Arizona republican., 1904-03-07
ONLY A BEGINNING
But Ii Is a Most Brilliant
 One
hessrs. B. A. Fowler and A. P. Davis Speak of the Reclamation Work in the Valley.

A reporter for The Republican last night called upon MT. B. A. Fowler at the Hotel Adams. He was in the com pany of Mir. A. P. Davis, the repre- sentative of the government in the re- clamation work in this valley. Speak ing of his recent extended visit to Washington, MT. Fowler said that he went there primarily for the purpose of securing the passage of the bill authorizing the towns of Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe to bond themselves for the building of the TCnto road. He felt gratified at the prompt manner in which congress had acceded to the wishes of the people here. The bill was the first business measure passed in the regular session and was the sec ond bill of any character.
 It turned out though that the road bill was small part of the work which MT. Fowler found to do. The cement question arose and one feature of the plans Of those interested in the construction of the reservoir was seri- ously threatened. Representative of the cement manufacturers appeared before the department and placed be- fore it a construction Of a declaration of the last national republican plat form in favor of the protection of home industries. They said that the manufacture of cement had become a great home industry and now a repub- 1ican administration bound to it's pro- lection was about to engage in compe- tition with it. The department was reminded that this industry had con- tributed lberally to the campaign fund. MT. Fowler by an interview on the cement question, replying to the assumption of the cement representa- lives drew upon himself their par ticular anger. The subsequent history Of the cement controversy ending in the government prosecuting it's origin al plan of making cement for the Tonto dam is already well known
 The next incident in the visit of MT. Fowler was the negotiation between ! the water users association and the | government. About that time MT. | Davis and Judge Kibbey arrived. He | said that their services were indis- | pensable. They entered upon cam | paign of education. There were the | legal phases of the situation to be 1 presented; there were also the confus- ! ing conditions existing in the valley, ! the relations of the canals to each | other, the relations between them and ] the water users and the relations of | the water users to each other. These 1 had to be explained, not directly to | the head of the department at first as
 many people in the valley might have l supposed, but the head had to be reached through a half dozen clerks
 who knew in the beginning nothing of
 the conditions. No ether man. said MT
 Fowler could have taken the place oi
 Judge Kibbey in this work.
 At length it was all accomplished; a
 memorandum of agreement between the government and the water users under the proposed reservoir was drawn up and approved by the govern.
 ment. Here it may be said that it has been loosely stated that the contrac
 has been signed on the part of the gov. 1 ernment. As a matter of fact nothing
 has been signed though the effect o ! the approval of the memorandum i!
 the same. This memorandum will b, presented in turn to the board of gov 1 ernors and the council of the associa
 tion and it will then be submitted t,
 the members of the association fo
 ratification by election. MT. Fowle said that there would be no delay il
 the steps to be taken, but that tn,
 election cannot take place earlier thai
 thirty days. The memorandum havinj
 been ratified it will be returned t
 Washington and the basis for the con
 tract will have been established.
 In the meantime during this proces there will be no delay in the actua
 work on the enterprise. It will be car
 ried on, said MT. Fowler, by the gov ernment's strong faith in the homes
 purpose of the people of the Salt Rive
 Valley. That faith was expressed t
 him by one of the high officials of tn
 government after the agreement ha been reached. The same faith ha l been felt all along, said he, or tn work would not have been proceede with pending the negotiations. H . said that MT. Davis would have stop ped the work six months ago but fo ! that faith. MT. Davis said: ''Th } government felt justified in keepin ? on, by the great interest of the valle
 in the enterprise. A delay of say year would have been of incalcula bl damage to the farmers of this regioT : The damage might have amounted t $ hundreds of thousands of dollars: might have amounted to as much a $2, ,00O, 000
 This enterprise MT. Fowler saic was being watched with the greates