Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-15
THE IRRIGATION BILL
President H00sevelt's In
terest n Its Passage.
POLITICS INVOLVED
DEMOCRATS TRYING TO TAKE
CREDIT FOB IT.
Remarkable r. Growth Of Sentiment in
= r.o, .fffS;a uo,,-. H..s,r.
INVOLVED
Remarkable D. Growth Of Sentiment in
: Favor of tie House Measure,
Which Is h Home-Makers' Bill.


terest in the steN3s spf the. irrigation bill
which has passed fhe Senate and has been
reported to the House with certain amend
ments.. The President has asked a number
Of members Of Congress as to the prospects
for the early consideration of the measure
and has indicated his earnest desire that
the bill should become law at this session
Of Congress.
A thorough poll is being made Of the
House by friends Of this irrigation, measure
and enough is knern Of the results Of this
poll to warrant the statement that there is
considerable majority In favor of the bill
Speaker Henderson, and the committee on
rules have agreed that the bill shall be
given full and fsir consideration on the
floor Of the Houses at this session. and it is
thought that it may come up for discussion
on or about May 30. The bull. as amended
by the House committee, is satisfactory to
the President and to all irrigation forces.
and it Is taken for granted that If it passes
the House and goes to conference that the
Senate will accept the House amendments
and enact the bill as drawn by the House
committee. =.
Situation Peculiar.
The situation IN the House ia regard to
this measure is peculiar and politics are
involved to considerable extent. Unfor-
tunately for the cause of irrigation nearly
all of the recognized leaders on the repub-
lican side, men like Representatives Payne
of New York. Grosvenor, Dalzell and Can
non, are opposed to the bill. while the rank
and file of the House, both democratic and
republican, is in favor Of 1t. Some Of the
republicans, with keen realization of the
great importance of this measure as 1t
will affect the congressional campaign in
many of the western states believe that
In {Sto lyo
in not pushing this irrigation bill as dis
tfnctiy administration and republican meas
ure and enacting It as such. These same
men believe that the bill will pass the
of the republican leaders and that the DEM
ocrats will then hs able to claim credit for
the enactment Of fhe law.
President Roosevelt does not consider
what he believes to be much-needed legisla-
ton In this direction. and the democrats.
aware of the oppQeftion of some Of the re-
puS aie , are quietly PREPARING to take the
rigation think shouid belong to their own
party.
The poll of the H|use, which has been
taken to ascertain Ehe position Of the Diff
ferent members toward this bill. shows
that not more than twenty or thirty Of the
entire democratic side are opposed to It,
and that the principal opposition Hes with
the republican leaders. At the same time
strong support s6f Tile bill comes from re-
publican sources. and with this support is
allied the entire approval Of the President
ard his cabinet of1tefs.,
A Hons,AEaksrs' Bill.
. 1t was believed W those interested in Sc
entirely home makers bill that the meas.
ure. as it passed the Senate, contained sew
eral ioopholes through which spectators
could have taken advantage of what was
intended for the sole benefit of settlers,
who would reside upon their claims for five
years before expecting to secure title. The
changes made by the House irrigation COM
mittee in the Senate bill are slight in the
matter of wording, but extraordinarily i'm
portant in their effect upon the meaning
and intent of the measure. 90.
The bill. as it is now before the House,
is, In brief, new homestead law made APP
picable to the arid lands. 1t simply pro-
v:des that the United States government
should create new rivers, through the
building of reservoirs and mainline canals,
and should so regulate the flow of streams
already in existence that their contents
would be available for irrigation during
season of drought. Only those are to be
permitted to secure land under this newly
created water supply who are in truth and
in intent home builders, and appropriations
of land are to fbeorestrcted to the home
stead law modified and severely guarded
in its purpose by the operations of this spe-
side upon their land but are to return to
the government, in course of time, by
series of deferred payments the entire cost
of crea ting the supply Of water which is to
be made available.
Growth of Favorable Sentiment.
There has been a remarkable growth of
sentiment in Congress in favor of such an
irrigation measure. Many members who
were utterly Indifferent have become inter-
ested. and those who have looked into the
matter are on the list of those from whom
favorable vote is expected. 1t is asserted
and names are given that II the occasion
presented Itself a speech in favor of this Dill
could be secured from some congressman
from every state in the Union from Maine
to California and from Florida to Washing
ton. Some of the New England delegations
are it's most enthusiastic advocates taking
the broad view that what benefits the coun-
try in part benefits 1t as whole. These
men realize that New England would not
amount to much without the middle states,
that the middle states would not have
achieved their present greatness without
the development of the central states. and
that the commerce and industry of the CEN
trail states Is almost entirely dependent
upon the new growth and development of
the states west of the Mississippi river
The enormous commerce of Chicago, ST.
Louis, Kansas City and other western CEN
tiers and markets comes almost entirely
of the Missouri whose mines and farms
are dependent upon irrigation for labor sup
ply, crops and products.
1t is looked Ip1n as inevitable that
the reclamation q Ire arid public lands at
this session or pot.t f.is only question of
a short time whsn It Will become part of
the natl naaons srss and and many many repuol-
Of their leaders Toward the policy which
they believe within q short time viii be ac-
cepted as lnatfsE 81 course in the annual
proceedings Of G6ngffss.
1t was under republican administra ton,
after ten years Of bitter controversy. that
the homestead act became law and the
bill. introduced by Ga3usha Grow, was sign
ed by President ID hraham Lincoln. The
speeches made sSalpst the homestead act
read today with a. strange similarity to the
arguments MAIDS ashinst the present pro-
posed irrigation 1owqfstead act. which the
stead act of 1853 inIsreiy modified to suit
present conditionE.tiR the arid portion of
the public land yetto be disposed of.
Certificate Of Incorporation. .
certificate Of Incorporation of the Freed
man Transportation, Land and Improve
meut COMPANY was placed on record todov