The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-27
AN UNF FA|THFUL
LAND BOARD
idaho Voters Called Upon to
Pass Judgment Upon Its
Actions.
FRAILTY AND CR00KEDNESS
FULLY SHOWN TO PUBLIC
No One in Idaho Dare Stand
Before the People in Its
Defense.
BY @. E. ARNEY.
Special TO The Tribune.

Special TO The Tribune.
BOISE, Idaho, Ang ga friend
told me here today that the expositions
of the Mackay dam and the manner of
mismanagem of the state land board
of that business was costing Chairman
Brady, S. Belle Chamberlain and d. c.
McDougall hundred votes daily in
southeastern Idaho, where the force OF
such delinquency strikes the hardest.
All have to say is, if that is cor
rect. it Will pay the guardians of the
fortunes of the Republican party in
Idaho 10 sit up and take notice, for
The Salt Lake Tribune IS exposure of
the frailtlcs and of the crookedness OF
this state land board is but triie of
what it has to say if these people are
made nominees of their party for re
election,
No one has read The Tribune's cx
posures of the questionable transactions
of D. C. McDougall and of S. Belle
Chamberlain as members of the state
land board without arriving at the con
clusion that the allegations are subjects
for investigation by grand jury. There
is no question in my mind that before
.he flight OF many months grand Jurles
in more than one judicial district IN
Idaho will be called 10 determine the
proprlety of indlcting these and others
for conspiracy and for fraud.
81 am land owner under the Med
bury proiect,'' said very reputable
man to me here today, "and tell
you the project is fraudulent and has
been from its inception. The headgate
will not carry the water which the con
tract requires it to by 30 per cent, and
the state land board has but a $4,000
bond on file to force specific perform
ance on the part of the promoters. 1t
Will cost 100000 to enlarge the head
gate and the canal to cover this Med
bury tract, and the citizens are help
less in their effort TO force the land
board to compel the promoters to com
carry the amount OF water required TO
irrigate the tract withdrawn, for the
very good reason that the attorney gen
eral s assistant, u. II, Peterson, is a
one.third owner in the Medbury prof
ect and the board appear TO be in duty
bound TO protect him. Over there on
the desert near nv tract is a doctor
from the east who abandoned his prac-
tice because he was allured to the state
of Idaho by the advertisement given TO
Carey act projects. He told me the
other day that his move had been a
sore disappointment to him and that the
evident crookedness of the state land
board would require him to resort to
days wages, as he could not return to
his profession and there would be no
water to irrigatc his little acreage. For
myself. I can stand it, bur ! do pity
those who have put all they had in this
land over at Medbury and are there and
up against such brace game
Strong and Earnest.
This is strong language, but there
was an earnestness of tone in the voice
OF the relaUor.
What a pity it is that Idaho fell heir
to D. c. McDougall and his protege.
Joseph II Peterson, and what a shame
don and James II. Brady should have
'stood in' to grant this Medbury
Carey act withdrawal TO Thompson,
Bradley and Peterson. while the latter
was connected with the attorney gen
eral s office! What relief can the set
tiers under this project hope for by a
reelection TO office of the three aspir
board. Governor Brady. Superintendent
Chamberlain and Attorney General Nc.
Dougall7 Is the Republican party of
Idaho ready to answer for the record
made by these three officers7 Do they
fell equal to this load2 Can they carry
them along to success IN November, IN
the face of the added publicity TO be
TO the Republican party that Idaho
should be placed in such a light as
this before the world9
The truth is bound to be published.
The voters of Idaho are sure 10 be fully
advised on all the faults attending the
Emmett bench, the Mackay dam, the
Medbury tract, the Blaine County Land
and Water company and the personal
interest which board members hold in
these and other Carey act projects, The
only possible way in which to avoid
these embarrassments is to nominate
those who will expose rather than
those who will cover up these shady
transactions.
Idaho is rich in natural endowments.
Idaho has more land and more water
at hand for irrigating it than any Of the
seventeen arid states and terri itorie es
within the provisions Of the Carey and
the reclamation acts She has been more
active than all the other states Of the
Union i'll the passage of these acts and
the funds for the application of these
laws. She points with pride to the ef'
forts of her Shoup. Dubois. Wilson,
French, Hepburn, Heitfeld Borah and
Hamcr, in either branch of the CON
gress in the enactment of these appre.
ciabIe laws and In the obtaining Of
such liberal proportions Of the appro.
pTld llOHS hDu VI lut bVnuc VI JUc gov
eminent voted for this purpose.
Their Acts Indefensible
There is no one Of these men in
Idaho today who dare stand before an
audience in any part Of Idaho and de
fend by public utternnce the record
made by the James H. Brady state
land board There is no publication
that can start to defend them. Their
acts have been improper, imprudent, un
fair, suspicious. insincere, unscrupulous
and consequently entitled to that name