The San Francisco call., 1904-03-29
MEN aualMAaIERS IN
THE fORa.Z he WORLD
M((NLI1

ton system for these Indians. which
an allotment Of land would resolve
itself into, he believes. However, he
says the allotting agents are at work
ali the time and picking UP pieces Of
land Cor the purpose.
Another Interesting bill that is to
make the doubtful run for finish this
session is the bill for the diversion Of
the waters of the Colorado River for ir-
rigation purposes. 1t is now before the
Committee on Irrigation. and b. II.
Heber, president of the California De-
veloDment Company. in whose interest
The bin is introduced was heard last
Tuesday. The bill raises many interest
ing questions. The Colorado is navi-
gable stream, but this bill diverts
about all the water and leaves the bed
dry. But the Government has plans Of
its own for doing the same thing, so
the protest on that account would not
lie The new Daniels bill is very brief
and declares on this point to the effect
that the water OF the Colorado is more
valuable for irrigation than for naviga-
ton and granting the right to all COM
ers TO divert ii for the former purpose.
The river as now diverted by the Cali
fornia Development Company is carried
for some distance through Mexican ter
ritory. where its waters are used also
for irrigation, and then back into Cali
fornia, so that something of an inter-
national question is raised The right
Of the private company now working
,7ae- q orr, 10 "a fn a q
water in face OF the large plan of the
Federal Government, upon which a
large sum Of money has been expended,
is another one. They will all be weighed
in committee.
The California delegation has joined
in a joint letter to Secretary Hitchcock
asking him to exclude from Yosemite
National Park certain lands embracing
about 200, 600 acres and attach the same
TO the Sierra forest reserve, the pur-
pose being 10 bring the land under the
forest reserve law Of 1897 and enable
the working of mines and other prop
erty, some of which is held in private
ownership. There are about $4,000 acres
in the tract which can be turned to
good account, and none of it is of any
note in a scenic way.
Representative Bells bill as amended
and recommended by the Secretary of
the Interior for the throwing open of a
large tract of the Round Valley Indian
reservation is in the hands of the Pub
lie Lands Committee of the House and
will be reported shortly. The bill pro-
vides that the lands shall be open for
homestead entries, actual settlers being
given preference and credited with the
time they have already occupied them,
and they to have five years to pay up.
1t has not been determined whether
there shall be a reappraisement of value
or that the price be made 81 25 or 81 80
an acre uniformly.
Bell and Gillette, who each have bills
for public buildings of the s1OO,OOO limit,
the one for Santa Rosa and the other
at Eureka, have arranged TO pull to-
gether for Eureka this year and to go
in together for Santa Rosa next year.
OF the $4,000 standing to the
credit of the Sacramento River for i'm
provement, no part of it can be made
available by Congress until the War
Department submits its estimates.
Bel and others of the delegation are
working to secure a supplemental esti-
mate at the hands of Colonel Heuer,
in charge of the work on the river, to
file with the committee, in view of the
necessity created by the recent floods,
so that the sundry civil bill will carry
aid for the river.
The interval in the Mormon investi-
cation touching the seat of Senator
Reed Smoot has not caused the deep
interest in the case here to die away.
Speculation as to the outcome is heard
constantly and the judgment is very
well divided. The emphatic declara-
ton that the Senate has no choice in
face of the evidence but to declare the
seat vacant is met by the confident
assertion that nothing has appeared to
affect the defendant in the case and
that there are no grounds whatever
for unseating him. In the meantime
Smoot occupies the contested seat
daily and looks to be one of the most
industrious Senators on the floor 1t
is said for him that he is considered
Of pleasing personality and that down
at the Raleigh on Pennsylvania ave-
nue., where he lives, he has many
friends and is popular.
It might be as well to call atten-
ton to the fact that no Californian's S
name is in the famous Bristow report
as having exerted undue influence to
the undoing of the Postoffice Depart
ment. They are not all sure that the
omission is crsditabIe
Last of the TerroYiStS.