Arizona republican., 1909-10-24
Deep Waterways and the West.


 If the government is to expend $50. OOO,OOO annually for the improvement of inland waterways, as proposed, Sen ator Newlands of Nevada wants one tenth of that amount. or s5.000.0 600 an nually. set aside for reclamation and irrigation.
 The deep waterways convention which is to be held at New Orleans on Saturday Cthe 3Oth) of this week will be addressed by President Taft. and it is expected that he will advo- cate a comprehensive system of i'm proving our waterways. That the con- vention will demand an appropriation of 50 millions annually for the pur- pose is taken for granted. What con- gress will do is, of course, problemati- cal, beyond the certainty that the na- tional administration will secure the adoption of a definite scheme of inn provemeIt.
 In view Of the discussion which is bound to take place at the coming session. Senator Newlands has ad- dressed letter to the senators from the arid and semi-arid states in which he urges a conference by them in or der to secure for the arid section a share of the proposed appropriation. He advocates the creation of a water way fund of 0,000. 900 annually, and claims that of this amount the head waters of the navigable rivers in the arid region should receive about s5,- OO0,0OO each year. This sum, he points out, would in addition to the reclama- ton fund, take care of unfinished as well as contemplated irrigation pro- jects. The substance of Senator New lands letter to his colleagues will be found in the subjoined paragraphs:
 Our immediate interest attaches not only to the rivers whose waters ulti- mately flow into the Gulf or the Pa cific ocean; but the region controlled by these waterways includes two thirds of the entire area of the coun- try. All the Pacific coast rivers have their sources in the mountain region of the west: and the large tributaries of the Mississippi. namely. the Mis- souri Qncluding it's tributaries), the Platte. the Arkansas. and the Red. have their sources in the Rocky Noun tain region. -1s
 Irrigation of arid lands is one of the great uses to which these waters of the Pacific coast and Rocky Noun tain region are applied. The reclama- tion fund is not sufficient to push the reclamation work with the speed that is desired. and it is important that in the formation of the new waterway fund the storage of water upon and the irrigation of arid lands adjacent to the rivers in the arid and semi arid regions, which are tributaries to navigable streams. should be entered upon as an essential part of the de- velopment of these streams for pur- poses of navigation. and that the work upon these head waters should be prosecuted contemporaneously with the work upon the navigable rivers themselves.
 Tn this way we could supplement the present irrigation fund by share in the contemplated waterway fund, and could claim a part in the water way expenditure which fairly belongs to our region.
 If we should organize the move ment in a big way with full power to the president to organize the inland waterway service on the lines of CO., ordination and cooperation above sug- gested, and creating a fund of s50.OO0,- 900 annually for that purpose, it might be apportioned for the time being as follows:
 "One- fifth for the Atlantic water ways, including the coastal canals nec-