The Imperial press., 1905-09-30

Cies who engage III the WOTk ol ueFclop- ino Uncle Sam's arid west. AS a representative of our people, the PRESS has. therefore, consistently supported and upheld the work of the United States Reclamation Service. We re- gard the work which these men are doing as the greatest and most humane undertaking that has ever engaged the energies or challenged the endeavors of fine sons of men since first the flight Of time began.
 To harness the floods and dam the canyons of the mighty mountains, to convey the waters to the desert wastes, to create places of beauty and homes of plenty for the landless millions is assuredly a work we'll befttIng our twentieth century civilization. Such a work is one in which any man may be proud to engage and it is a matter of much felicitation that the officers and members of the Reclamation Ser vice are justly proud-Of their work and give to it their undivided loyalty and devotion.
 While our government has been bus ilv exploring the irrigation possibilities of the west and the Geological Survey through its various bureaus have been gathering data and determining def- mite conclusions concerning the different regions and projects, their work has been carefully followed by number of keen eyed capitalists. In number of cases conflicts of more or less intensity have arisen between the private capi- talist endpavoring to handle the irriga- tion business on a profit producing basis and the Reclamation Service, seeking to install project on the lines set forth in the Reclamation law. While as a general thing the officers and members of the Service are very reticent regarding any expression of views concerning other than their own work and in some cases even regarding that, there seem to be one shining ex- ample of "buttinsky" in the Recla- nation Service in the person of one George Y. Wisner, of Detroit, Michigan, 8 member of the consulting board of engineers of the Reclamation Service. This man seems to have an especial grudge at the Imperial Valley and loses no opportunity to vent his spleen and show his ignorance concerning this region.
 The first instance we have of his hostility and misrepresentation was published in the Detroit Journal in May, 1904, at which time he held this country upas a gigantic swindle and stated that "the Imperial Irrigation Company" had sold water for 2l7, ,0OO acres of land and only had water for 50.O0O acresss and couldn't keep that up on account of the impossibilitv of keep ing their canal open on account of silt. In this interview he represents the Imperial farmers as the victimL of such 8 bunco game as no American would tolerate and held up to ridicule the entire Valley and its irrigation project.
 Since the delivery ofthis wisdom by Mir. Wisner, however, it has been demonstrated that the water of the Colorado river can be brought to this Valley on such grade as will eliminate the silt problem; that we can get the water from the river in any quantity and without hindrance.
 Now, however, he changes his tune, takes the other tack and in an address before the Detroit Engineering Society on September 2 makes the statement that "thousands of people who have taken mp government lands in this Val ley will be driven out and their homes and fields will form the bottom of an immense inland sea-" He ascribes this impending disaster to bad engin- eering in diverting the course of the Colorado river for irrigation purposes and states that the river has "cut into the banks of it's new course to such an extent that nearly all of the Colorado river flows down into the Valley" Gan it be possible that this man don't know the difference between the Imperial Valley and the Salton Sea?