The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-18
POLITICIANS WANT
IRRIGATION SPOILS
Would Change Laws So as to Dis
place Experts with
Apprentices. 4.
SOME STATES AFTER
LARGER APPROPRIATION
Chance That Eastern States May
Fight Further Federal Aid
to Work.
BY w. w. Jerm ano.

BY w. w. Jermane.
Washington, Nov. 1s.-There is dan
ger that the governments irrigation
policy, which has been laid out along
broadly impartial lines by men OF the
highest scientific attachments, is to be
made the football of politics. The IL
rigation fund is now $23,O0O00Q and
the politicians are beginning to realize
that they overlooked fine opportunity
for political graft when they permitted
the president to turn the work over to
disinterested government experts.
It is said, on good authority, that in
the forthcoming session of congress q
bill will be introduced providing that
the irrigation fund be, expended by a
seven members, and on the same author;
ity 1t is said that the Hansbrough bill
is to be pushed in both houses. This
bill, introduced in the last session, will
supplement the bill Just referred to.
It provides that al! irrigation construc-
tiun work is to be in charge Of politi-
cal engineer, who is to be paid $4,000
a year. The effect Of this legislation,
if enacted, will be to remove the secre-
tary of the. interior and the geological
survey officials from their present posi-
tions Of administrators of the law.
Scheme of Western States.
Back of this demand for political
commission and a political engineer is
the desire of several of the western
states to have the irrigation fund dis
tributed among the states the basis
Of their respective contributions to the
fund, The law provides that when prac
ticable the, secretary of the interior
80, per cent Of the money it has con-
tributed to the fund from the sale Of
its public lands, but he is very properly
clothed with & good deal Of discretion
nry power. In some Of the states there
are projects, which will demand the ex-
penditure Of more than the amount con-
tributed by those states to the fund,
while i'll others Of them it will be diff
cult, not to say impossible, to expend
the amount contributed without subject
ing the government to the charge of ex-
travagance and gross favoritism. g.
It has been the plan Of the secretary
not to regard state lines too closely, but,
while keeping the requirements Of the
law well in mind, to provide for projects
where the physical conditions are the
the work will be done cheapest, rela-
lively to the number Of acres benefited.
In this plan he has the hearty indorse-
ment Of the reclamation bureau a
branch Of the geological survey, which
is In direct charge Of all the work of
works. The officers and agents Of this
bureau are scientists of approved repu-
tation, and neither they nor the secre-
tary Of the interior have been con-
trolled by political considerations in
making their recommendations and de-
cisions.
Politicians Not pleased.
It is easy to understand why work
upon this high plane does not please
the politicians in some irrigation states.
The idea of having men who are mere
IL
tics and care less, distribute $4,000,
600 fund, is something the politicians
find themselves unable to indorse.
In several states the agitation in ia
vor Of turning the irrigation expert
ment Of the government over to the
politicians has already begun, notab'
in North Dakota, where it cropped ou
during the, recent campaign in stuml
speeches made by republicans in al
parts Of the state.
Each year millions Of acres Of pub
lilo land are sold to settlers in the irri
cation states, and the money received
from these sales is covered into tn
law was enacted this money was GOV
cred into the general fund of the ma
tional treasury, and expended for bat
tleships, seacoast defenses, the army
salaries Of public officials, river an
harbor improvements, etc. Not a do
lur OIL GulS ulOuty Was SVSE SApouutu
the thinly settled public land states
except in rare instances, when congress
ordered a public building erected i
one Of their cities, or improved an arm
post or navigable stream.
The physical conditions in the irr
invite the construction Of reservoirs an
bitches, while others do not: The re
suit is that in some states the reclams
ton bureau, on orders from the secre
tary. Of the interior, is preparing to e1
states state i have Contributed to the irrigatio
fund. while in others the proposed e,
penditure will, for the present at leas
fall considerably below those contrib,
tions.
drawn. The states which are. to r
ceive, in the. near future, irrigatio
tributed by them to, the irrigation fun
are apparently well satisfied with tt
law, while those which are to receiy
less are willing to change the law an
turn the irrigation business over to tt
politicians, hoping, thru the pull {
senators and congressman, to secu1
greater recognition than has thus f;
been accorded them.
North Dakota Rebellious.,
In this latter class is North Dakot
which is cited here as illustrating tt
feeling which prevails in all states
its class.
North Dakota has contributed to II
irrigation fund $780, 100. If sum
that size could be properly expended {
irrigation works within the state, wit
out neglecting more inviting proiec
elsewhere, there would be no complain
but according to, the government eng
neers, this cannot be.
After careful investigation, extern
ing over more than year, and embra
ing the entire irrigation area Of tt
state, it has been decided that -$1,75(
900 is all that at present can be adva
tageously expended there. This SUI
embraces three projects, one at Fo
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