The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-10-12
SECRETARY LANES BROAD VIEW.

VIZ
Interior who has views broad enough
to cover the whole country, and who
is 30 we'll informed on Western affairs
that he is able to understand the needs
of the Western people, as we'll as the
advantage of the whole country in con-
nection with these needs. Everyone in
all this Western region must bo de-
lighted to SEQ this evidence Of bigness
which is given by Secretary Lano.
Our dispatches from Washington yes
terday morning quote him as saying
that "the Government could expend
profitably in ten years $100,000,00 in
the reclamation of arid and semi.arid
and swamp lands located in that part
Of the country west Of the Mississippi
river" And he justified this state
ment by saying that "the lands SO
claimed could be divided into farms Of
from thirty to fifty acres, every one
Of which would be taken up promptly"
Tho advantage to the Republic by hav-
ing these now useless lands reclaimed
and occupied by families is so evident
as to need no support in argument.
Mr.. Lane shows, as the fact is, that
the land must necessarily be reclaimed
by the Government, as he explains, "be-
cause private reclamation projects gen
orally have proven failures except on
small plants. To this he might have
added that it is only the Government
which has the jurisdiction to deal uni
|
private operations are undertaken, un~
less the most careful forethought is ex~
ercised, the enterprise is likely to run
against some snag of governmental au-
thority that has been unforeseen; just
as has been experienced in the past
with regard to putting in fences and
other distractions on the public domain,
and as the Oregon Short Line has been
experiencing in the governmental oppo-
sition to the construction of its railroad
hitherward from Twin Falls and South
ern Idaho. The practical Importance
Of this latter objection is undoubtedly
realized by Secretary Lane, although
he makes no point Of stating it.
Secretary Lane further announces his
conviction that it will be necessary to
extend the timo upon which settlers
| now on the projects for reclamation will
have to pay for their lands. Ten years,
as he explains. is too short a time for
this repayment, even If the reclama
| tion project moves forward with COM
plete smoothness, and there were no OBJ
structions or delays in the delivery Of
the water to the farms. But when Il is
remembered that there are enormous
difficulties that the settlers have to
face, and that some Of these are be-
yond their power to meet, being in
many cases the Governments failure to
deliver the water, 1t is clear case that
too much Is asked of the settlers, when
they have to take the chance of this
water delivery and delay, in requiring
them to meet promptly their obliga-
tions to repay in full within ten years.
In speaking Of the reclamation por-
tion Of this great work, we refer, of
course, mainly to all this mountain and
arid region. The other portion Of the
plOJCCl) bnC VI swamp VI
overflowed lands, is different matter
altogether, but also subject to enor-
mously fruitful work by the National
Government. Here again it is the Ma
| tional Government alone that has jur-
| isdiction TO act; for there are consid
erable lakes all through the region west
OF the Mississippi river in the low~lying
| lands before the elevated plains are
reached, where the Government IS title
and surveys have never been encroached
covered the land Very often this wa
| ter is shallow, but once it is removed
| the bed Of the lakes, or ponds, are the
most fertile lands imaginable. These
| water~beds have lain for centuries. the
recipients Of drainage from consider
able areas, taking the fertility out of
the soil in every direction and concen-
trating it in the beds Of the ponds or
lakes. There are great numbers Of such
| overflowed lands in Minnesota, in Iowa,
in Missouri, in Arkansas, and in Louis
lana. No power but that Of the Gov
ernment is competent to deal with the
drainage required.
Secretary Lane is quite right in all
this, and in asserting the need of the
National Government to undertake this
work, and its profits therein He is
evidently the man for the times, and
fully awake not only to the possibili-
ties, but also to the needs of the whole
region lying west Of the Mississippi
river, and consequently to the advan-
tage Of the country as whole
| Portland Oregonian: HThe Southern