Arizona republican., 1896-07-19
Address on the Subject
 by ". o. O'NeilI.
Solution of the Water Storage
 Problem.
How the Government Should Aid In the Reclam ation of Arid --
 Lands.

Under an invitation from the Farm ers' Protective association of Maricopa county, W. o. O'Neill delivered an ad- dress yesterday afternoon on the gov ernment reclamation of the arid lands through the plan outlined in bill pre- pared by him for submission to the In- Irrigation congress which meets in Phoenix in December next filled the court TOO into overfiowfng and accorded the speaker the closest attention, the subject be- ing one of vital importance not only to the residents of the Salt River val ley, but to those of the entire arid west.
 In brief manner MT. O'Neill sketched the policy pursued in the past by the general government in granting aid to special interests, notably the large appropriations made under the river and harbor bill, the appropria- tions of public moneys under which bill aggregated nearly four hundred million dollars, a large proportion of which as the speaker showed had been more in the interest of certain locali- ties than for the general welfare At tention was likewise called to the lib erality of the government in granting money and lands to aid in the con- struction of wagon roads in certain states, to the millions disbursed in the erection of public buildings in cities of com paratively small populations, to the twelve millions of dollars and more granted in sugar bounties to the cane and beet growers of few south ern states, as we'll as to the proposed expenditure of a hundred million of dollars for the building of the Mica ragua canal in the interest of conner cial houses of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, which as the speaker stated, would merely enable the cotton and wheat growers of Asia and Australia, and the copper producers of Chili to compete on better terms with the cot ton and wheat and copper producers of America. Attention was called to the manner in which congress had guar anteed railroad bonds in the past and the immense land grants given such corporations, reaching over fifty-five million of acres, and being in some in stance as high a grant in bonds as six teen thousand dollars per mile, as with the Union Pacific system.
 In urging the necessity for govern ment aid in constructing storage dams and reservoirs, the speaker stated that the irrigated portions of the arid west had reached their utmost limit of de velopment without such works, while in many sections a decline in popula- tion was already occurring, as in Kan sas. During the five years end ing with 1895 over two hundred thou sand people had left the western DOT tion of that state through. lack of ir- rigation facilities, while sixty-three western Kansan villages during the last year showed decline of over 18,000 in population from the same cause. This he stated had been also experienced in South Dakota, Nebraska and other arid sections, only on a smaller scale.
 As the government owned the land that would be reclaimed by the works constructed, land which could then be sold and which would otherwise re- main barren, the opinion was advanced that it was its duty to make them pro- ductive and thus create new homes fol the growth in its population of over seventy millions, without seeking tc place the burden on a few states and l territories which with their scant pop. ulation and scantier financial resources
 were absolutely unable to do so, beins already overwhelmed with those bur. dens incident to the opening of all new countries. In speaking on this line as
 an argument for government aid the 1 fact that the government had realized
 over $29O, 100000 from the sale of pub | lie lands to the settlers in the wes | during the last thirty years, of whicI Arizona had paid nearly $900. .0OO
 eighty-five per cent, of which haf
 come from the settlers of Pinal, Mari copa and Yuma counties, was urged
 and the statement was made that i
 the $90O,000 was now given the terri
 tory for irrigation purposes every ex isting system could be duplicated il
 the Salt River valley, while the sue
 cess attending the construction of sucl
 works by the British in India, in Aus
 tralia and Egypt, as well as by the gov
 ernments of France, Italy, Spain an,
 the South American republics wa.
 spoken of. The evils of private con
 trol of water supplies, with the attend
 ant creation of water trusts and mo
 nopolies, and the inefficient manner il
 which such corporations served wate
 consumers, was also urged.
 The proposed bill which met wit
 general endorsement provides for loan of one million of dollars per yea
 to each of the states and territories ii
 the arid regions for the construction C
 irrigation works, and the repaymeu