Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-09-29

surd than the talk about monopolists a
applied to water. sure recipe for be
ing successful water hog, could be sol
for handsome figure. Who has seer
any of the "water barons" of whom tn
politicians pratef Many a man ha
tried to be one of those bsrons, but tn
smartest of the lot has generally fount
himself one of the oommonest of the al
legged common people, and too often i
has been so before the ditch WAS finished
very few have made money by manipu
lating stock but this did not come out o
the consumer, while most of the ruin has
been wrought by selling water for esi
than it actually cost to bring it to tn.
land. Too much of this has been neces
sary to induce land owners to patronizs
the work 80 that it could make some
show of doing business.
Nevertheless there are water projects
that have been a success but they are
those in which the principle was recog.
nized from the start, that no annual
rentals will pay interest on the cost Of
the work plus the cost of operation and
maintenance. If those annual payments
IRE placsd high enough to co this, they
will be a bar upon the transfer of the
land. The projectors of Riverside, Santa
Ana, Pasadena and nearly all the other
successful irrigated settlements of South
ern California south of Tehachepi, and
which are now probably the most success
ful settlements of the world, early dis
covered that the cost of building the work
and the profit to the projectors must
come out of the enhanced value of the
| land - the value as increased by
water-leaving the annual rental bat lit
| tie if any more, than sufficient to main,
tain the works in good shape and pay the
cost of operating them in good manner.
When this was done, there was little or no
use in keeping the stock. So with the land
they gave SO much of the stock as would
represent the water right for the tract.
The stock thus passed to the land owners,
and the whole became a land owners COM
pany, the same as if they had at frst
dubbed together and built ditch by
their own days labor, as on the Rio
Grande. These canals are all successful
and have been through good and bad,
while the promoters in almost every case
made reasonable profit measured by
the land retained under the ditch for
their own nse, has been considerable.
Many of the best settlers and citizens
are some of the projectors who
became farm ers or fruit growers under
their own ditch.
All of this means that the money of the
tenderfoot bailt the ditch. And 80 long
as he was happy, where was the harm ?
The projectors certainly ought to make
good profit for their time, sagacity and
risk. The buyer was more ready to pay
800 ar acre for land under ditch than
$40 for land that WAS not, and measured
by what it would produce, it is worth it,
and more too, in California.
Where the projectors could not buy a
large tract of land 30 as to have the cut
ting of clean piece of cloth, but the land
had fallen into too many hands, the next
plan was to sell contract for water at
certain low rate per year. The price of
the contract was supposed to be some
where near half the difference in the price
of the land wet and the same dry. An
other trap for the tenderfoot for the
land owner would add as much more in
selling it 70 him. This contract was
called water right, and though possibly
uot legal in certain sensee, was as right
in morals and public policy as it is
possihle for The pnrest virtue to be. M
honest man was iniured bv Il without
IL The works we're a snre failnre 10 the
iniurv Of the community as we'll as the
and The cause of irrigation in
general.
In some cases the water right contract
has had good results in paying the canal
more Ynt in some cases the land owner
! antad the wbole differenca hetween the
and wst and the land drv and was
foolish enonoh 70 think that canitaI
uond build works and live for Years ont
# ia interests in order IN enahie him to
make ali tbe nrofit there was in IL With
mt his raising finger or nnttino mn n
]ollar For evervone who has made q
lollar in this wev there have been a
,nndred who have held drv land nntil II
vent 10 the storekeener for the stntf that I
he land could have raised with the water.
nd many storekeener has oone into
,anhrnntcv becanse loaded with too mncb {
# a and manv hank has had n strnr.
,le nnder the incnbus of too mnch drv
and II has had 70 take from the imnover.
ahed merchant. The whole line has
,nffered. and the section too. beoause m
me would be,ieve that some of the nrofit
mat in some wav 90 TO build the canal
nclndino the nrofit To those who invest
hair brains and labor. as we'll as those
ho fnrn,sh the oanital.
:-:
MAJ! may pion,ssnk nsaO'on proJeo.
1'll iles h'sa anu u,y iol 'uis .hs fGason, anu
was one VI 'so vH1uee ouaS ieu W 'ne I
'asSaee ~ Ine ua'.L0 .L". .hse i'sa..1n iaw. ~
vas ionuiy hupeu vna' 0noeo Mno ~au' W {
,es 1lol on Sie laou. anu ilsA VI o'hels &
'l'nou' uoinR auy'nInk She,nsei'es oooio {
y 'nis system pe oom p1'ieo W oon'r,D- 6
'Se 1helI snale u wnao 'he wa'er sSsually
os.s. nue .his . az. nus ueen saaiy Rel-
'efeeu ',oni .he iI'enl VI i's auuhor' LOO
many oirec'ors nave SHOWN ena' ~ re- !