The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-15
DR.. Edward Mead Writes Let
ter Concerning Irrigation
in This Country.
SETTLERS NOT DOING AS
WELL AS THEY SHOULD
Believes the Terms of Payment
for Lands Should Be Ex-
tended to Thirty Years.
Special TO The Tribune.

|
ing letter has been received from DR., Ell
wood Mead. chairman of the water supply
commission OF Victoria. Australia. in
reference to government reclamation con-
ditions in the United States
DR.. Mead. as state engineer OF Wyo-
cation laws In Wyoming which has sincc
been adopted. In whole or In part, by
practically nil of the arid land states OF
the west Later he was chief Of tho Of
flee OF irrigation Investigations of the de-
Dartmcnt OF agriculture and a lecturer on
Irrigation and irrigation methods In the
university, For the nast three years DIR.
Mead S services have been utilized by the
Australian government in the Inaugural
tion Of system of government reclama-
tlon for that country.
During 1910 DR.. Mead returned TO the
United States. and while here visited a
number of the government reclamation
projects in the west and the letter here
after quoted was written in response to
made by tho United states government
In the reclamation OF arid lands. The let
ter is as follows;
There was no time before leaving
America to reply to your request for my
impressions OF the results of recent irri-
cation development in America. especial.
reclamation act. This letter is. there
fore. being writta~ on shipboard and will
be mailed back from Honolulu.
Might Do Better.
al do not think either the settlers or
the government are doing as we'll as they
should under a number OF the national
projects. Tho reasons for this seem to
he the poverty. OF the settlers and the
sSvere s conditions OF payment me- exactod by
were inaugurated settlers with little or
no capital were allowed to file on the
land. and In some Instances encouraged
cation or any means for productive en-
ployment; Before IT, settler was In
been dissipated In living expenses and
erecting n habitation. and now. when
there is water to use and an ohligatlon
teams. tools and money 10 live on, all OF
which are essential to growing a crop or
utilizing the land and water.
This distressing situation is made
worse by the government requiring these
settlers to repay the cost OF the works In
ten years: In some Gases efno u, TINS pay,mhent ,Ihe
acre farm There are few cases where
tho first crop is success. IT la rare
that it repays the cost OF cultivation;
ment charge. must pay 1t from money he
brought with him. Those who did not
have considerable money to start % with With
are living under hard conditions and are
not developing the land In way to pay
In tho future.
Remedy Proposed.
"The remedy or remedies would seem
Make the period thirty years, charging
nothing but interest for the first Ave
years. Failure to charge interest on de-
ferred payments Is fundamental mis-
take OF the act. II Is an incentive to men
to defer payments. It was one OF the
causes for making the time Of repay
To both settlers and the government by
giving ample time and charging low :
rate OF interest on deferred payments.
More than this is needed TO enable
many settlers to cultivate their farms
and make any payments to the govern :
ment In the near future. They must
have money to enable them TO prepare
the land. plant, cultivate and harvest {
crops.
ernment on the plan followed In Victoria
(Australia). where the results have been s
most satisfactory. The state OF Vic {
toris loans settlers in irrigated areas up
provenients made on the land II set !
tier has expended in money or labor $500
the state will loan him $500 to go on !
with his work. Buildings. fences, grad
ments which may be considered In max
Ing loans, Five per cent interest Is
THESE loans have saved settlers much
privation haye hastened development,
and brought quick and certain returns
from state irrigation works.
Experiment in Socialism.
"Doubtlcss many in America would at
in n sense II would he. but the same
is true of tho expenditure of government
money on Irrigation works. The recla-
ma ton act is nothing less than an eA-
pertinent in state socialism, and the best
results will come from carrying on the
experiment to it's logical conclusion.
"Unless something OF this nature is
done the reclamation act will do little
towards helping poor men To get homes
on the public domain, IT REQUIRES con
and pay for water under a national prof
ect as now administered The estimates
for teams, tools. seed. etc, are seldom
money for house and stable. fences. and
one-tcnth OF the government expenditure
on the works, In all II approaches 5000.
4 man with this capital can buy farm
in any part OF the country.
"'rhcse works ought TO give a chance
to the man who has industry end thrift
viii extend the generous Inn Il
pulse which led TO this oenefocnt act,
he doing the things which are heins
safely done under similar conditions In
Australia and Canada.
In Victoria the state gives CITY years
in which TO pay for the works Four
and a half per cent interest Is charged Y
on deferred payments. Houses and fences
are built for settlers and fifteen years
given to pay for them. The result Is the @
seed teams and tools He brings his
farm into full production at once. There
is no privation or waste OF time and ct"
fort
Canada's System.
Italy loans farmers money TO build
barns and gives forty-five years for re-
Cnnada's largest irrigation
scheme has ready made farms as It's most
feature. That is. the settler
finds a house TO live In as well as a canal
10 draw water from.
II regretted 10 see AT Pueblo and else
where such evidence OF friction as TO the
respective spheres of state and federal
authority In the control of streams.
Every effort should be made to avert a
conflict over this matter and to reach
a definite understanding as TO where
state control ends and federal authority
begins. The value of every one of the
20, 900 water rights In Wyoming and the
efficiency with which water is divided
bct Heen them Is impaired by this threat
encd conflict, and what Is true Of Wyom-
ing is true of every other state.
"It would seem that conference at
tended by the states attorneys general.
the state engineers and officials of the
fedcrnI service Interested in this question
,,,nnId l,c n desirable means of bringing H.