RECLAIMING THE DESERT 161 



the high taxes, high cost of cultivation, and high 

 water charges which have come as part of an evolu- 

 tion but which have been accentuated and increased 

 by the Great War. 



"Up to the beginning of this century the lure of 

 free land caused the pioneer settler to ignore hard- 

 ship and privation. He built and lived in sod or log 

 huts. He will no longer do this. He then made a 

 start (or tried to) without money. This is no longer 

 possible and only the impractical and inexperienced 

 would attempt it. How to obtain settlers who are 

 expert cultivators or train them to become such, and 

 how to provide money or credit to develop earning 

 power on farms, to meet higher charges for water 

 and increased living expenses, have become out- 

 standing problems of reclamation. 



"In the twenty-four years since the reclamation 

 act was passed more than $200,000,000 has been 

 spent in building and operating federal irrigation 

 works. Of this, more than $50,000,000 has been re- 

 paid. Congress at the last session (Sixty-ninth) 

 just closed, has appropriated money for works which 

 will cost $60,000,000 to complete. New appropria- 

 tions were sought for thirty additional projects." 



The following table catalogues the Reclamation 

 System a quarter century after its start : 



PROJECTS, 1903 TO 1928 



Arizona : Salt River ; Yuma. 

 California: Orland. 



