Arizona republican., 1903-09-13
The Great Reservoir Fund.

The Great Reservoir Fund.
 office issued statement on Thursday. showing that the reservior fund created by the national reclamation act now contains the enormous sum of $16.197.- 4e4. More than half of this amount or $s.461. .494, was made up by the receipts from public lands during the fiscal year ended June 30. The total amount re- ceived in 1902 was s4, ,5S5, ,521, and in 1901, 3s.144,S22
 These figures show at a glance the rapid rate at which the reclamation fund is, growing. Already 16 millions are availa ble for the construction of reservoirs and canals, and 1t is certain that by the first of next July the az gregate will be considerably more than 20 millions This is vastly in excess of the most sanguine expectations enter tained by anybody at the time the Hansbrough-Ne -Newlands law was enact ed It>was thought that the govern ment could safely count upon perhaps s, 900 900 a year, but nobody dared to hope that a single year would increase the fund by ss,o00, 900. The money has accumulated in the treasury so rapidly, in fact, that the secretary of the inter for and the geological survey are em- barrassed by the wealth at hand-the money is ready ahead of the depart ment Aside from the Tonto Basin res- ervoir-concerning which nearly all the necessary data had been gathered by private parties prior to the enactment of the federal irrigation law. thus gratly simplifying the task of the geo. logical survey as to that enterprise none of the storage works tentatively decided upon by the department is ready for construction. The geological survey is handling the work with great energy, however, having many months ago detailed competent engineers to re- port on each of the projects, and it is expected that by the time congress meets Secretary Hitchcock will be able to report his practical readiness to pro- ceed with construction at four or five
 
 year, therefore. the construction of sev- eral reservoirs by the government should be we'll under way, and the gov ernment will then be fairly launched upon the policy which means so much for the entire nation.
 The statement telegraphed from Washington Thursday was somewhat misleading in one particular. As to the fund of s16.197. .494. it stated that ''this amount was covered into the treasury to the credit of the reclama- tion fund from the sales of public lands and fees in the various irrigation states, and will be distributed among the same states. Receipts by states in 1903 include: Arizona, S43,S22,'' This implies that Arizona is not to share in the accumulated fund except to the amount credited to this territory.
 It is true that the law provides that the funds received from the several western states and territories shall be expended in those states and territories, but fortunately for Arizona the law all so provides that the secretary of the interior may expend the money as he chooses without segregating it as to states whence received, the only re- quirement being that every ten years he shall cause the expenditures to be capitalized" The practical effect of this provision is that for a ten-year period the secretary can expend as many millions in Arizona as he deems advisable, and without reference to the small amount received from the terri torial land offices, but the reclamation works constructed must be so planned that their cost will be returned to the treasury within ten years. It was to meet this requirement of the law that the plan of the Water Users associa- tion of the Salt River valley was drawn. The chief requisite was an as- surance that if the secretary did ap- propriate the necessary sum for the reservoir on the Salt river, he could rely upon the return of every dollar by the Salt River valley within ten years