Arizona republican., 1913-07-26
VALLEY SET RIGHT
 BY HARRY WEIGH
Everybody's Finally Induced Tc
 Boost Salt River Valley

 own and communication from Harry Welch, secretary of the board of trade relative to Frank Blighton' s article in EVerybody's last April.
 Last April we published an article entitled Uncle Sam-Lawbreaker by Frank Blighton. It criticized cer- tain persons in the Reclamation Service, and others directly connect ed, for details in the handling of power and irrigation from the Roosevelt Dam, near Phoenix, Ari- Zona-nOt as an engineering project, but as an example of a mistaken at titude in our big national policy of retaining arid lands.
 Already the government has in vested about $100000,000 in projects of this kind. And the work has just begun. Any one can see the neces- sity of beginning properly as well as proceeding properly. We feel that every one should see the necessity of calling attention to whatever is wrong, so that future efforts can profit by the example of early mis- takes.
 We have received many letters, praising and blaming us. Perhaps the most interesting are those that call us to account for publishing ma terial which they suggest tends to knock a particular region.
 Such letters are not surprising from the people of the west They are instinctively boosters One prin- ciple of their philosophy is this: The way to make a thing succeed is to boost it. Or conversely: If you cant say anything good, don't say anything at all.
 Now, nothing could be farther from our intentions than to knock any community. We know the spirit of the west. We believe in it-as q spirit, as a motive power. We be- lieve in it's energies and enthusiasms. We realize the big things that are being done out there. And we real ize the need for every kind of help.
 We too want to boost-Where we feel that a boost will do the most good. We may differ, though, from some of our critics in deciding which is the best way to boost. Sometimes, we believe, a good thing can be boosted more effectively after the bad details in it are eradicated.
 Below is a typical letter. We pub fish it because it is informative. But more than that, we publish it be- cause we want to take this oppor- tunity for giving the kind of a boost we have been criticized for not giv- ing.
 MY DEAR SIR-In your April is sue there is contained story which tells about irrigation in the Salt Ri- yer Valley, Arizona You will be glad to have a little more knowledge regarding the effect of reclamation on arid lands. We know your desire to be fully informed. We would like to quote you Q few figures and facts that will convince you that the farm CT in the Salt River Valley under the irrigation project is making pro- gress. He is a worker. His task of making the one-t time desert a para disc of roses is no easy one. but he is doing the job well and is happily employed He has builded a com munity that is world-famed for it's progressiveness; he has established educational facilities that no other section of the country can equal; anc he is ready and able to shoul- der his share of the burden that al ways accompanies success.
 His lands, once without an estab lished value, are now a safe invest ment at round figure per acre. His crops, once meager and uncertain, are now assured and bountiful
 Twelve years ago the total assess ed valuation of Maricopa County (this is the county in which are in cluded all of the lands in the Salt River ProjecD was $9,751 ,94461 To- day the valuation for taxation pur- poses is $27,599, ,7S5.SO-nearly three times the former amount. The bulk of this increase has been during the last few years, the few years that the project has been in operation.
 " During the past few years the number of farmers has increased considerably, and land has been sub divided into smaller farms. In 1909 there were 1929 farmers, owners of land, entitled to have a voice in the operation of the project. In 1910 the figures increased to 2,130, in 1911 to 2.660, in 1912 to 3,O4S and in March this year, 1913, the total had reach ed 3,36S. This means that from 1909 to 1913, four years, there were 1,539 farmers heads of families, settled on land under the project. The average size of farms here is 46.7 acres
 ' In the City of Phoenix, the cen ter of the irrigated land, the valua- tions increased from $4,264,971.70 in 1900-O1 to SIP, ,451,295.9O in 1911-12.
 ' During the past year the crop return from the 160.000 acres now under cultivation in the Valley reach ed the great sum of $6OOO,0OO.
 "'The population of the county has grown from 20,457 in 1900 to BASS in 1910. And Phoenix has today population of at least 10000. A com munity that can build in it's cities high schools that cost $250,000 and grammar schools that cost $75, 900 and upward each, is surely a healthy community both from a moral and financial standpoint
 Do you wonder. then, that the farmer wears a smile? That he goes along with his head erect, his eye gleaming and his pockets bulging :? Honest the roses here are great