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this  extension,  or  of  any  alternative  action,  it  may  perhaps  be  well 
to  consider  first,  how  the  Act  would  apply  here. 
To  discuss  accurately  its  applicability  requires  a legal  analysis 
of  the  Reclamation  Act,  and  an  understanding  of  your  local 
statutes.  I have  not  the  equipment  for  such  an  analysis,  nor  am 
I acquainted  with  your  local  laws,  therefore,  all  I can  hope  to  do 
is  to  open  the  subject,  and  to  call  your  attention  to  certain  mat- 
ters that  appeal  to  a layman,  who  is  more  or  less  familiar  with  the 
operation  of  the  Reclamation  Act. 
Section  1 of  the  Reclamation  Act  provides  for  the  creation  of 
the  fund  from  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public  lands  in  certain 
States  and  Territories; 
Section  2 authorizes  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  make  the 
necessary  examination  and  surveys,  and  to  construct  irrigation 
works,  and  directs  him  to  report  to  Congress  the  results  of  these 
examinations,  etc. 
Section  3 directs  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  withdraw  from 
public  entry  “the  lands  required  for  irrigation  works,”  contem- 
plated under  the  provisions  of  the  Act,  and  directs  him  to  restore 
these  lands  to  entry  when  in  his  judgment  they  are  not  required 
for  the  purposes  of  the  Act ; and  he  is  “authorized”  but  not  “di- 
rected” to  withdraw  from  entry,  except  under  the  Homestead 
laws,  all  lands  believed  to  be  susceptible  of  irrigation  from  the 
works  to  be  constructed.  This  section  provides  further  “that  all 
public  lands  which  it  is  proposed  to  irrigate  by  means  of  any  con- 
templated works  shall  be  subject  to  entry  only  under  the  provis- 
ions of  the  Homestead  laws  in  tracts  of  not  less  than  10  nor  more 
than  160  acres. 
In  this  section,  difficulties  begin  to  appear,  due  to  the  fact  thar 
the  Reclamation  Law  was  written  for  the  mainland,  and  the  land 
laws  that  obtain  there. 
Section  4 provides  that  the  Secretary  shall  let  contracts  for  con- 
struction, etc.,  shall  give  due  notice  of  the  lands  to  be  irrigated, 
the  limit  of  area  per  entry,  etc.  Here,  too,  the  Homestead  laws  are 
in  contemplation  as  is  evident  by  the  general  terms  of  this  sec- 
tion. The  last  paragraph  of  the  section  provides  that  8 hours  shall 
constitute  a day's  labor  in  all  construction  work,  and  that  no  Mon- 
golian labor  shall  be  employed.  This  last  provision  would  serious- 
ly hamper  all  building  in  this  Territory,  and  greatly  increase  all 
costs,  if  it  were  to  be  applied  here. 
Section  5 provides  for  compliance  on  the  part  of  the  entryman 
with  the  homestead  laws,  and  especially  states  that  no  water  rights 
shall  be  sold  to  lands  in  private  ownership,  under  the  project,  in 
tracts  of  more  than  160  acres,  and  no  such  sale  shall  be  made  to 
any  land-owner  unless  he  be  a bona  fide  resident  on  such  land 
or  occupant  thereof  residing  in  the  neighborhood  of  said  land.  It 
further  provides  for  the  manner  of  making  payments  for  the  rec- 
lamation work,  etc.  This  section  again  does  not  well  apply  here. 
Should  a project  be  planned  to  benefit  the  large  plantations  that 
