The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1901-03-15
GARTER ON IRRIGATION.
The House Chastised in the Defeat of
the River and Harbor Bill.
Friends of Irrigation should keep Fighting.

IF at first you don't succeed, try,
try again" is agood motto, but "Ncutr
Quic' is better one. 1t tells in two
words the unyielding tenaeity of pur-
pose that will bring success to the
national irrigation movement.
In the session of Congress just closed
the Senate fully recognized the national
importance of the irrigation move
ment.
In the Indian Appropriation Bill the
Senate amendment appropriated $780,
900 to complete the surveys and pre-
liminary tests of the foundations for
the San Carlos dam in Arizona.
The chairman of the House Com
mittee on Indian Affairs, Mr.. Sherman,
of New York, defeated it in the House
and in conference.
The Senate increased the appropria-
tion for irrigation surveys by the Geo.
logical Survey from 100000 to $780,
O00
The chairman of the House Com
mittee on Appropriations Mr.. Cannon,
with Mr.. Moody, defeated this increase
in conference.
They declared themselves on the
floor of Congress in favor of State ces-
sion, though it involved reputation
of the platform of the Republican
party in the last campaign. That plat
form declared:
an further pursuance of the constant
policy of the Republican party to provide
free homes on the public domain, we
recommend adequate national legislation
to reclaim the arid lands of the United
States, reserving control of the distribu-
tion of water for irrigation to the respec-
tive States and Territories
These declarations are utterly ir-
reconcilable with State cession.
The Senate amendment to the River
and Harbor Bill appropriated about
three hundred thousand dollars for
reservoirs in Wyoming and South
Dakota.
The bill, as it was prepared by the
House Committee, carried appropria-
tions aggregating $50, 900, 600. The
Senate cut this amount down to $780,
O0O, 200.
Twice the bill was sent to conference
and twice Mr.. Burton, chairman of the
House Committee, and the House con-
forces, refused to concur in the reser-
voir amendments. They were ready
to pour money out of the Treasury
with reckless wastefulness for work on
insignificant creeks and streams in the
East, but unwilling to spend a dollar
for reservoirs in the West.
They, no doubt, thought the Senate
would yield, as it did on the Indian
Bill and the Sundry Civil Bill, but in
this instance they reckoned without
their host
The whole River and Harbor Bill
was defeated in the Senate by Senator
Carter, of Montana. He held the floor
in the Senate for the last twelve hours
OF the session, and mercilessly exposed
the methods by which the bill had
been made up and the wasteful prodi-
gality with which it appropriated mil
lions upon millions for unimportant or
impracticable schemes.
The arbitrary and unreasonable OPP
position of the Chairmen of the House
Committees cannot continue for long
TO stand in the way of the reclamation
OF the West. The sentiment of the
country favors progress, and this sem
timent is rising like an ocean tide,
slowly it may be, but steadily and
surely, and it will sweep away with an
irresistible force the opposition OF
few men who seem willing to use their
temporary power to stultify their
party.
But between now and the next ses-
sion tireless and unceasing work must
be done TO broaden the influence and
extend the organization of The Ma
tional Irrigation Association. Success
can only come to this great movement
through the widespread campaign of
education and organization which this
Association is carrying on.