THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



37 



It is, in our opinion, a vital mistake for offi- 

 cials of the Government to assume the attitude that 

 every settler who complains is trying to get the 

 best of the bargain. 



But, to return to the main subject, some defi- 

 nite plan should be adopted by the manufacturers 

 whereby the settlers may be encouraged to greater 

 effort which will increase their earnings, and fur- 

 thermore, the manufacturers should take such 

 action through their association as will encourage 

 the Government to develop larger areas, and in 

 that way increase the demand for their products. 



The eighteen millions annually expended by 

 settlers under Federal projects may easily be in- 

 creased to one hundred millions. 



It is, furthermore, our opinion that the Govern- 

 ment should spend a sum annually in developing 

 home trade equal to that put out to secure trade in 

 foreign countries. The AGE will, at an early date, 

 take up this subject with the officials of the National 

 Association of Manufacturers with a view to obtain- 

 ing the assistance of that body to secure the co- 

 operation of the Government in this movement. 



The Federal Government is spend- 

 Water- ing millions annually in representa- 



Users the tion at the various capitals and 



Heaviest trade centers of the world to de- 



Investors velop business for our merchants 



and manufacturers, and this money 

 is appropriated by Congress without question or 

 criticism, due to the fact that this work is productive 

 of large returns. 



These results are meager compared with what 

 similar expenditures in the upbuilding of our west- 

 ern agricultural possibilities may be made to pro- 

 duce. 



This thought comes with particular force when 

 one considers the difficulties encountered by set- 

 tlers on our newly developed sections under irri- 

 gation, and the careless attitude of officials gen- 

 erally. 



It perhaps has never occurred to the mind of 

 the ordinary reader that the settlers on the Federal 

 irrigation projects throughout the West are pro- 

 ducing, at a low estimate, forty millions in crop 

 values each year as a result of an expenditure by 

 the Government of one hundred millions or less. 

 This sum has constructed works in the form of 

 dams, reservoirs, ditches and their accompanying 

 requirements ; and if this work has been properly 

 done this investment has made it possible for 90,000 

 irrigation farmers to raise crops to the value men- 

 tioned. One who studies the situation is inclined 

 to the belief that more money may be profitably 

 expended in this direction and, moreover, teaches 



us that these settlers are at least entitled to as 

 good care and attention as are the possible avenues 

 for increasing trade in foreign countries. 



These thoughts are brought out by an editorial 

 in a recent issue of the Montrose Enterprise, of 

 Montrose, Colorado, wherein some harsh state- 

 ments are made about the members of the Board of 

 Governors of the Uncompahgre Water Users' Asso- 

 ciation, and the pessimism of some of its members 

 in particular. This project, like many others, is 

 confronted with conditions that, to some members 

 of the Board, seem insurmountable. We quote one 

 paragraph herewith: 



"From the vehemence in which these pes- 

 simistic members of the Board continually express 

 their sentiments, fighting for their pessimistic con- 

 victions as though it were a life and death matter, 

 one cannot but give them credit for an honest sin- 

 cerity in their pessimism. In other words, they 

 are no doubt pessimistic because they honestly 

 believe that they have reasons to feel this way 

 about it." 



It is evident that the settlers under this proj- 

 ect think that it will be impossible to meet condi- 

 tions imposed upon them by the Government, and 

 much speculation is indulged in as to the future. 



The Enterprise tries to make it clear that the 

 twenty-year payment extension act is evidence that 

 the rules of the Government are not set, in fact, are 

 subject to change, and may be shaped to conform 

 to the needs of the settlers. This writer, who could, 

 without too extravagant conjecture, be classed as 

 a reclamation official, goes on to say that the set- 

 tlers must not overlook the fact that the Govern- 

 ment, being the "largest investor" in the project, 

 is more concerned that the people under this proj- 

 ect should make good than the people themselves ; 

 and further states that "the whole reclamation prop- 

 osition is, at least to the extent of the non-interest- 

 bearing feature, a benevolent institution, working 

 directly for the benefit of the settler." 



The writer in The Enterprise overlooks the 

 main facts considered at the time of and prior to the 

 passage of the Reclamation Law. For the benefit of 

 the writer in The Enterprise, we quote from Sec- 

 tion 4 of that law, as follows : "that said charges 

 shall be determined with a view of returning to the 

 reclamation fund the estimated cost of construction 

 of the project and shall be apportioned equitably." 



It is the opinion of the AGE that this clause 

 could not have been made clearer, and the settlers 

 cannot be blamed for criticizing an attempt on 

 the part of the Government to so construe the law 

 that it will permit adding to the "estimated cost" a 

 lot of charges beyond and not covered by Section 

 4 of the Reclamation Act. Furthermore, the AGE 



