The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-05-02

VOL. Is
Federation Of Water
Users Wanted
Midland, Oregon, April "a, 1912.
Mr.. B. w. Brockway,
Sec. Lower Milk River Water Users
Association, Malta, Montana.
Bear SIR
Your letter of the 18th INST.
reveals condition that makes it
more desirable than ever that your
association should join the Federated
Water Users Association, and your
condition is no worse than that of
the settlers on several of the projects,
and it is for the purpose of finding a
remedy for the conditions that the
Federation is being organized.
Our association has sent delegates
to many conventions that had been
organized by the Reclamation Ser
vice and it's followers, and we have
spent much money in sending dele
gates to Washington where we had
not sufficient influence to interest
Congress in our needs, and where we
have repeatedly appealed to the Sec
retary of the Interior for aid, only to
have our petitions referred back to
the Reclamation Service for recon-
mendations for our project, and the
Secretary of the Interior has ever
followed such recommendations, re-
gardless of our prayers to the con-
trary.
It stands to reason that the Secre-
tary of the Interior must always
follow the advice of the men under
him in every instance and can not
grant our petitions except by the ap-
proval of the Reclamation Service
employees in charge of the various
projects unless we can show that the
law is being violated. and that is i'm
possible for us to do under the pres
ent conditions, as we are not per-
mitted to know anything about the
management and operation of affairs
except wait until the employees get
ready to present the bill, when we
are kindly permitted to pay or move
off and leave our homes.
The Reclamation Act was drafted
under the advise of men who remain
in charge of the Service. and every
amendment ever adde d to the act has
been presented as All administrative
measure and passed with the aid of
the Service, while various congress-
men and senators have not heard the
facts from the stand point of the
settlers.
When the settlers from any one
project send a delegate to Washing
ton, the congressman from the dis
trict where the project is located
makes complaint and some times
asks relief, but the combined in
fiuence of the Reclamation Service
makes it appear that the complaint
is without merit, and the lone con-
gressman is helpless, while If the
same complaint were made by the
combined congressman from the Is
different states interested in irriga-
tioD the settlers would secure the
needed remedy.
During the early stages of a project
the settlers need certain remedies
and know nothing of the needed
remedies that arise on other projects
Of other stages of completion. and the
only way to get the combined force
of settlers behind any of the needed
remedies is to combine the settlers of
all of the projects into one central
organization and throw the COM
bined influence of all the settlers be-
hind every complaint that appears in
any of the projects.
Every time request is made from
the settlers of any project the con-
gressmen and senators of that state
make efforts for remedy, but the
requests from the projects of the
different states are coming in at diff
erent times, and the congressman
and senators from the different states
are all making different efforts at
different times at cross purposes
while our aim is the sensible method
of having the congressman and sena-
tors from all of the states make the
same effort at the same time, and un-
less we adopt this method and work
together, we will either die of old
age or starve to death before any
remedy is ever COTTON that will change
present conditions.
The conditions you describe in your
project are sufficient to convince any