Arizona republican., 1911-01-17

City and store in a place convenient
for loading on the cars when they shall
have decided where il is To he moved
to. Asked if they had any other big
contract now under way or in prepI
ration Mr. O'Rourke said the. did not
have at present, nor are they in any
hurry until they get this one finally
cleaned up. There is plenty Of work Ia
de- throughout, the country. They do
not care To bid on every little job that
is offered but make . specially of un-
dertaking works Of magnitude and
then only when there seems 10 be at
least a good business chance for sue
cess.
Naturally there was some curiosity
a. 10 how the contractors emerged from
their undertaking financially. Mr..
O'Rourke said he could not tell exact
~, nor did he care To as il is not mod
est for one to boast Of what he has
made nor sportsmanlike To whine about
his losses. He merely said they had
lost no money. but had not made as
much as they had hoped But they
have had the satisfaction Of carrying
In a successful issue an undertaking
concerning which there We're tor years
predictions of disaster. which M init
mated is the recognized policy and
habit Of his company.
He said that i'm undertaking the con-
struction of the dam they understood
perfectly that there were portentous
obstacles To overcome and prepared for
them accordingly. They found by ex-
perience that there were still other OBJ
stacIes that could not have been fore
seen but they met them as they arose
and are quite gr9tified at the result.
IL has been an era Of valuable expert
ence 10 them also as il has To al con-
structing interests concerned, for. as is
well known the project was the largest
OF the kind undertaken by the govern
ment in the early days of the service
and beset by many difficult problems
that had To be men by the government /
engineers as well as by the contract
ors.
Mr.. ORourke was decidedly cOmpli- !
mentary in his estimate Of SuperViS-
ing Engineer Hill with whom ne said
his relations had always been cordial
and whom he regards as one If the big !
men i'm the employ of the government. !
Irritating conditions have arisen at
times Of course. as they are bound To
on any large undertaking. but he has
found Mr. Hill ready always to assist ,
in smoothing them out. and situations
that would have been embarrassing I" =,
less tactful and less competent men |,
have eventually been ironed ont to the .
of everybody. The con-
tractors in closing up their work. do
So with the best of feeling toward the /
reclamation service with which they
have co-operated 50 long and also with ,
the best of feeling and good wishes for /
the people of this valley. with whom
their relations have been quite intimate /
and whose welfare has been their well !
fare for the time being.
Mr. O'ROurke says that he has been |,
i'm New York most Of the time for the |
last six months and that he has al |
So been travelling around the country !
more or less and is in touch with con-
ditions generally. but he knows Of no |
section that he believes has a more /
splendid future than this valley. TN |
less the one mistake is made OF trying /
To spread the water out too thin by cul- |
tivating too much land. he believes the !
of the valley will he per |
petual and i'm measure that can be !
scarcely conceived of now And that |
danger is very slight one in view OF |
the fact that il rests with the govern |
ment. at least until the reservoir is |
paid for by the people. and the gov |
eminent engineer could have no motive |
i'm being other than conservative.