The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1902-07-04
THE WEEKLY COURIER.
Carson Letter.

law has passed Congress and is now
the law of the land, and my readers
would probably like to know what is it?
The bill provides that the money de-
rived from the sale of public lands in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho,
Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada,
New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wash
ington and Wyoming, less the amount
paid to local land officers and five per
cent. due the State under existing laws
for educational purposes, is to be put
into reclamation fund, +" for the con-
struction and maintenance of irriga-
ton works in the States and Terrific
ries named. Provision is made for the
payment out of the Treasury of any
deficiencies in the allowances to agri-
cultural colleges owing to this DISPOSE
ton of public lands. The Secretary of
the Interior is authorized to examine,
survey, and construct the irrigation
works and to report the cost thereof to
Congress at each session. Of some
thing like SOC, 100000 acres of vacant
land, 100000 600 acres, may be irrigated
and to keep the lands from syndicates
and spectators, no individual can
acquire water rights to more than 100
acres. The foregoing are the main
features of the bill. The money real
lied from sales of land in Nevada will
be reserved for use in Nevada, and so
on with each separate State-each re-
ceiving only the benefit of the sales of
their own land. The total receipts
from the sales of such lands during the
year 1901 for all the States named, were
1928, 070, which sum would leave about
$4,000, 900 applicable to the fund. The
sales in Nevada amounted to 1881,
which sum would hardly pay for cost
of survey work alone, and unless there
should come boom in such lands in
Nevada, we could never pile one stone
on top of another to impound water.
In Oaklahoma, where very little irri-
cation is required, the receipts for 1901
from such sales amounted to SOIL, 773,
which sum would permit the State
within few years to impound all the
water needed to irrigate all their land
which can be brought under water.
The virtue in the bill, it will thus be
seen, lies solely in what its enemies
call its vices. 1t has no virtue what
ever for Nevada, except in SO far as it
is an entering wedge-a committal of
the government to policy, and in
this particular its passage must be
hailod al n triumph, even In Nova ada
Its enemies say: each of the States
and Territories named in the law will
be urging it's claims to early attention.;
and, If we may draw differences from
the comparative ease with which the
measure has been carried through
Congress, there is every reason to be-
lieve. that with no very difficult use of
the log-rolling process new drafts will
be made upon the Treasury at every
session of Congress. In plain words,
we are now to enter upon new form
of national expenditure which may
lead no one can know whither.n The
New York San says: 1.-THE most GER
tain results will be that money will
fail to come in fast enough over the
Land Office counters to meet the de-
mands of the irrigationists; and as
soon as the vast scheme of local inn
provement at the general cost is well
under way, we shall have an annual ir-
rigation bill which will make the river
and harbor bill or the public building
omnibus bill of past experience seem
Insignificant" The Chicago Post says:
I'VE shall have sort of perpetual
motion appropriation that would make
that perennial grant for fence around
West Point look like pile of second
hand truck in a pawnshop." 1t will
thus be observed that the high protec-
tive tariff barons of the East, who have
enjoyed Western votes free of charge
all these years. are dismayed They
now see that when they want to pass a
little bill, Nevada's representatives
will shove another little bill under their
nose, and demand little reciprocity
in the grand scheme of ''raking the
Treasury" AS stated by the Eastern
papers, the result will be far reaching,
and will very likely change the po-
litical complexion of vast sections of
the country in few years. The mo-
ment we get little appropriation, we
will like it very much, and get very
mad if we don't get another soon, and
little bigger each time, as once per-
son enjoys ''good thing" it makes
him furious to be made to let go. 1t
looks now as though we will finally
get on the pay roll of the government,
and that we will be pulling on the
table cloth as well as the rest of the
States, and within the lines herein