The Arizona sentinel., 1903-11-18

: measure or great importance,
 and is expected to work inesti- mable benefit to the people of
 the United States.
 It is the first notable mark of
 progress of the national irriga-
 ton movement begun ten or
 twelve years ago and continued
 with gathering strength and de-
 termination to the present time.
 1t sprang from the needs of a
 growing nation; and this clamor
 for proper legislation to make
 useful the great American desert
 has been in direct proportion to
 the increase of home-seeking
 people.
 The bill provides that all mon
 eys received from the sale and
 disposal of public lands in Ari- zona, California, Colorado, Ida
 ho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Da-
 kota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South
 Dakota, Utah, Washington and
 Wyoming ng-cOmprising the arid
 belt of the cOuntry--excepting
 the funds set aside from the sales
 of public lands in these states for educational and other pur- poses, shall be set aside as a special fund in the treasury known as the reclamation fund. It is to be used in the examina- ton and survey for, and the con Struction and maintenance of, ir- rigatiOn works for the storage and diversion of water in recla- nation of the arid and semi arid landS,"
 This income includes the pro- ceedS from the sales of inning and mineral lands as we'll as from those Cf different charac- ter, and afPresent aggregates about three million dollars a year. By the provisions of the bill any one person will not be able to gain for private owner ship a tract exceeding 160 acres, and in order to procure even thls- he must resude upon it for five years, and actually reclaim at least one half of the total irriga- ble area for agricultural purpos- es. Thus it will be impossible for one individual or group of individuals to gain a monopoly in land.
 This has before been impossi- ble, and has kept great portions of the west under the control of a few. The first object of a cat tie owner is to obtain the control of water. This he does by se- curing the entry of title to the public lands along the banks of l a stream. He has no interest in the promotion of settlement. Small homes interfere with his business and their multiplication will ultimately substitute num- Der of independent farmers hay ing small irrigated tracts in which they will raise the hay necessary to support their small herds during the winter season, when the storms and winds threaten the lives of the cattle. Irrigation means the multiplied tion of the small homes and the small herds and a larger utiliza- tion of the great American des- ert.
 Under the provisions of the bill elght hours work is to con- stitute a days labor in the con- Struction of reservoirs and ca nals, and provision is made that no Mongolian workman shall be A fund of some twelve million dollars is already (it is considerably more than that nOw) and as the bill provides that each project shall be selfcompensatory, com polling the settlers to pay back to the fund in ten annual install nents theIr propOrtionate part )f the cost of such construction, | ! constantly revolving fund is treated which will gradually in crease from three million dol : arS to ten million dollars annu- ally until the entire work is com pleted.
 In carrying out the provisions