Arizona weekly citizen., 1894-10-13
THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM

I NIT
 cussing the problem of irrigation in
 recent issue, says that the central, east
 ern and southern states are opposed tc
 federal assumption of irrigation devel
 opment. They hold that they should
 not be taxed to provide means for ln-
 creasing production in the arid regior
 and thus adding to the competition thell
 farms already have to meet. These old
 CT states cling to the idea that their owr
 uncultivated areas should be improved
 before they help to water new lands
 The force of these arguments must be
 admitted.
 Advocates of federal aid show that
 irrigation works must be of an inter
 state character to be most effective and
 most economical. Under such system
 the waters that now deluge the Mis- souri and Mississippi valleys could be stored up in the mountains and utilized
 to bring life to arid plains instead of destruction to fertile bottoms. These two propositions are also weighty and the latter IS of ever increasing import ance.
 Congress is disposed to take the mid dle course. It recognizes that reclama- | tion of arid lands can never be accom- plished by individuals. The cost is from 8 to S30 per acre, and home seekers are l never men of means. Irrigation corpor- ations are obliged to sell their bonds or shares at discount in order to raise the necessary capital, and therefore charge for water rights sum that, in too many cases, is sure to become an increasing if not an intolerable burden to the cultivator. These corporation schemes are not wholly free from the reckless fDanciering methods that char acierized railroad construction from 1860 to 1880, which placed a burden on both land and commerce that even the past decade of bankruptcy and reorganiza- tion has not adjusted, and brought ruin to investors and misery to widows and orphans whose funds had been placed in "sure" railroad stocks.
 The plan now under consideration in congress provides that each state to which the desert land law IS applicable may select from the public lands mil lion acres for reclamation by irrigation, to be sold to actual settlers in grants of not to exceed 160 acres to each indivi- dual. If the states do not expend at least B an acre in three years upon irri- gation works, the lands shall, upon pro- clamation to the president, revert to the general government and be subject to disposal under the general land laws. When state furnishes proof that any of the lands reserved are reclaimed end occupied by actual settlers, patents shall issue to the state or its assignees for the lands reclaimed and settled. The proceeds derived from the settlement of the lands are to become fund in the hands of the state to reimburse its e1- pendture in this work.
 The plan thus permits state owner ship of all new irrigation works. The state may we'll go further and gradually buy up at fair price the principal irri- gation systems already established. Wa ter should be controlled by all the peo- ple-by the state,-not by corporate monopoly. Nearly every town or city, east or west, north or south, owns its water works; still more should the state control water when 1t becomes the very breath of life. Closer watch can be kept of irrigation expenditures under state than under federal control, and CO., operation between adjoining states is feasible where mutual interests are served. Private enterprise will still have full play in colonizing lands under state ditchee, while the state can sell its irrigation bonds at premium, avoid the evils of corporate fnsnciering, and thus furnish water at cost. Of course each state will be left free to assume the con- struction and ownership of new irriga- tion works, or to permit such enter prises to be operated by private capital, but the state which most wisely inaug- urates public irrigation will make the greatest progress in the next twep ty-tive years.
 The federal plan is the more compre- hensive, but involves an outlay so vast, with such opportunities for plunder in the present state of our civil service, that it will be years before congress will be likely to authorize it. Should that time ever come, state works could be utilized as part of the system The pending bill involves plan that is we'll worthy of trial, but should allow six, rather than three years for the effort. The twelve states which would thus be granted million acres each, have 529,- O00,OO0 acres to which the plan might by applied later if this experiment suc- ceeds. This breadth is given in the fol- lowing table in millions of acres:
 Arizona, 49 North Dakota, IS California, 47 Oregon, 37 Colorado, fl South Dakota, B Idaho, 37 Utah, B Montana, 74 Washington, IS New Mexico, 54 Wyoming, 5
 Knights of the Maccabees.
 The State Commander writes us from Lincoln, Neb., as follows: After trying