The Washington herald., 1913-05-07

finished at an early date-a date that
SO far has not come.
The contention was merely OF misin-
formation and in this charge against
the service Secretary Lane concurred.
In view of the testimony in the last
four or five days." Mr.. Lane broke IN
to say, after listening for some time
81 believe that 1t would be well Tor me
10 issue an order forbidding any one
connected with these projects prophesy-
ing anything" which brought laugh
from the westerners.
|. The hearing was held in the commit
tee room OF the Senate Judiciary Com
rnittee and the room was comfortably
filled with witnesses and interested lis
teners. Most of them are farmers and
property owners in the West, and were
vitality interested In the proceedings
Their appearance spoke OF the west. II
was a gathering such as is seldom seer
in Washington. Wide felt hats replaced
straws in most cases.
Bruce Principal Witness.
The principal witness of the afternoon
was George w. Bruce, president of the
Uncompahgre Valley Water Users AS
sociation. Mr.. Bruce held the floor for
more than two hours and proved to be
a regular encyclopedias of facts concern
ing the work of the service in Colo
RADIO.
In introducing himself Mr.. Bruce said
that he had lived in Colorado for seven
wears. He said that most of the time
he had been In the real estate bust
ness. but that he had been raised as
well as any one else This sally got
never a smile from the audience.
hod ha n r.
ticularly wished to call to the attention
of the Interior Department-that the
work, if taken up at once and carried
on in the right way, might be finished
within a reasonable length of time, and
that the time limit in charging the home
steaders for the irrigation projects should
he extended by the government.
Although Mr.. Bruce said that the farm
ers of Uncompahgre Valley did mol
charge the Reclamation Service with di-
rect mismanagement he had some caustiC
things to say OF the work done under
the service in Colorado. He said that
although the project had cost more thar
& Ooo, 900 so far there are now 5000 OF
the 10000 acres it is supposed to supply
that are as dry as the great American
Desert itself
He told of the construction Of the
terized as one OF the great plumbers OF
the Reclama ton Service. and he and Di
rector Newell. by a process of cross
que stoning, brought out the story or the
tunnel, which was opened in 1909 BY
President Taft.
Farmer. Wall for Water.
The summary of the petition of tn
Colorado farmers, according to Mr.
Bruce is that the Cncompaghre Vale!
project be taken up and finished as sool
as possible, and that the rate charged
the farmers for the work be not NOR
than $50 per acre per year. He SAT-
| that the homesteaders did not wish 4
| repudiate any of their debts to tn
United States. but that they felt tina
| I'm view of the delay in the work the,
should be given easy terms of pay
| ment.
This statement of the Colorado farmers
| case was repeated by John j. Tobin sec
| rotary Of the Uncompa ghrc Valley Wa
| ter Users Association. He said tina
there was not a drop of available waite
1 for which there were not at least tWent
| farmers waiting, and that some or IN
homesteaders had been waiting for
| much as eleven years for the water the
had been led to think would be deliv
1
into the State. Mr.. Tobin disclaime
any trouble between himself and tn
| water users and Judge John G. Bell.
| Judge Bell said that he had taken con
! siderable interest in the Uncompaghr
project with Senator Newlands. II
| spoke of the "neighborhood clause !
the reclamation act that prohibits par
ticipation in reclamation projects
| those living more than fifty miles away
| saying that this was intended to proven
monopoly. but that as there was no dan
ger of that in the Uncompaghre Vale
| Sc felt that the homesteaders. many c
whom were old, should be allowed I
| sell part of their lands in order to dc
rive some benefit from their homestead
before they died.
The Grand Valley project in Colorad
was also taken up at the end of tn
hearing, and the testimony on that phas
of the reclamation work in Colorad
| probably will be continued