Evening star., 1902-03-22
TWO IRRIGATION BILLS
Compromise Committee Meas
ure Is Objectionable.
MR.. MAXWELL'S VIEWS
WANTS SETTLERS INSTEAD OF
SPECTATORS TO BE BENEFITED.
Principle on Which the National r.
rigation Association Stands
Amendments Now Required.
MR.. MAXWELL'S VIEWS

Mr.. George II. Maxwell, executive chair
| man of the National Irrigation Association,
| has returned to Washington after an alb
| sence Of several weeks In the west. The
remarkable change in public sentiment
throughout the eastern states during the
past two years in favor of national irriga-
| ton which has found such marked ex-
preston in the present session of Congress
| is generally conceded to be largely due to
the work of this national association a
majority of the members of which repre-
sent the largest commercial and manufac-
| turing concerns in the country. 1t is be-
| neVed by many members of Congress that
| If the irrigation bill now pending before
the House was to receive the support of the
National Irrigation Association 1t would
| pass; and, on the other hand, that if the as
| soclation should strongly oppose the meas
| ure it would be defeated
On being asked if the association would
favor the bill Mr. Maxwell said:
Mr.. Maxwell's Views.
That depends what bill you mean
| There are two bills and you must not con-
fuse them. If you refer to the compro-
| mise committee bill now pending in the
House of Representatives l would say no,
| most emphatically no. If you refer to the
| Senate bill, as 1t was amended in the Sem
| ate and passed that body, it was a great
| Improvement and with some further
| amendment could be made as good bill
| as was the original HanSbrough- -Newlands
| Dill in the last session.
What is the objection to the House
| bill?''
We'll, will show YOU Did YOU ever see
a flock of blackbirds following a plow?
| wen, that Is just the way the scrippers
| and spectators and land grabbers would
| follow in flock after the government sur
/ EeNOrS from the how into
| the field to begin the survey of any govern
ment system under a law such as has been
| reported from the irrigation committee to
| the House. Every bit of land irrigable
| from irrigation works when built would be
| filed on by spectators before the govern
ment Workmen stuck pick into the
ground Not an acre would be left for
actual settlers. Then the government
| would have to either abandon the enter
| prise or build it for the benefit of a lot of
| SPECTATORS and rely getting It's money
| pack from the sale of water rights to lands
| In private ownership, and under the state
! control clause, in section 8 Of the bill the
| government would not have the slightest
power IN any way to enforce payment for
these rights. The homemaker and the gov
ernment would both be left out In the cold
| under that bill, but the SPECTATORS would
| feather their nests we'll
The National Irrigation Association
STANDS Tor a principle. 1t demands that what
| is left of the public domain shall be re-
served for actual settlers, and that the fur
ther spoliation of the public lands by specu-
| iators and their absorption into great ranches
| to the exclusion of home builders must and
shall be stopped. 1t will never surrender
or compromise that principle for mere ex-
| pedency or to gain a temporary adyan-
| tage.
Defect Of House Bill.
| Does not the House bill as reported re-
| serve the land for homestead settlers >" Mr..
| Maxwell was asked
No he relied, 'it does not although II
| is so drawn that it would deceive many peo-
| pie into thinking it did. 1t says in section
that the lands proposed to be irrigat ted
shall be subject to entry only under the
| homestead law, but this clause is a delu-
! sion and snare because it is imperative
until the Secretary of the Interior gives
| public notice designating the lands irriga-
BILE under the system, which he is not to do
| until the contract for construction has been
actually let. Before then all the land would
| be filed on by spectators. The Senate
amended this and provided that this notice
should be given as soon as the Secretary of
! the Interior determines the project to be
| practicable. This is Improvement but
| still is not enough. The land should at all
| times be open to homestead entry, subject
! to the charges and conditions Of this act
but whenever the Secretary decides to sur
vey any proposed project he should. before
the surveyors go in the field. temporarily
withdraw the land from scrip and desert
land entry, and as soon the surveys are
completed he should determine whether the
project is practica BILE. and if it is give the
notice, and if not reopen the land to gen
eral entry
Better No Bill Than This.
"If the bill could be passed would it not
be better to have it go through in any
shape, even If it could not be amended
ITO have a bill pass which would destroy
itself in it's practical operations, and pro-
vide nothing but a graft for speculators
| would be fatal mistake from the stand
point even of the west. The whole strength
| of the irrigation movement in the east, and
the reason for its remarka BILE growth, has
| been the confidence of the business interests
| of the east that it movement which
| was really and genuinely proposing to make
opportunities for settlers and create dense
populations and make new markets, and
| that men who wanted to build homes would
have the benefit of the opportunities Gre
ated by the government appropriations. If
| you destroy this confidence you destroy the
movement, and the west cannot afford to
do it for any temporary advantage. The
| fight between those who want home making
and popula ton and those who want Specu-
| lation and land grabbing had far better be