, 1904-04-19

! Washington, d. c., April ia gen
cral belief is that George II. Maxwell,
the railroad lobbyist. when recently
before the house committee on irriza.
tiun. giving that committee the details
of how much money was annually con
%trlbuted to his lobby, by no means
told all of the story. but he told
enough. with other facts which have
l'trn veil known to members OF con.
gress for some time past, to lead to the
suspicion that a scandal Is brewing
IN connection with the irrigation work
in the west. The lid has been lifted
a little and a peep has been given at a
condition of affairs which Is interest
ing If not startling. Under a cross fire
OF questioning by Representative Mon
dell of Wyoming. Mr.. Maxwell admit
ted that for the last four of five wears
the Northern Pacific. the Union Pacific.
the Southern Pacific. the Atchison. To
peka and Santa Fe. the Great Northern
and the Burlington and Quincy rail
roads had contributed $4,000 each to
the National Irrigation association. of
which he is the head, and the Rock
Island railroad had contributed So. 900
Z year. Mr.. Maxwell stated that alto
Sether the fund he collected for the
purpose of lobbying in Washington
and maintaining his press bureau, and
conducting his campaign of education,
exceeded $4,000 a year.
These facts make the operations of
Mr. Maxwell during the past five years
of special interest at this time. No
one denies that Mr.. Maxwell and his
magazines, The Talisman" and The
Homemaker.' his press bureau. etc.
did considerable in shaping public sen,
timent for the passage of the national
irrigation act. but it appears that at
the time this act was before congress
Mr.. Maxwell was an attorney from Cal
ifornia, who a. explained to the var
ious railroad officials ]oncerned the ad
vantages which the railroads would de
rive in n way Or another from hav,
ing the arid lands irrigated at govern,
ment expense and had come to Wash
ington with a fund of $4,000 a year tC
lobby an irrigation bill through con
gress. But Mr.. Maxwell's idea OF q
national irrigation act was somewhat
different from that entertained by the
senators and members Of congress-. He
wanted a continuing project, on the or
der OF The river n harbor bill, so that
provision would be made one congress
after another for certain projects. In
this way the services of a man vel
informed as to irrigation matters ant
thoroughly identified with them woult
be found valuable to the railroads ant
Others seeking to have certain pro
Jects taken up: and it is justice t
Mr.. Maxwells talents to presume tina
he took this fact into consideration.
At any rate, Mr.. Maxwell or the Ma
tional Irrigation association, and the
committee of senators and representa-
tives split. with the result that Mr.
Maxwell attempted to defeat the ma
tional irrigation act. Beaten in the
senate. he attacked the house, ant
when he found that he would be I'm
successful before that body he carried
the matter to the president, whose at
nc aih lhlouSu llle dSSlSl
ance of influential friends. Mr.. Mon
dell of the house committee, arranged
a meeting at the White house, which
resulted in President Roosevelt ask
Ing Representative Mondell If he would
object to two minor changes being
made in the p~hraseology of the bill
Mr.. Mondell and the others stated that
as the proposed changes would moi
essentially affect the bill, they had nc
objection. and the changes we're made
and the bill soon after became a law
1t would appear that Mr.. Maxwell's
usefulness in Washington had ceased
with the passage of this law. But no
so. To quote a member of the hous,
committee on irrigation. who claim.
to be thoroughly familiar with Mr.
Maxwell's methods: "Mr. Maxwell
then approached the railroads with ;
proposition. The land grant railroad!
own W and a half million acres with
in the forest reserves. Much of thi!