The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1903-10-05
Private Enterprise in This
Field Is q DelusiOn and
a Snare.
THE GOVERNMENTS DUTY
~
The Public Property Should be
Saved Before it is Ever
Iastingly too Late.

Some of the opponents of national
irrigation, who would like to see all
the resources of the west reserved
for specu alton, are asserting that
sthe work which the Government has
undertaken might be performed more
economically by private enterprise.
The claim is utterly untenable. and
for reasons which are obvious upon
the slightest consideration.
To begin with, there is scarcely a
place where important irrigation
work may be done without acquir-
ing certain amount of private prop
Y erty Reservoir sites and sometimes
prior appropriations in the water sup
ply, must be purchased in order to
ear the way for comprehensive
undertaking.
1t often happens that such proper
ties have been held for years with
view of selling at high prices when
the time for development shall ar
rive The private promoter who has
selected his field of operations is
easily subject to hold-up. He must
:. have the privileges, or abandon his
enterprise
The government is in a very diff
erent situation. The irrigation law
charges the Secretary of the Interior
with the duty of investigating op-
portuniies for reclamation in sixteen
states and territories. in each of
which there are many chances for
the profitable expenditure Of funds
at his disposal. When his experts
have determined what is a reasona-
Bile price for the property needed in
a given locality, he is in a position
to say, "Take it, or leave it," And
everybody understands that he
means business.
The declination of his proposition
means simply that his field of op-
erations will be instantly transferred
elsewhere. He has nothing at stake
in the matter. If one locality does
not want the help of Uncle Sam,
then there are fifty others that do.
He can, of course, proceed by con-
demnation to acquire the property
and have the case tried in a COM
munity which is quite certain to
treat him fairly, but his strong card
is the fact that the demand for gov
ernment aid far exceeds the supply
and that he may therefore, always
make far better terms than private
parties could hope to do. thus eff
facting a considerable saving in the
initial cost of the work.
But this advantage is far less
important than the one which the
government enjoys in the financial
side 1t is notoriously difficult to f.
nance private irrigation enterprises
nowadays. 1t is never done except
upon the promise of enormous prof
its. Examine the average promot-
er's prospectus, and you will find the
proposition runs about like this:
The land is worthless without
water; the company controls the on
" possible source Of supply. When
this is developed. the land will in
stantly be worth from $25 to $50 per
acre unimproved, or twice as much
after improvement. It will cost only
SIS to SO per acre to bring land and
water together. The government
price of the land is $1.25 per acre.
The difference between the cost OF
land and water and the value OF
these elements when they have been
united is profit" And the prospec-
tus usually figures that this will
range all the way from 100 to 500
per cent. Usually these alluring
figures are still further inflated by
the suggestion that the company can
obtain p.enty of dry land itself at
government figures and hold it for
speculation