 



