The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-13
A "DIVVY" IS DESIRED
WESTERN POLITICIANS WANT MORE
 POLITICAL PIE.
Wish to Have Irrigation Improvement Removed From Scientific Basis To Plane Where Constituents
 May Re Fooled,

l Washington, Dec. 12.-(Special )-If the plans of some of the politicians at Washington work out as proposed
 w, fsnd 6e pis awyy of the 1 rapidly since the enactment of the ir- | rlgation law until it is now in the | ne1ghborhood of twenty-five million dollars, and growing at the rate of be- | tween three and four million dollars a year, as the result of the sales of west ern public lands.
 When the bill became a law the work | of administration was immediately placed in the hands of the Geological Survey-under the Secretary of the ln- terior--which had for fifteen years been carried on by the ReclamationcSe Service I of the Survey upon strictly non-politi- cal lines. the test of irrigation pro- | jects being not the amount of political | influence which western senators and representatives could exert upon this scientific branch of the government. but the feasibility of projects, whether | there were good farming lands and good water supplies and whether the works could be constructed at a cost i which would guarantee prompt colont- zaticn of the tracts and the repayment to the government by settlers of it's | money invested.
 This business-like feature of the law | has caused it to grow in popularity, | especially in the east, as it's provisions | have become better known through the prominence given the subject by the press.
 But there are always malcontents and in the case of the irrigation law the pie counter politicians have de termined that this high plane of ad- ministration Is of no benefit to them. They want a politician, not d scientist, at the head of the Reclamation Service. | Senator Hansborough was much disap- pointed at the failure to get his bill. l introduced with this intent, before the Senate for action last session and ne is credited with the statement that l he will secure its passage this winter. Further, the boast has been repeatedly l made that these western croakers will | favor taking the administration of this fund out of the hands of the Secre- | tary of the Interior and placing It In | the hands of a commission.
 l The fly in the ointment in the North l Dakota situation, whence emanates the most open hostility to the Reclamation l Service, appears Tn the fact that the Congressional delegation from that state had apparently entirely neglected | the irrigation interests of North Da- kota until the people themselves had | called a state Irrigation congress ana determined to arouse some interest Tn irrigation throughout the state: They discovered that senator Hansbrough. who introduced sre national irrisatioh bill in the Senate, had stated at the time that his motive in pushing TITO gation were entirely altruistic since his own state would not profit by the act and up until the meeting of the Congress above mentioned the great majority of the people of North Dakota did not know that the state was a beneficiary under the irrigation law.
 Attempt to square Themselves.
 Severely scored for apparent hesiect by their constituents, the North Ddko- ta Senators have attempted to square themselves by assuming extreme posi, tions. In speeches at Mandan this Tall Senator Hdnsbrough assured ms auoi- ence that direct appropriation for irri. gation was an easily secured thlng ana he pledged himself to secure il Tor North Dakota. and Senator McCumDer service as d pre1prejudiced organiza- ton, and unfit to administer such u law. The people of North Dakota nave been told by their delegation tnat the | Reclamation Service has 1t in for the state" and they have been led to be- lieye that it will never be necessary for them to pay back to the government any of the money expended Tn the state for irrigation Work. ~
 This attempt to take the irrigation measure into practical politics Will probably meet with considerable sup port in different parts or the west
 Every section has it's pet project. Up- on investigation by the government engineers many of these are necessarily rejected. Hence arises nest or sore | heads who wish that they might de- mand of their Congressman that he bring the proper pressure to pear to have the project approved whether or no.
 It is believed, however, that the East | will look at the matter in very dl1- ferent light. The Reclamation Service has the confidence of the Secretary of the Interior and the President. what | the cast and the country at large deslre is to see government irrigation sue ceed, without particuar regard to whether state politicians receive the credit or glory of obtaining the ex- penditure of money in their districts | Sta
 While state lines have been to some extent obliterated, in the distribution of thre irrigation fund, as is autnorlzed under the law itself it can not be dis puted that the projects which have been selected by the Reclamation Ser vice engineers will become eminent irrigation successes when they reach completion, and this is the object Tor which the irrigation law was enacted: this is what secured the necessary | eastern votes to pass the measure fhe | East as a whole may yet be nttie skeptical regarding the splend"r anu grandeur of the national lrrlgatl0h
 plan. even if carried out wholly in the interests of the people and with the most scrupulous and exact honesty. IT waits to be shown. But certainly IL will size up quickly any attempt to convert what 1t recognizes may be l aa7 rolirv into a political grab.