East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-03-07

owing to the public impression that
has gone out to the effect that the re-
clamation department will not under
take government projects where the |
land is largely owned by private par
ties, the following timely circular on |
this subject has been issued by the |
department:
Washington, d. c., Feb. 27.-The |
relation between public and private
enterprise has been the subject of
some controversy since the passage of
the reclamation act. 1t was assumed
by many that the reclamation engin-
eers would confine their operations
to developments which offered no
attractions to private enterprise, such
as the construction of storage reser-
vOirs on overappropriated streams, or
the building of canals to divert the
water from unused streams into riv-
ers where scarcity existed.
/ In other words that the reclamation
service should be confined to opera
tions which would tend to the gen.
| eral ammelioration of conditions exist
ing in the arid regions, without COM
ing into commercial relations with
the land or the people benefited by
its action.
While this would be vastly more
satisfactory to those charged with the
execution of the reclamation act 1t
would not carry out the provisions of
the law that the. amounts expended
should be repaid by the lands bene-
fitted. This provision of the reclama-
tion act makes it the first duty of its
executives to select for it's operations
feasible projects, in which the own
ers of the land can afford to repay to
the reclamation fund the actual
amounts expended in their reclama-
ton.
The fact that the funds used under
the reclamation act are relieved from
interest charges makes many projects
feasible which could not be profitably
carried out by private enterprise,
but this is more than offset by the
perennial hopefulness of the private
promoter. Every possibility of irri-
CATION development in the arid region
has been exploited at some time by
somebody, and if it should be held
= that the reclamation service should
not interfere with private enterprise
ii must either cease its operations OIL
= confine them to projects so utterly
chimerical that there would be nc
, human possibility of the return of the
l money expended.
t While it should be the policy of the
service to cooperate with and assist
: all legitimate private irrigation de-
velopment, it should not allow a false
sense of fairness to deprive any com
. munity of the opportunity to effec
: its development along the broades
r possible lines, and it would be any
6 thing but fair to such a community
to decide that an attempt to irrigat'
;, its lands had created mortgage
upon them, and that they must be lef
to be exploited for private profit, re
- gardless of the wishes of those mos
G vitality interested.
1t is the rule that wherever the re
clamation service has started its in
vestigations, it has found some par
of it's project overlapping lands whicl
are being exploited by private enter
prise In such cases if there is ;
q reasonable probability that the enter
. prise will be carried out, its land
should not be included, unless thei
- exclusion would cripple the project
and i'm this case some equitable ar
l. rangement should be made with tn
= interests involved.