The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-08-22
PRUDENCE Is NEEDED.

|
A Washington special dispatch pub
lished yesterday morning in Tho Trib-
une gave due notice of the expected
: raid upon the reclamation fund. That
fund is stated to be in need OF more
money. and yet there will be n raid
upon It on the line Of the North Da-
kota bill (which undertakes to transfer
a million dollars from the reclamation
fund to g drainage fund for swamp
lands. The bill passed the Senate and
is pending in the House, There is am
pie evidence that this North Dakota
raid in the interest Of swamp lanGs
will be seconded by other States. Min
nesota is already in the field arguing
that the drainage of swamp and marsh
lands is Just as much function Of the
Federal Government as the storage Of
water TO irrigate arid lands; and On
the doctrine of contraries there is q
good deal to be said in support oil that
proposition,
On the other hand, the fact remains
that the drainage Of marsh and swamp
lands, where it is practicable at all, is
usually its own reward: that is to say,
any one getting title to the land to be
| drained is amply rewarded AMI more
too in the value of the land after il
is unwatered. Marsh and swamp lands
are apt to be the most fertile lands
in the neighborhood. We recolect
case few years ago where a com
pany drained ten thousand acres of
| Mississippi slough on the American
bottom, in Illinois. The first year after
the land was drained it was seeded to
corn and the yield was sixty-six bush
els per acre, the first crop paying for
all the drainage Of the land, the first
cost Of the title, and all expenses, be-
sides leaving a handsome surplus Re-
peated instances Of the same kind
| could be cited, where the persons in
vesting money to drain the swamps or
sloughs or small lakes We're amply re-
warded in the value of the lands and
the first few crops obtained from it.
However, as to the argument, there
is good deal to it, and the Irrigation
Congress at Boise will be brought face
to face with this proposition of divid-
ing the fund with those who contend
that the swamps should be drained by
the Federal Government on precisely
the same general principle that arid
lands are irrigated at the public cost;
that is the Government should make it's
land usable.
1t is said that there will be a pro-
posal sprung at the Boise Congress de-
manding from the Federal Government
hundred million dollars for the recla-
nation service in addition to the sales
of public lands. We are doubtful |
about the wisdom Of pushing a mat
ter of that kind. AT the same time, if |
the swamp land proposition is to be
tackled on to the arid land reclamation,
then certainly good deal Of money |
will be required, and the sale of the |
Government land in other States than
those of the arid region will have to
be included in the sources from which |
the reclamation fund is derived There |
are swamps to be drained all over the |
country, from the Great Dismal Swamp |
of Virginia to the Okccchobee swamp |
in Florida, and the marshes of tho |
Sacramento valley. If it is replied |
that neither Virginia nor Florida have
any public lands available for the pur-
pose Of furnishing reclamation funds,
the reply would be that the Irrigation
Congress has already headed of that
argument by its declaration that the
reclamation fund should also be open
IN inb all
has no Government land within its bor-
ders, all the public lands there being
State lands. So that if the drainage
proposition is tackled on and made q
part Of the arid land reclamation
proposition, there will be ample en-
ployment for the one hundred million
dollars and probably for a good deal
more money yet.
The question, however, as to the wis
dom of thus enlarging the operations
Of the Federal Government is one that
deserves very serious consideration.
For ourselves, we do not believe that
any State ought to be included in
either proposition unless there is in
that State public lands from the sale
Of which the reclamation fund could
be replenished. But it is evident that
a determined raid will be made upon
Congress in the interest of swamp,
overfowed and slough lands, so that
the Boise congress will have to be care
ful in It's demands if it wishes to keep
what we already have and not open
the question so wide as to afford an
opportunity for unwelcome raids.
IL must be remembered, also. that
number of the reclamation projects
are pretty well under way, and very
soon the settlers upon the lands re.