The Florence tribune., 1901-08-24
SHALL THE GOVERNMENT BUILD
 RESERVOIRS
4 Failure to Grasp the Conditions Affect
 ing Western Irrigation.


 ing Western Irrigation. From the New York Journal of Commerce.l If this years dronth adds weight to l the arguments for irrigation, 1t does nothing to sustain the proposition tha. the Government shall do the irrigat- l ing. Irrigation adds greatly to the value of land; if it is done by private capital the cost will be reimbursed by the owners or tenants of the land. If it is done by the Government we know precisely what the result will be; the | public, the taxpayers of the nation, will pay for the irrigation and the in crease in the vaEue of the land. F T If fifty dollars an acre, and often more, is to be added to the value of land, there is no reason why it should be done as free gift; private capital can of the land, the beneficiary of the inn provement, can afford to pay for it. Editor Journal of Commerce: Sir: Referring to your recent editor- ial to the effect that whereas the recent drouth in the West adds weight to the arguments in favor of irrigation, it does nothing to sustain the proposi- tion that the Government should do the irrigating that private capital can
 do the work, and that the owner or occupier of the land, the beneficiary of the improvement, can afford to pay for it, beg to be allowed to make the fol-
 lowing remarks:
 | LARGE PRIVATE WORKS DO NOT PAY. l It is generally conceded fact that
 the irrigation development of the arid
 West, by means of private capital, has
 practically reached it's limit. There
 is enough water annually running to waste in the West to irrigate land
 estimated at from 71 ,000, ,0o0 to 100, ,000,-
 600 acres, but the use of this water for
 irrigation contemplates the building of great storage reservoirs and the cut
 ting of great main line canals. This
 work is beyond the scope of private or even State enterprise. I have author 1 ity from the Geological Survey and the
 Department of Agriculture for the
 statement that there is scarcely a
 single large irrigation dam company in
 the United States which has been a 1 financial success. Because water wilf
 run across State lines, because its
 sources cannot be controlled by pri-
 vate corporations, and because of over-
 capitalization, mismanagement, and
 other reasons, which would not oper-
 ate against good government manage ment, private dam companies have
 been financial failures;. while they
 have built up successful communities.
 they have been involuntary philan-
 thropists. It is the consensus of opin-
 ion that little more can be expected iu
 an irrigation way from private enter.
 prise. The situation is then simply
 this:
 SHALL IT BE PROGRESS OR IpLENEss There yet remain T ,0OO, 900 acres of ! irFigable arid land. Shall this land lie idle, worthless, barren, or shall it be reclaimed and converted into hun dreds of thousands of small farms O. . ten, twenty. or forty acres-for one acre irrigated will raise as much al several acres dry-farmed.
 It is not suggested that the Govern, ment go into the irrigation bushes.
 and put water upon land simply tha it build the great dams and the. mail line canals and let the farmer dig tn, distributing ditches and do the worl
 which they can do with their hand and their teams after the Governmen has done the work which require. large capital.
 OWNS oNE-THrRD OF THE COUNTRY. The Government is owner of two
 thirds of the western half of the Unite States now practically worthless. l 7 is surely wise policy for it to reclair z this land and sell 1t for the bare cos ' of reclamation to actual settlers wh . will go cn it and build homes an : create prosperous communities furnish
 ing home-mar]xet of infinite value t
 the people of this country. Where ' corporation builds reservoir and pr, {. ceeds to sell the land adjacent alon 7 with the water right, in it's efforts 1