The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-05-04

ing the inception of new projects so
that before they are begun there VIII
be sufficient funds 10 complete them.
Emergency Exists.
There is no question about the
emergency existing here. That matter
has been carefully investigated l
do not know whether or not the COM
mittee of the House of Representa-
tives has Investigated it, but the com
mittee of the senate last year maze
very careful investigation of the
situation on the ground and went
through the entire irrigated section
of the west, examining into the con-
ditions of this work, into the number
of settlers who had come there and
the condition they were in. and the
length of time they would be required
to stay there upon barren ground
without any means of making a living
unless there was some relief granted
by congress, and upon investigation
and after careful consideration they
came to the conclusion that it was
unsuitable and wise Tor congress to
come to the relief of these people and
to redeem its credit and its faith by
i completing in Il reasonable time these
enterprises.
Il think that the faith ana credit
of the United States are more in
volved in unreasonable delay or in
failure Of an enterprise of this kind
that it has begun, upon which Il large
number of people and a. large sec
ton of the country have depended,
and who have made their life plans
for settling under these projects.
Speaks of yakima.
81 have seen the actual situation
of people settling under an irriga-
ton project before the government
went into this work and know what
it means. / have seen men go into
Wapato valley in the state of Wash
| ington, beautiful fiat valley with a
lovely river running through II, and
the most convenient means of irri-
eating it. a company was organiz-
ed to irrgate it, but the company
failed They were not properly il
! nanced-did not have money enough.
That was the entire secret.
"They undertook 1t just as the
United States government, and the
people went on there from year to
year waiting Ike the children of Is
| rael in the desert, and no water
came, and every year something was
held out to them, and five years went
by, ten years went by, fifteen wears
went by. and lives have been spent
there in the vain hope FOR relief
which never came, and on account
of this experience, on account of 50
| many failures-I will say thar many
of these projects in recent years
have been taken up and made sue
cessful by the subsequent companies
and assigns of the old companies:
but on account of the deferred hope
| and failure and the suffering that
| people had met with in private en-
| terprises, when the government of
the United States entered upon this
era of reclamation and took up these
| various projects in the west the peo-
| pie regarded it as the greatest eco
nomic event that had happened in the
| development of that country, and
| they Hooked on to the land in orde"
to get the best of it.
settlers Need water.
'Thc question has yeen raised
| here why they went Ion the lane
when the delivery of water was UNI
certain; because they believed the
| time had come when they would be
| relieved and that when the govern
| ment of the United States put its
| hand to the work the work would go
| through with reasonable expedition
and success and that they would be
| relieved from the misfortune and
| tragedy that had resulted from fail
ure under private enterprise