Arizona republican., 1900-08-04
Necessary to Procure a Per-
 manent Water Supply
An Old Resident Laments the Ten dency to Pull Apart in This Com munity-What Might Be Accomp-
 lished With Abundance of Water.

said yesterday that the thing most to
 be desired was a permanent water sup
 ply. He further said that he
 did not want his name mentioned at
 present in connection with an ex-
 precision of his views. He said he did
 not know whether a reliable water SUD-
 ply could be obtained within the life
 time of any resident of the valley
 "There is So much pickering" said he;
 ''the instant one suggests something for
 the good of the valley a certain class
 rises up and accuses him of selfish and
 dishonest motives. Then they propose
 other plans; some of them are reason- able and some arc not, but anyhow,
 they are all in conflict with each other
 and naturally nothing comes of if. have studied The Republicans plan from
 the start and so far as it goes it is the
 best one and the only one that ever
 promised what we have always wanted water that could be depended upon.
 I would like tO see a more deunlte
 proposition and I suppose when the
 time is ripe afier this bond question IS
 fully discussed, the men who Tr3pcsc
 to put in the capital to build .. rT ser
 voir will tell us exactly what they
 want Then VIC will know what We
 want to do. l have confidence that
 something Is going to come of this
 project. It's business-like and the only
 business-like plan I've ever heard pro-
 posed. There's a lot of useless and
 foolish argufying going on. notice
 one man writing for the papers about
 his rights, saying they have been se-
 cured by the courts, but that he can't
 get them. He never can get water
 through any court in the United States and he's wasting his time, ink and paper telling about hia woes. WhaI is needed in this country is more water
 and fewer rights. If we can all get all the water we want on reasonable terms we'll not have to bother and go to law about our rights. I used to help cuss the canal companies here; we all did if. we thought they were robbing us or mismanaging the water business. l sec now tbat theee canals have broke every corporation that eve- tried tn run tn- I'll and they would hare been stlll worse broke if all we farr.eEs could have had our way. The rs-.l trouble was there wasn't enough water. What we want q it As I said. I like The Republicans $ plan. If somebody will show me bet
 ter one I'll fall in with it.
 R. G. Finch, liveryman, business man. and former member of the clt9 council of Tempe, was in PhoehlN 9es- terday and when asked about lle bond agitation on the South Side, sAli he had heard but little said about IL Tn ! Tempe one way or the other. It Is a good time to talk the matter up' ne said ''as people ought to fully realize the situation after this years eXperI- ences. The loss for lack of water mas been heavy all over the county thlS year and 1 should think the farmers would favor the bond issue or De Will ing to support almost any enterprise that will bring relief"
 s. J. Mcdonald, one of the largest stock dealers in the valley, said;
 Most assuredly I favor the bond issue if assurance is given that a storage reservoir will be built. Farmers are now paying $2 an acre for water and
 not getting it. That is $2 out. to say nothing of disappointment and loss 1f crops. They could well afford to pay $5 per acre if so large an amount were necessary, providing they got the water. People do not seem to realize
 what a wonderful region this is. In this country we are used to big things, big crops included. When there is a scarcity of water there is suffering and loss even with yields that would seem remarkable elsewhere. In the middle and eastern states it costs big money [ in hn HrC-t n11 tf sr1t hf11 ,,FI I,,, Then, in hay for instance. the yield only amounts to from one to three tons
 per acre or from 8 to $2O annually.
 The farmer who has a few head of
 horses, cattle, or hogs, has to take the
 most of his summer crop to feed his
 stock in winter and about all he has to
 turn off is his surplus stock Here We
 can make hay all summer, getting sey-
 eral crops to sell and there is almost
 enough growth in winter time for pas
 ture. A farmer can sell more off an
 alfalfa field in this country and pas
 ture it beside than an eastern farmer
 can raise. His land costs him less and
 the only additional expense he has is
 the cost of water and irrigation He
 could pay $5 or $6 an acre for this ex-
 pense and still make mOney-if he had
 the water. l see no way of getting it
 without the bonds and therefore can think of no argument against them. as said before, carefully handled The
 word bonds is a bugaboo that should scare no one. Nearly all developing en-
 terprises are carried on by means of
 bonds these days. It is the only way
 that capital can be secured and capital is the necessary thing. I have heard
 another foolish argument made. viz
 that with water storage there would
 soon be an over production, a reverse
 calamity from that We are now the
 victims of. I have heard of an over
 production of manufactures sometimes
 stagnating prices for a time But an
 increased production from the soil only forces an extended market and greater
 transportation facilities. Products sell dom becomes so cheap they do not pay