Arizona republican., 1909-08-10

| has been one of the strongest argu- ments appealing to capitalists to do likewise
 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 up- on which investments might be safely made and to avoid taking up such work as could be handled successfully by others.
 "The reclamation fund has been larger than was expected, upwards of fifty-two millions of dollars being , available to December, 1909 this be- ing twice as much as was foreseen. There have been laid out systems which involve the ultimate reclama- ton of several million acres. Large works. whose magnitude is such that they have been passed over by private and corporate enterprise, have been built. In all, it may be stated that in round numbers there were ready for irrigation at the beginning of the irri- Eation season of the present year over 5000 farms, with an aggregate acreage of 700. 900 acres. Storage of flood wa ters had been created and in actual use to the extent of a million acre foot. Canals and ditches were ready for use of an aggregate length of more than 5000 miles. a distance equal to that across the United States. Eff ty-eight tunnels had been built of length of S5,000 feet. Many thousands of smaller structures, such as head gates, fumes bridges, turnouts. etc, were completed, d thousand miles of telephone in operation. and yardages of earth moved comparable to that handled in the same time at Panama.
 "More than all this showing of ma teriaI progress are the excellent results accomplished in carrying out the pur- pose of the act, namely the making of opportunities for homes. The wise provision of the law restricting acre age has been enforced and there is a well marked beneficial result in the subdivision of large areas of irrigable land and the placing of this in the hands of men competent to success fully cultivate the soil and make per manent homes. The speculative ele- ment has been largely absent.
 "The works now in hand will require all of the reclamation fund for several years Each large work is completed to point where it has made possible hundreds of homes and where returns are coming to the fund but it has numerous notifications, or divisions, each of which requires considerable more money for completion There IL. ished. The opportunities for further conservation of the waste waters are almost unlimited. especially in locah- ties where attempts have been made on a small scale and complications of such nature have arisen, especially those of vested rights, that successful action can be taken only by following up the matter with infinite tact and patience, coupled with the resources of the reclamation fund.
 "Of course there is always another side to every large problem. It is not conceivable that the reclamation act could be wholly perfect of that its ad- ministration could be without flaw. The very benefits brought about by the act have been a source of criticism.
  land. or in the neighbOrhOod. if freely criticised as involving unnecessary hardship. and yet this is one of the re- quirements which the majority of con- gross considered as being an essential condition for the advancement of fed eral funds.
 'The slowness of the work is also criticised and it has come to be a mat ter of general remark that the govern mcnt is always slow This, like many truisms, is a statement which does not stand close analysis. There are very few corporations which have accom- plished with the funds available as much as has been carried on by the reclamation service.
 'The successful handling of the re- clamatipn fund probably requires as much. if not more. skill and patience than in any industrial enterprise. On the one hand are the settlers clamor- ing for immediate results; on the other hand are engineering problems and complications of vested rights to wa ter and difficult rights of way. with defective land titles. all of which must be patiently worked out under very eXacting regulations. The federal em- ploye is regarded by all as a proper target, when joined with this is the fact that the man in control of the ditch is as matter of course regarded by everyone as responsible for every evil in the community and you have a combination which requires almost unlimited skill. tact and self-cOntrOl.
 "The reclamation act is not a perfect document, but like most acts of con gross, is the result of compromise of many conflicting ideas. Wherever if may be defective, these defects can only be remedied in enc way, namely by congress and not by any official. It is worse than useless, threfore, to