The daily sentinel., 1909-04-23
Especial to The Sentinel. ]


Washington, Apr. 23.-The new
secretary of the interior, Judge r. A
Ballinger, has undertaken to super
wise the administration of the ma
tional reclamation law, and, in do
ing this, has begun to exercise his au-
thority over the United States recla-
nation service.
Under the terms of the reclamation
act, the secretary of the interior is
charged with the construction of gov
ernment irrigation projects, but not
until Judge Ballinger entered the
cabinet did any secretary of the in
terror bother very much about gov
ernment irrigation affairs. Mr..
Hitchcock, who was secretary when
the law was passed, welded merely
a nominal influence over the work,
leaving practically administrative
matters in the hands of the officials
of the reclamation service. When
Mr.. Garfield succeeded Secretary
Hitchcock, he gave over to the recla-
nation service almost absolute pow
er. And the reclamation service has
heretofore operated practically with
out restraint.
But Secretary Ballinger is what
his immediate predecessors were not
"a practical lawyer, familiar with
the requirements of the statutes, and
determined to follow them, in SO far
as they relate to the business of his
department. He was aware that the
reclamation act placed in the secre-
tary of the interior the power and
responsibility of enforcing the terms
of that act. Therefore, he has taken
to himself that power which the law
intended he should have. And, in
doing this, the secretary has mater
tally upset the plans of the reclama-
tion officials, for he has decided that
the reclamation law shall be enforced
along practical, business-like lines,
and not along lines of fancy or whim.
Just what changes are to be made
in the manner of conducting the
work of the reclamation service has
not yet been determined, for Secre-
tary Ballinger is still informing him
self as to the affairs of that bureau,
and, until he has the subject well in
hand, will probably inaugurate few
big reforms.
Nevertheless, the secretary has al
ready taken from the reclamation
service much of the initiative it en-
joyed under Messrs. Hitchcock and
Garfield, and is acting upon current
affairs himself. He is not acting,
however, without consultation with
the officials of the reclamation SER
vice.
There is one particular, however,
in which the secretary has taken is
sue with the reclamation service
that is on the matter of Withdrawing
from entry vast areas of land which
may or may not be susceptible of
irrigation at some future time Com
paints were made to the secretary
that extensive Withdrawals made
heretofore had not been utilized by
the reclamation service; yet those
stood as barriers in the
way of development by private en-
terprise. In some instances. private
capital, anxious to reclaim lands un-
der the Carey act, has been unable to
do so because the desired lands had
heen withdrawn by the interior de-
partment on request OF the reclama-
tion service. These Withdrawals had
been made on the assumption that
some time In the future the govern
ment might reclaim them
Wherever Secretary Ballinger finds
big Withdrawals which are not likely
to be utilized by the government in
the near future and for which there
are no definite plans for reclamation,
he is restoring such lands to entry,
SO that they may be developed by pri-
vate capital or otherwise utilized.
Later on, when the government needs
new fields into which to carry it's rec
lamation work, he believes there will
be no difficulty in finding localities