Arizona republican., 1906-03-18
MIR. FOWLER'S RETURN
 AFTER LONG ABSENCE
The Governments Intentions Regard
 ing the North Side Canal.

MT. B. A. Fowler returned home yes terday morning from Washington
 where for the last three months he has devoted his best energies to has tening the negotiatios between the
 government and the Arizona Water company. Though there was unavoid- able and unexpected delay all of winch was equally as irritating at that end of the line as it was here, nevertheless. 1 the final success of the undertaking was generally gratifying.
 MT. Fowler said last night that he i did not care to go into the minor de-
 tails of the negotiations at the various stages of the proceedings, first because | the story would be an interminably | long one and secondly because he first
 wishes to make a report in some con- siderable detail, verbally from notes
 he has preserved, to the board of gov ernors when they meet. In his conver- sation MT. Fowler gave sufficient of i the details of his daily routine between
 one office and another of the depart ment, and of numerous conferences i with Judge Steele and with the off : cers of the reclamation service, to in dicate that he has been q very busy man. There were numerous occasions on which a final agreement seemed all most accomplished when some little ! thing would interfere to cause another 1 reference to this man or that, or there would be some change of attitude on 1 the part of the water company that
 had to be met. But the entire pro- | ceedings has ended satisfactorily, it
 now appears, and the reclamation ser vice as well as the people of the val | ley seems to be glad that a distuib- i ing question is now in a fair way to l settlement.
 The point of special interest just now is the probability of the governments movements in carrying out the enter l prise of experimenting the distribu- tiOn of water on the north side. The government will, of course. take charge of this work at the earliest practicable moment and in the meantime will do all it can to encourage the farmers in their own efforts But the exigencies of the situation are such that the gov ernment cannot be expected to take charge this season nor probably next season either. It cannot be expected that the government will take charge of the property or spend money upon it
 until it has secured title to it. After
 the sale. which is advertised for some
 time in April, nine months will have
 to elapse for the redemption period.
 Then there will of necessity. be adver-
 tising for contracts etc, so this season
 will have passed and perhaps another
 crop season also before diversion
 can be looked for under the direction of
 the government and through the pro-
 jected new diversion dam.
 In the meantime, however, the farm
 CTS are encouraged to proceed with
 their present enterprise of helping themselves and that is the most impOr-
 tant matter just now. letting the future
 take care of itself. Thus far the nec-
 essities of every case have been met
 as they arose and conditions that were
 most embarrassing have melted away
 when they were apprOa ched. There
 may be some later plans developed that
 will hasten matters. There is now not
 only a full understanding of the situa-
 ton but a full control if it and the
 only thing necessary is time. And no
 time will be lost presumably by any
 of the parties in interest, for there
 is nothing to be gained by anybody in
 unnecessary delay.