The Arizona sentinel., 1907-07-31
NOT AUTHORIZED BY RECLAMATION ACT.

levied by the Yuma County Wa ter Users Association, we here with, by request, copy from the Arizona Democrat correspond ence between Lewis Graham, a prominent farmer of Salt river valley, and B. A. Fowler, secre- tary of the Salt River Valley Water Users Association, bear ing upon the assessment propo- sition. Graham was notified that unless he paid certain delinquent assessments his land would be sold to make good the delin- cy: He replied to MT. Fowler as follows:
 Sir: I am in receipt of your very remarkable communication dated the 18th inst, addressed to my wife, reading:
 In reply, I beg to say that l respectfully deny and take issue with you regarding the follow ing statement in your letter;
 "First-That the bylaws of the Salt River Valley Water Users Association have beeu either approved or made opera tive by the secretary of the inte- riOr.
 "Second-That had the secre- tary of the interior approved the bylaw above quoted that such approval could make such by law operative so as to authorize a sale Of real estate for the pay ment of delinquent assessments, or that an attempted sale of real estate under such bylaw could result in becoming so much as a cloud upon the title of such real estate.
 In this connection 1 beg to call your attention to the follow ing quotation from the memo randum signed by Secretary Hitchcock with the association on or about February 5, 1904:
 Paragraph II. Nothing con tained in this memorandum or to be implied from the fact of it's execution shall be construed, held or deemed 50 be an approv al by the secretary of the interi or nor an adoption by him of the articles of incorporation Of said association in all their details, as the form of organization of water users contemplated and authorized by. section 6 of said act of congress of June r, 1902; but such approval and adoption Is expressly reserved until the conditions authorizing such ap- proval and adoption prescribed in said act shall have arisen
 From the foregoing quotation it must plainly appear that the failure of the secretary of the secretary of the interior to adopt all the provisions of the articles, if any, that he has approved. it must necessary follow that no article of the association can be designated as having received the approval of the secretary of the interior. I further beg to call your attention to the fact that the articles Of the asSocia- tion do not purpOrt to authorize the association to sell any prop erty of a member of the associa- tion for any purpose or to adopt any bylaws authorizing the sale of such property, hence it must follow that no authority in form or nature of a power of attorney having been vested in the aSso- citation to sell for any purpose the property of a member of the association, no authority to sell real estate other than that pre- scfibed by the statutes Of the territory exists, and such at tempted sale cannot result in 8 cloud upon tbe title.
 Not only from the language Of the national irrigation act, but from the language quoted from the memorandum of the secreta- ry Of the interior, it is we'll pn- derstood that the irrigation act did not contemplate the exist ence of an organization of water users whose articles of organiza- ton or whose rules and regala- tions should be approved by the secretary under the national irri- .raEinn act nntil Snch lime as the