El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-24

3 the Enllpplne lSlduuSr d-L0A ~--~S
I been won by force Of arms, 1t did not
happen to think that the money could
i be better used for the welI-belnS OF
/ me natural owners of the ISLANDS, lne
I EllpinOs- That sum would have given
I the people the public works that II has
I taken US ten years to build by piece
meal approximations. raised from the
/ taxes OF the FllipinOs- 1t would nave
given them extensive irrigation Sys-
( TENS In the various islands with money
to spare and would have saved the
StOOU0,OOO than have gone out OF the
I Islands in the plst II years for the pur-
( chase of rice AS it is Spain got the
SZtOOO,0OO and the FilpinOs were still
; importing rice
Irrigation a Necessity.
Rainfall in the islands is heavy but
I IL IS so Unevenly distributed through
! out the year that the necessity for IT.
rlSauOn has been universally recOS-
nIZed- Owing to lack of funds and
other causes no definite steps were
I taken IN regard to irrigation and ar
| tesian wells until 1908. Within the
| past four years a great deal of plan
ming and replanning has been done IN
turning out an irrigation system that
I would be both economical and ade-
QudLe- costly mistakes were made IN
putting such important work under
! the direction Of young engineers or
| these Of slight experience in irriga-
( ton
Starts Reform Movement.
This was the san Miguel system IN
Iarlac province, about 6j miles from
Manila 1t was the first large irriga-
ton project and was to irrigate A.
COG hectares in the Tarlac valley and
was TO cost $3.50, OO0- In July. 1911,
the dam then nearing COmpl elton. was
destroyed by flood The dam failed
at an extraordinary flood during the
rainy season but before the peak Of
the flood was reached A searching
investigation proved that the dam was
located at the wrong point, was mad
equately designed and probably would
have failed in an ordinary flood, ac-
cordinS TO the official report of the
director OF public works The blame
was put upon the shoulders Of many
individuals and director Greene felt
that the time had come for a radical
reform in the irrigation division. par
J ticularly when this disaster was con-
sidered in connection with the other
wise unSat isfactOry progress Of the
I irrigation work The loss on this
project was over $3S5OOO, including
some damage to the canal system
which occurred at the same time In
VestiSaUOn then showed that the pro-
rate Of Sl5b per hectare as compared
with the average cost Of 1925 per
hectare in the United States
A new chief irrigation engineer
was brought out in the person Of W
l. GOrtOn, who had had many years
OF experience in the United States
Reclamation service Extensive
l changes in the personnel Of the irri-
cation division were made At the
present time there is not in the ser
vice of the bureau a single engineer
who IS directly responsible for the de-
sign OF estimate of this san Miguel
system OF course. il is true that
costly engineering mistakes also at
I tended the beginning Of irrigation and
hydrO-electric developments in this
and other countries
Improvement is shown.
Irrigation work has gone on much
/ better under Mr.. GOrtOn and he grad
Nh -.-lr i'm =7-rrHe
plan of the government which calls for
! an expenditure Of from S3l5,O00 10
! 100000 a year for a number of years
I'd to date about 81 00O 900 has been
Su-nr ON IRRIGATION work since 1908.
When this important work is finished
LUZOn. the Nisayas. and MindanaO viii
be provided with excellent irrigation
systems which viii be OF tremendous
ai6 to the people, as over so separate
projects VIII then have been com
pleted In 1911 the bureau Of lands
with funds supplied by the bureau Of
public works. made extensive cadas-
tral surveys or irrigable areas that
had been recommended for COnstruc-
tiOn projects
opened in 1910 in Bataan province,
which is across the bay from Manila
It works fairly well and is under the
administered ton OF the bureau Of lands.
The government has done some lrri-
cation work on the friar land estates
IT, Cavite and Laguna provinces. More
than so head gates have been installed
in these estates
From now on the work viii go ahead
rapidly and thoroughly A great aid
viii be the new irrigation law passed
by the Philippine legislature early
in 1872 This act is a thorough and
comprehensive measure and is the re-
suit of much labor on the part Of the
bureau of public works and a special
irrigation committee, and was dis
cussed at two sessions of the legis-
lature- This act provides in suffi-
cient detail system for the appro-
prlaIoE OF pupIc waters and IOr the
determination of the existing rights
thereof, FOR the public registration Of
all water rights, for the creation and
use of water power for the invesuga-
ton. construction, maintenance and
operation. of all irrigation systems by
the gOyernmC mt for the repayment of
money expended therefor. for the con-
struCtiOn maintenance. and operation
of irrigation systems by private per
sons, for the inspection and regulation
of all works pertaining to the use OF
water and penalties for its violation
Give Them Good Water.
The efforts of the Philippine gov
eminent to give the FlnpinOs good
water have been more successful
Here is a proposition which the Fill
ipinOs understand and they are much
more enthusiastic over the digging OF
a hole in the ground by queer maChin-
cry that they never saw before than
they are when sanitary inspectors,
either Americans or FiGpinOs, come
around to inspect their houses in
spite of their lugUbriOus protests. One
of the greatest menaces to health in
the islands always has been poor
water. I'm days gone it killed untold
MILLIONS through dySentery. cholera
and other diseases All fOreig ners and
a few careful FilipinOs always have
drunk boiled or distilled water The
INST lesson a rookie in the Philip
pines has 20 learn is not TO drink
water out of the tap. If he is on a
hike he must spurn all inviting little
brooks and quench his thirst on coco
nut milk
Your Filipino takes no such precau-
items. He never has and probably
never Will So 1T was up to q paternal
government TO give the FilipinOs good
potable water Investigations prior to
1905 showed that nearly 10 percent of
the total deaths were due to intestinal
diseases Cholera frequently was epi-
demic. 1t was evident that any at
tempt to improve living conditions in
the islands must provide for pure
drinking water and the artesian well
viii fill the bill.
Work is Hampered.
The work was hampered at first
through lack of funds as the revenue
of the average municipality was made
quate. The insular government came
to the rescue and all the work is now
done by the artesiau wei division of