Arizona republican., 1904-04-05
PHoEN1x, ARIZONA. APRIL B. 1sO
Tb. Eallaey as to IrrlgabIe Land.

for government loans to the people mas bAen revived in new form by Com mander Booth Tucker of the Salvation army. and as the organization or 1yhicb he is the head will of course support his plan, it is certain to be nressed upon the attention of congress with all the persistence and patience and unfagging industry for which the Salvation army is noted.
 The Tucker bill establishes a coloni- zation bureau in the department of the interior and authorizes it to make loans not exceeding s1.500 to any per son duly qualified to enter land under the homestead laws, and properly cer- tified to as to character; the money to be used in improving and establishing a home and farm on the land, and the loan to be repaid by the settler with interest at per cent, in annual or serni-annual installments. The com missioner Is authorized to pay from any such loan the expenses of trans portation of the settlers family and his necessary nOuSCnOAo
 the loan is to be a lien on the proper ty purchased and acquired. coloni- zation fund for the purpose is to be provided by the issue of not more than $50. .OOo, 900 at per cent. fifty-year bonds. not more than $5,0OOOOO or which are to be issued per year. The lands acquired by a settler are not to exceed forty acres irrigated and eighty acres non-irrigated.
 Commander Tucker, anticipating ob- iections on the ground of paternalism' replies that since the government is to loan the money at per cent, 1t is 'pure business proposition" He claims 1t is too vast an undertaking flor private enterprise. which would leave the 100, 900 acres of rich irri- gated land, which are about to be brought into cultivation, for occupa- tion by speculators, dummy home steaders, and land grabbers, together with small percentage of genuine and do not require assistance. It would exclude those who have not the necessary means to create home for themselves, however worthy they might be-" As an example of how the Salvation army might assist in carrying out the scheme, MT. Tucker gives statistics of the two army colon ies, showing that at an expense of s3OOO OoO about 400 people have settled on irrigated lands, worthy but poor families, all of whom have proved to be self-supporting.
 It seems scarcely necessary to point out that the whole scheme is based on unsound premises, and we have allud- ed to it chiefly for the purpose of lay ing emphasis upon some prevalent er- TOTS concerning the area of land that can be irrigated in the west under the most favorable conditions. If it were true that the government could offer to settlers HOO, 900 OO0 acres of rich ir- clamation act or any other law, there might be some reason for MT. Fuckers s assumption that colonization schemes would be necessary in order to get the land taken up by settlers.
 But his figures as to acreage are in line with the extravagant claims which were heard on all sides when the na- tional irrigation bill was before con gress. The fact is that five million would be liberal estimate of the oosoa .x x..ttoh ,, ,..a otiootl,,f axaiIo hla for reclamation in all the west, and we doubt whether the area for which water actually exists for storage ex- ceeds two million acres. And this acreage will be brought under water so slowly that, instead of being neces- sary to offer, extraordinary induce ments to settlers they will be sharply competing with each other for a chance to get the land under the gov ernment reservoirs.
 As to the water available we have had convincing object lesson here in Arizona. A few years ago it was fash ionable for everybody to speak of ir- rigating 5,OO0,O0O acres. or even 10000, coo acres, in this territory, and 1t would have been regarded as reasonable to insist that there was not water for one fifth of that acreage. The greatest reservoir in the United States is under construction for the Salt River valley and it will furnish water for but 300,- 900 acres, at most. Possibly 200, ,00t acres more could be brought under cultivation were the government tc build storage works on the Gila and the Verde. The Colorado river is yet an unknown quantity.
 Elsewhere in the United States. the four storage projects already under taken by the government-and tn, largest and most feasible were select