The Arizona sentinel., 1903-07-08

 water every day of the year except when annual repairs are il progress.
 To my mind therefore the engineering fea- lures are on a most substantial basis and the plans worked out by MT Howells and myself are thoroughly feasible and worthy of confidence. Even the crossing of the Gila river channel is question of going deep enough with the piers of a steel Hume to make safe and stable struc- l ture.
 It may be Superfuous to mention these engi- neering features, as have heard no doubt ex- pressed on this score; yet, as they are the groundwork of the whole scheme, my mind naturally reverts to them first in analysing the situation.
 I think you are further prepared to assure the farmers that we are all engaged in a legitimate, bona fde operation, by which we expect to make money, of course. but in the process of making it must first bring water and prosperity to the | farmers.
 In all matters of this sort it is only necessary to arrive at basis of mutual confidence to work out scheme of mutual benefit. When the water and the land are brought together both the canal company and the farmers must make money. But there must be mutual good faith on both sides We cannot build the canal un- less the landowners agree to buy the water from us; but with such agreements signed by the landowners and secured by the land the construction can and will be carried out.
 If you can convince the farmers of your good faith, your standing as business men and your ability to manage property of this character. there. should be no hesitancy on their part to accept the plan which has been offered them. modified. perhaps, to suit their present ideas. | h,,t all mn ned n them. have understood that they are not in- clined to accept the ownership and management of the canal ten years hence, as proposed by the company They should understand that they are not in harmony with public opinion in the oldest irrigation communities of the west, where the tendency is altogether toward munic ipal ownership and management of irrigation canals by the irrigators. You might postpone the period when they are to take over the prop critics, in deference to present opinion in that locality for I feel confident that the present view will change Our plan was devised entire ly for the benefit of the land owner and in defer ence to the outspoken trend of public opinion elsewhere.
 In this connection may cite the great enter prise of arid land reclamation on which am now engaged in Southern Idaho, by which 27O, l Snake river, at a cost of s2.5OOOOO. The work l is being done under what is known the Carey Act" an act of congress passed a few years ago granting 100000 acres of the public domain to each of the States and Territories in the arid region on condition that the land be irrigated and sold to actual settlers at nominal | figure in tracts not to exceed 16O acres each. Under this act the State of Idaho has made sc | of in md trnp pd vii Twin Falls Land & Water Co.,, a private corpo ration, to reclaim them. The State permits any individual to make selection of q tract and sells to him for 50 cents per acre. provided he first enters into contract with the water com pany to pay S25 per acre for the water rights The company has established terms by which the settler pays for his land within nine years Meantime the company manages the canal and charges annual maintenance pro rata at cost When all the lands are sold a.d paid for the canal property passes into the hands of the land owners and is attached thereto in perpetuity. This plan is very popular and the lands are practically al. spoken for year in advance of the completion of the works.
 This plan is practically identical with the one you have proposed to the farmers of Yuma val ley and one which is in harmony with the lead Ing luea III IndG SIaIe stS WelI dS III U GdH " yO- ming and Colorado, viz, the canals to be in- alienably attached to lands under mutual own | erShip and control.
 Trusting you may have an interesting and profitable meeting and that you will be able to read this scrawl, written at fifty miles an hour, I am,
 Faithfully yours. JAS. D. SCHUYLER. r., lnA tN for the information of the meeting, ex- tracts from the ''Plan of Campaign" of the National Irrigation Association, as l follows:
 I'Beneicial use is the basis the measure and the limit of all right to water. The farmers should control it's distribution themselves. Where lever the investment of capital is necessary for the construction of distributing systems the organization should be so planned that the ownership of the irrigation system will event '.uaIly pass to the owners of the land whenever l "the debt for construction has been fully dis charged. The stock need not be delivered until it is paid for. The use of the water may | "be secured to the landowner until the stock is fully paid, and the control and management of the irrigation system may be retained by 'the original investors until the capital invested has been wholly repaid"
 He also quoted from a speech deliv cred by President Roosevelt at the Grand Canyon on May 6, 1903:
 T look forward to the effects of irrigation, partly as applied by the government and still more as applied by individuals, profting by "the example of the government and possibly with help from it. being of greater conSe- "quence to all this region of country in the next 50 years than. any other material movement whatsoever.
 From paper written by MT. w. k. Smythe in Out West magazine for May last;
 ''The greatest thing the President has done for us was to write the follow ing sentence;
 PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF WATER APART FROM LAND CANNOT PREVAIL WITHOUT CAUSING ENDURING WRONG"
 MT. K. w. Postlethwaite, Vice-Presi- ent of the Company then rose to ad- dress the meeting as follows:-
 I regret that our Chief Engineer, MT. Howe1ls, is unable to be here to- day, but in his absence I will give you a short description of the engineering end of our projected canal. You have heard MT. Schuyler's letter read, and note that he sets the stamp of his ap- proval upon the way the engineering difficulties are to be met: and, as he is