Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-08-14
YUMA KNOCKS THE
 FEDERAL SERVICE
Water Users Association of Yuma Val ley Takes Hot Shots at Reclamation Oficials-Governme Refused to Buy Canal and Hill Is Attacked.
The Phoenix Democrat says:

The Yuma Valley Water Users asso. citation, composed of about four men and little boy, has sent to this city a pamphlet neatly printed and hand somely gotten up, but full of the rank est knocking of any publication ever printed in Arizona. It seems that the men who constitute this Yuma Valley Water Users association have an old canal, which, cost in the neighborhood of $l50,0O0, which they have been try ing to unload on the United States gov ernment reclamation service for $500,- 900. The reclamation service has de- clined to buy the canal and will never buy it, and this pamphlet is an attempt to show that the reclamation service is unfriendly to Yuma county and will force thousands of acres of land back to desert in order to accomplish some questionable project.
 In the first place, the United States government is n builder up and not a destroyer, and the irrigation law has been so worded that there is no possi. ble chance for any men in the employ ment of the government to take water away from farmer and put it some where else without fully satisfying the farmer. That irrigation law stands as a bulwark to the rights of the water users.
 And there is no desire upon the part of the reclamation people, who are rep resented in Arizona by Engineer Hill, to injure any man. In fact, there is not man in the government service who would quicker uphold the rights of water user than Engineer Hill.
 The pamphlet also contains the state ment that Frank H. Stanley of Braw- ley heard F. H. Newell, the chief of the reclamation bureau, say: "That it might be necessary to turn the val ley back to a desert in order to accom- plish the purpose of the government. |"
 "Mr. Newell never made such a statement" said Engineer Hill this morning "The government has no in- tention of turning any land back to desert. v
 Engineer Hill, who has been subject ed to these attacks before, does not seem to pay any attention to them, passing them up as the idle vampings of a lot of disgruntled men who wanted to unload a dead horse on the govern. ment; but to the Salt River valley, which is vitally interested in irrigation and which can testify to the honesty and square dealing of the reclamation service in all it undertakes, this kind of knocking seems dangerous.
 The people of Yuma are going to have one of the best dams in the world; they are going to have plenty of water and their land is going to greatly increase in value as the result of the kindness of the United States government In knocking a thing of this kind, if it is done by any respon sible party, they are knocking a great work and putting black eye on the irrigation act. The public should rise up and protest against it.
 The purpose of the pamphlet seems to be to organize a fight that will give the knockers some strength in the na- tional irrigation congress, probably with view of passing resolution censur- ing the reclamation service or with a view of hampering the irrigation work being done by the government, and the Salt River valley people should be up and doing in the way of getting up a delegation to the congress that will up- hold the hands of the men at the head of the reclamation service.