The Florence tribune., 1901-09-28
IRRIGATION ON SALT RIVER.
No Hope for National Aid in Building Stor-
 age Reservoirs.
lFrom the Phoenix Republican,


 lFrom the Phoenix Republican,
 Not long ago it was stated in these columns that it would be foolish for tue people of the Salt River valley to base any hopes of obtaining water stor- age on the action of the national gov ernment. A reader of the Republican has sent in an inquiry for the reasons on which the statement was grounded. There are number; it is only neces- sary to state few.
 struction by the government begaai more than ten years ago. It will uiti- mately succeed, in measure, but there has been little or no headway gained in advance of what was accomplished when Major Powell was at the head of tue geological survey. He succeeded in getting congress to withdraw from entry most of the reservoir sites in the country. But after years of waiting l for further action the leaders in the agitation were unable to prevent con gress from restoring the sites to entry some four or five years ago. Since then there has been mere or less agita- tion, and large number of boards of trade and other commercial bodies throughout the country have passed resolutions fayoring national aid. ]" But, only last winter Congressman Cam non, chairman of the committee on appropriations, in speech bitterly opposing the proposed appropriation of Sl00,OOJ for the San Carlos reservoir in Arizona, spoke with derision of the means whereby these various resolu- tions and the petitions to congress had been secured.
 The senate did pass the appropria- ton Of $lO0, 600 for further inyestiga- ton of the San Carlos proposition, bu, upon motion adopted amendments which stated that the appropriation in no wise committed the government te the construction of the proposed reser. yoir. Marx you, the action of the senate on this amendment was unan- imous. And yet it is urged by som, enthusiasts that the senate is already converted to tue movement. Aftei . a.4rs of aoif.t;n, acd h..d ,,.1.i- 4, | that was hoped ses an iasigniieaa appropriation "for further investiga tion"-and yet the energies of all tn. national irrigationists were centere, upon the San Carlos scheme. Ans even this crnlnb was rejected in tni . house by vote of two to one. 1 should not be forgotten that in th next congress, that is to say for a ? least two years more, Mr. Cannon vii 3 oe chairman of the committee on ap propriations, and he and the othe leaders who control expenditures iron ] the national treasury are as far iron conversion as ever.
 Then near the close of the sessio there was complete change of pro gramme on the part of the promoter of the national plan" and the " New lands Bill" was favored as the oul means of salvation. The Newland
 measure provides that the money r, ceived from the sale of pubic land 7, shall be set aside as fudd from s-hic ) reservoirs are to be constructed. Whs the prospects are for it's passage r,
 mains to be seen. The outlook is b
 no means encouraging. But grantiu 0 thatlt may become law within fe $ years, what encouragement is held ot C to the Salt River valley? It is coDcede 4 that if the Newlands measure does b r come law, the money received frol 2. the several states and territories wi
 be set aside for use within the respe
 tive states and territories from whic it was retained. Admitting this fac
 certain employees of the geological su vey have encouraged our people |
 stating that the revenues from AT
 zona are large, and would soon sutii, . 70 build our needed reseI voirs. As { natter of fact, the receipts from a : classes of lands in Arizona do not e ' ceed s35,000 per annum-sutficient create the necessary fund for this va :. ley within say sixty years.
 E Moreover, the whole movement f
 national aid is predicated upon Il argument that the expenditure by tl 4