Arizona republican., 1904-12-26
Proposed Sacrifice of the Reclamation Service
TO PIE COUNTER HUNGER
Hansbrough's Attack Upon the Ser vice - The Aim Of the nCCumber BiII-A Probability of Western Sup port of Their Efforts.

w Dec -toIeClSii-J I'll the plans of some of the politicians at Washington work out as proposed there will be a grand divvy'' of the irrigation fund. This fund has grown rapidly since the enactment of the ir- rigation law until it is now in the neighborhood of $25, ,000,0 900, and grow ing at the rate of between three and four million dollars year, as the re- suit y-of the sales of western public lands. When the bill became a law the work of administration was imThe- diately placed in the hands of the geo. l logical survey-under the secretary of the interior-which had for fifteen years been studying the irrigation re-
 sources of the west, and it has been carried on by the reclamation service of the survey upon strictly non- -politi- cal lines, the test of irrigation projects ! being not the amount of political influ- ence which western senators and rep I resentatives could exert upon this sci entific branch of the government. but the feasibility of projects. whether 1 there were good farming lands and good water supplies and whether the works could be constructed ct q cost which would guarantee the prompt ! colonization of the tracts and the re- payment to the government by the set tiers or It's money invested
 This business-Iike feature of the law has caused it to grow in popularity, | especially in the east. as Its provis- ions have become better known through the prominence given the sub ject by the press
 | But there are always malcontentS and in the case of the irrigation law the pie counter politicians have deter
 mined that this high plane of admin : istration is of no benefit to them. They want a politician, not a scientist, at the head of the reclamation service. MT. Mr.Hansbrough was much disappointed at the failure to get his bill. introduce
 ed with this intent, before the senate for action last session and he is cred
 ited with the statement that he will secure it's passage this winter. Further.
 the boast has been repeatedly made that these western croakers will favor
 taking the administration of this fund
 out of the hands of the secretary of
 the interior and placing it in the hands ! of a commission.N
 The fly in the ointment in the North
 Dakota situation. whence emanates the
 most open hostility to the reclamation
 service, appears in the fact that the congressional delegation from that
 state had apparently entirely neglected
 the irrigation interests of North Dako-
 ta until the people themselves had
 called a state irrigation con ngress and
 determined to arouse some interest in
 irrigation throughout the state. They discovered that Senator Hansbrough,
 who introduced the national irrigation bill in the senate, had stated at the
 time that his motives in pushing irri
 gation were entirely altruistic since
 I, ,ic cto fa m nf hxrf he
 act and up until the meeting of the congress above mentioned the great
 majority of the people of North Da-
 lkota did not know that the state was
 a beneficiary under the irrigation law.
 Severely scored for apparent neglect
 by their constituents, the North Da-
 kota senators have attempted to
 square themselves by assuming ex-
 treme positions. In speeches at Man
 dan this fall Senator Hansbrough as-
 sured his audience that direct appro-
 priation for irrigation was an easily
 secured thing and he pledged himself
 to secure it for North Dakota, and
 Senator McCumber violently attacked the reclamation service as a pre-prej-
 udiced organization, and unit to ad- minister such a law. The people of North Dakota have been told by their delegation that the reclamation ser
 vice 'thas it fin for the state" and they have been led to believe that it will never be necessary for them to pay back to the government any of the money expended in the state for irri- gation works.
 This attempt to take the irrigation measure into practical politics will probably meet with considerable sup port in different parts of the west. Ev- cry section has it's pet project. Upon investigation by the government engi- neers many of these gre necessarily re- jected. Hence arise a nest of sore heads who wish that they might de- mand of their congressman that he
 bring the proper pressure to bear to have the project approved whether or no.
 It is believed, however, that the east will look at the matter in a very diff ferent light. The reclamation service has the confidence of the secretary of
 the interior and of the presiden-. Wha. i the east and the country at large de- sire is to see government irrigation
 succeed, without particular regard to
 whether state politicians receive tue
 credit or glory of obtaining no expcn
 allure of money in their districts or T. states.
 k While state lines have been to some extent obliterated, in the distribution
 of the irrigation fund, as is authoriz-
 ed under the law itself, it cannot be
 disputed that the projects which have
 been selected by the reclamation ser- II vice engineers will become eminent irri-
 gation successes when they reach com pletion. and this is the object for which
 the irrigation law was enacted; this is what secured the necessary eastern votes to pass the measure. The east
 as whole may yet be a little skeptical Fl regarding the splandO- and errao dauY.