The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-07

| been completed by the government, and
how much land has been redeemed?'
asked MIR. Newell.
"About twenty five projects in four
teen states are either in operation or
under way of construction, and most of
them are returning revenue TO the gov
ernment. In all. 100000 acres of land
have been given water and half Of II is
in actual use-that is, crops are being
grown on ground that was a desert nm
til recently. When all the projects
are finished some 100000 acres will
have been reclaimed and put to the
plow -
ment spentY"
Money Will Be Returned.
AT the end of the year the total ex.
penditures will amount to SOL ,3ol 900,
all of which will be returned in COURSE
of time by the owners of the land that
has been irrigated. J suppose S1O,-.
100000 annually will be appropriated
by Congress during the next decade.
How much will be spent altogether
cannot be estimated. The city of
Washington is being built. There is no
way of telling the cost of the completed
city. Work will go on indefinitely. 1t
will be so, / dare say, with the irriga-
tion undertakings of the national gov
eInUleuD.
"The money, you sa~ will come
back7"
every dollar of it will be re"nid,
unless the laws are changed. Irrigation
projects had engaged the capital and
skill of private companies for many
years There were regions, however,
where the work to be done was so
enormous and costly that it could not
be attempted by men acting alone or
in companies An irrigation enterprise
must get on revenue basis quickly
or the interest on the bonds, piling up
with mathematical certainty, Will tfyow
it into bankruptcy.
"Some of us believed in what gas
known as the national policy OF he
velopment.- Other men thought, the
public lands or their proceeds should
be given to the states and that the
states should work INDEPENDENTLY. Sen.
ator Newlands of Nevada, then n rep
resentative in congress. and George
r. Maxwell, organizer of the National
Irrigation association, were Of the opin-
ion that the government should do the
work Many bills were introduced in
congress and conventions were held in
different parts of the country to stir
and educate public sentiment but moth
ing tangible was accomplished until
after Mr.. Roosevelt became president.
He signed the great reclamation act on
June IT, 1902.
How Money Is Repaid.
GAS a concrete illustration of the
method r. which the government OBJ
tains the repayment of the money spent
for irrigation enterprises, let us tell
YOU what was done in the case Of the
Salt river project in Arizona. We esti
mated that 10000 acres of land would
be reclaimed, or, in other words. that
water would be provided for that area
of dry lands. The cost of the dam,
bitches, and so on, we learned. woulG
amount to $45 an acre. So, following
the law, the land owned by the govern
ment was given to homesteaders free
of cost, but was taxed $3.50 an acre
annually for a period of ten years. No
interest was charged Each farm was
limited to 160 acres.
An association of land owners was
organized, in which there were 100000
votes, or one vote to each acre benefited
by the project. A man with twenty
acres, therefore, had twenty votes; one