Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-10

castors in the ring before the national
irrigation congress this afternoon.
when he uttered the foregoing with
such telling effect the convention was
kept in pretty much of an uproar.
Government Should Improve Lands
Mr.. Watson was not entirely of the
opinion that the government should
give way to private interests. He
thought, on the contrary, the govern
ment should let loose a few million in
irrigation and drainage projects.
Finally the South Carolina speaker
| became so enthusiastic over his subject
! he urged as a final measure that the
| government should take control of such
! coast rivers, east and west, as might
| be made navigable, for the purpose
of making them waterways for the
smaller battleships in time OF the need
for national defense.
This declaration brought out chorus
of laudatory yells
The speaker closed with the sugges-
tion the German system of conserVa-
| tion should be employed in the United
! States.
| z. Fl. Newell. director of the United
States reclamation service, was the hrst
! speaker Of the afternoon. Mr.. Newell
read his address, and afterward was
| compelled, by questioning, TO STATE ne
was OF the opium lllciL liz D.
was not doing as much as should be
done in the way of irrigation, because
of the lack of funds. He said, however
that there was plenty of land for the
homesteader, who wished home, in
! fact and not in theory.
Mr.. Newell said, in part:
"The present situation in national lr-
rieation is that homes are being pro-
vided for thousands of self-supporting
citizens at no cost to the taxpayer.
Reviews History
"Seven years have elapsed since the
passage of the reclamation act. Under
| it's operation irrigation works have
been built in the thirteen western states
and two territories by which waters are
conserved and distributed, and nearly
! 700 900 acres already brought unuer II
rigation with returns to the fund
/ amounting already to over $l,OOo.Ooo'
The success obtained may be SAID 10
! Justify the hopes of the most enthusl-
astic of the early advocates or the
reclamation act.
| "Tbe nation is concerned in this
work. not only because of the resulting
| internal development, but also because
! of the improvement in citizenship ana
! in stability of American institutions.
| Mr.. Newell said that While the gov
| ernment has done much in 1rrlgtalon
! work. private capital has also made
! great advances, and possibly at pres
/ ent five or ten times as large an IN
vestment in the aggregate is pelhS
made bv corporations in building irri-
cation works as is being invested by
! fhe government. much of this invest
ment. however, has been made possi-
/ ble-or at least has been stimulated
bv the government work. said ne
"The fact that the national government
| has deemed it wise to take up the mat
! ter has been one of the strongest ar
guments appealing to capitalists to DO
| likewise.
To Stimulate Proper Enterprise
| "There is no competition as between
national and private funds, but rather
an attempt at all times on the part OF
the government to stimulate legitimate
enterprise through obtaining facts upon
which. investments might pc sarely
made and to avoid taking up such
work as could be handled successfully
by others.
"The reclamation fund has been larg-
o., than was expected. upward of S52,-
0OO. 900 being available to December
1909, this being twice as much as was
foreseen. There have been laid out
! systems which involve the ultimate
! recIamatfon OF several million acres.
Large works whose magnitude is such
that thew have beeu passed over by
nrivate and corporate enterprise have
been built. In all it may be stated that
i'm round numbers there were ready for
irrigation at the beginning of the irri-
cation season of the present year over
! 5000 farms, with an aggregate acreage
! of 10000 acres. Storage of Hood wa
/ ters had been created and in actual use
| TO the extent of q million acre-feet
Canals and bitches were ready Tor use
of an aggregate length of more than
5000 miles. a distance equal to that
| across the United States. Ftfty-eight
! tunnels had been built of length or
SIS. 900 feet. Many thousands of smaller
structures, such as headgates fumes,
bridges. turnouts etc. were completed,
a thousand miles of telephone in oper-
alton and yardages Of earth moved
| comparable to that handled in the same
| time at Panama.
"More than all this showing of mate
rial progress are the excellent results
accomplished in carrying out the pur-
nose of the act, namely, the making OF
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