The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-07-20
TON IS NOW
SERIOUS PROBLEM
ROoseveIt'S Approval of 1902
Act an Event of History
SOMETHING OF THE WORK
Secretary of the interior Has Gigantic
Undertaking on His Hands and
Those Directly Under Him
Have Hard Tasks.
eY WATTERsoN sTEAtEY.

b1 WAL EnSON oiEAEEfs
Washington, July ESPECIAL 1.-THE
18th of June is marked with red letters
on the calendar of American patriotism
as Bunker Hill day. The same day also
witnessed, last year, President Roose-
velt's approval of the national irrigation
act, and the enthusiastic friends of the
| irrigation policy take considerable salts
faction in the fact that both events may
be celebrated on the same day, and are
inclined to claim that future generations
will find almost as much glory and pride
in the statesmanlike deed of 1902 as they
will in the military deed of 1775.
The stubborn and unequal contest at
Bunker Hill was one of the things which
gave us a country to work for, and the
long sought victory of national irrigation
was certainly one of the most important
steps in that country's development.
The irrigation law imposes a heavy
responsibility upon the secretary of the
! interior. That already busy official is
/ charged with the work of selecting the
projects to be undertaken, fixing the
size of homesteads which may be taken
up on the public lands to be reclaimed
and making rules and regulations for the
use and distribution of the water supply.
| The task is an arduous and, in some
cases, delicate one, since there are Of
ten conflicting interests that must be re-
1 conciled.
Work 10 Limited.
Furthermore, 1t is obvious that with a
limited amount of money at his command
the secretary cannot build works every
where at once. Western communities are
proverbially enthusiastic over their own
| local advantages. The people of each val
! ley are prone to believe that theirs is
a little the best valley in all the west,
and that they enjoy the glorious privilege
Of living on the best soil that over lay
! out doors"
Hence they are bound to be disappoint-
ed when the interior department makes
it necessary but always difficult. choice
between the claims of rival localities. 1t
| is a case where many are called but
few are chosen" And so 1t must be unless
the nation shall some day decide to enter
upon the work on a much greater scale.
Secretary Hitchcock committed the de-
tails of the new policy to the geological
survey, which has long been dealing with
| photographic problems in the west and
whose founder, the late Maj. John Wes-
ley Powell, was the first scientific man to
comprehend the economic value of the
arid region.
The director of the survey organized
new branch to take charge of the irriga-
ton work. naming 1t the UNITED States
reclamation service" Frederick H.
Newell, who has been In charge Of water
Investigations In the survey, was made
| chief of the new service. He has been
trained for dozen years for just such
an opportunity as has now come to him,
and the friends of irrigation are pro-
foundly pleased with the choice
Hal Big Undertaking.
Mr.. Newell was confronted with the task
| of organizing and setting in motion very
large undertaking. Its field of operations
is half a continent. Its contemplated ex-
penditure will run into tens of millions
! And the number of people whose veal or
woe will ultimately depend upon the wis
| dom and honesty of the administration OF
this work will be equal to the total popu-
lation of many an American state and
many a European nation. In other words,
1t is a big thing. requiring the services of
big men.
Mr.. Newell had the advantage Of wide
| familiarity with the conditions of the
arid region to begin with. He was thus
| able to direct the preliminary investiga-
tions with little loss OF time or money. To
this end, he brought together large num-
bers of bright young men from various
| parts of the country and set them at
| work measuring streams, surveying reser-
| voirs and canal sites and estimating the
cost and efficiency of the first proposed
| works.
These are the dam on the Sweetwater
river in Wyoming, the dam at the OUT
let of Saint Mary lake In Montana, and
the diversion of its waters to the Milk
river the construction of the Gunnison
river tunnel for the irrigation of Uncom-
| phagre valley in southwestern Colorado,
the construction of a chain of reservoirs
on the boundary of California and Me-
vada for the reclamation of land in the
latter state. and the building of the great
Tonic reservoir on the Salt river of Ari-
iona.
VIII Cost 100000.
1t is estimated that these five projects
will cost about seven million dollars and
reclaim upwards of six hundred thous-
and acres of land. That is to say, 1t will
probably cost about $11 an acre to make
| this land fit for the highest cultivation.
| The money is not permanently invested
| by the government. 1t Is to be returned
| by settlers in ten equal payments over
| a period of ten years. There is no interest
charge. The government collects its in
! terest in the form of social and economic
| gains which quickly materialize into tax
able values for the benefit of the county.
state and nation.
The new policy is yet very young. But
marvellous progress has been made during
| its first year. The work has gone on
rather silently without any flourish of
trumpets. And yet nothing more mo-
mentous has been undertaken by this
government In the way of internal i'm
| provement.
Beyond Private Effort.
| The nation set it's hand to task which
has now grown entirely beyond the
reach of private effort If it ever were
adapted to that method of development.
| II has undertaken to assert mans con-
! troll over the forces of nature in a vast
region where organized effort must pave
the way before the individual may pros
| per- or even get a foothold.
| There Is but one thing that stands in
| the way of this creation of countless
small homes out of arid waste. one thing
which the nation must yet do before 1t
| can make the future secure for itself
and for its multitudious homeseekers.
| 1t must repeal certain features of it's
present land laws. under which the pub
lie domain is being speculated in and
| fraudulently absorbed into large private
holdings 1t must take heed of the Pres
| dents Injunction In his last message to
| oouprass reUar riding the spoliation of the