Arizona republican., 1900-07-31
WATER THE MAIN THING
The General View Of the Res
 GrVOir Question
It Is Not Matter of How it Is to Be Secured Only it Should Be Finally Secured - Opinions by Well Known Taxpayers.

A large majority of the people inter- viewed by Republican reporters on the subject of county bonds to encourage reservoir construction listen with inn patience to the childish and unreason- able objection made in some quarters to tthe project without offering any other project in place of it. The folly of depending upon government aid and the improbability of the county bond ing itself for a sum sufficient to build the reservoir are recognized by all thinking people who agree that what is done in the way of acquiring a per manent water supply must be done in part. As has been before stated in connection with these interviews all the objection to the bonding has been centered in a fear that the bonds might not to be properly disposed of, that is. that the cOunty's interest in the reser- voir might not be secured. Nobody pretends. though, that the project is not entirely feasible and that the water supply would not be secured.
 Among the gentlemen seen yesterday was Mir. w. K. James, who had just re- turned from Iron Springs. Said he: T have been following The Republican in this matter very closely and in a general way I am in favor of it. We must have storage system, and I do not believe that we can ever get it by any other plan. I do not quite like the idea of taking preferred stock in lieu of the county bonds. I believe the county's interest would be better pro- tected by an exchange of county bonds for bonds of the company. I suppose we could make an arrangement of that kind but after all, the main thing is to get the water and we can afford. if necessary, to give s50O,O Of course, as tax payers. We want to get it on the best terms. As 1 said, I am in favor of this, or any other plan that will se- cure us all the water We need"
 ''I believe it is d good thing" said City Collector F. A. Luke: We ought not let a matter of $5OO, 900 stand in the way of obtaining water storage. I do not believe in bonn es and subsidies as q general thing, but when it is plain that q subsidy is a good investment We should not hesitate to make it the same as We would any other investment Of course I don't understand that this proposed bond issue is subsidy, but if it were the county could afford to give it. The greatest investment ever made in the county was a gift of $24O, ,O0O bonds to the M. & P. railroad It might have been a pickup for the compa ny, but it was a pickup for every man who had a dollar invested in valley prop erty, and values went up from the very instant that the railroad was assured. l believe that within two years after the completion of the reservoir the wealth of every man in the Salt River valley would be increased one-third."
 Dr. F. O. Richmond: T believe water storage is our only salvation. We have an excellent dam site, the best in the country, and it ought to be utilized. Crops this year have been largely burned up and it is now as dry as a bone back under the larger canals. I l believe that capital is holding off simply to find out how much faith We have in the enterprise. and if this is So we ought to be willing to vote bonds up to the full limit of what we can af- ford. There is no other way to interest capital and We must have water stor- age. We have the richest soil, I think. in the world, and it has remarkable depth. Its fertility is seemingly per petuated by irrigation and the sediment CT mulch that is annually re- newed by the flowing waters. Crops grow year after year on the same land without artificial fertilizing. But all these things depend on water and lots of it. If, by voting bonds, We can se- cure storage our prosperity will be con tinuous and our acreage, wealth and property valuation will increase"
 w. T. Barr said: T favor the bond issue for the reason that We need wat CT storage and haven't the money to build reservoir ourselves. We must therefore offer encouragement to oth- CTS and capital will not come in with out We take a hand in the enterprise. We can certainly afford to do it. with the assurance that We are to get water"