30 BULLETIN 1177, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
tification. No expenditures may be made from the proceeds of cer- 
tified bonds until the commission shall have approved a schedule of 
proposed expenditures. Irrigation district bonds certified under this 
plan constitute approximately one-fourth of the total amount of 
bonds now on deposit with the State treasurer of California as security 
for the deposit of State funds in banks. 
The State of Oregon has made the sale of bonds, or the ability 
to sell them, a condition precedent to certification in order to avoid 
flooding the market with unsold certified bonds. 
To July 1, 1921, the following total amounts of bonds had been 
certified in the several States : 
California $40, 724, 511 
Oregon 7,595,500 
Utah 600,000 
Nevada 400,500 
Total 49,320,511 
OPERATION OF STATE CONTROL. 
State control over district activities has advanced slowly in the 
face of opposition by many established districts, by persons who 
have feared the influence of political considerations upon decisions of 
State officials, and by others whose viewpoint has been purely 
speculative. Efforts made in Colorado, and recommended by each 
succeeding State engineer, to provide some check upon the rapidly 
increasing speculation in district bonds during the first decade of 
this century came to naught largely, it is stated, because of the 
influence of persons interested in unhampered promotion of irrigation 
districts. But the prevailing tendency has been to strengthen State 
control, rather than to limit it, because of the salutary influence it 
has exercised in restraining the promotion of " wildcat" enterprises. 
An effective State supervision makes the financing of a project 
without engineering or economic justification very difficult. The 
various State officials, in administering district affairs, have very 
§enerally shown their feeling of public responsibility in guarding the 
tate from the consequences of possible failures. 
While the statutes are the foundation for State supervision, never- 
theless the administrative policy of each State is equally important, 
for States having the same general statutory provisions often exercise 
different supervision. Some flexibility exists, for instance, in deter- 
mining the economic feasibility of a project, a matter of the utmost 
importance, particularly when the certification of bonds is under 
consideration. 
During the larger development of recent years a practical difficulty 
has arisen in supervising district expenditures. In California par- 
ticularly, with its large amount of certified bonds, this condition has 
led the State engineer's office to consider installing a uniform system 
of accounting for expenditures from the proceeds of such bonds. 
Most of the States now require their State engineers or corresponding 
officials to be kept informed of district activities through reports 
made annually and sometimes on more frequent occasions. It has 
proved very important from the State engineer's standpoint that he 
be kept in touch with all matters pertaining to organization, bonding, 
progress of construction, and general operation of irrigation districts; 
