Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-08-14

WHO mas observed also, / am sorry 10
add, the apparent Indifference OF your
board to the needs of this project
Do not the facts that the annual
run-off of the Salmon river for the
past two years has proven insufficient
to irrigate the $4,000 acres in cult
walton in 1918 and the $4,000 acres in
1914; that in 1913 the use of a large
portion of a reserve supply was ne
cessary, which water was stored the
preceding year when the run-off was
abnormally large and the acreage
under cultivation very, very small;
that to bring this season to n conclu
sion the balance of this reserve of
two years ago will be required; that
the promotion company have sold
water rights for approximately $4,000
acres-about three times more land
than water has been provided for
do not these facts impress your board
with no other thought than that there
has arisen a slight misunderstanding
between the entrymen and the pro-
meters that could very nicely be ad-
justed by arbitration?
How do you reconcile the attitude
that you have recently assumed, the
role of an impartial body, a reviewing
board, an arbitrator between the set
tiers and the promoters, to the fact
that 1t was your board, the State b., I'd
of Land Commissioners of the State OF
Idaho, that on the 3Oth day of April
1908 entered into the contract with the
Twin Falls Salmon River Land and
Water company that is responsible for
our present predicament?
You, of course, are aware that the
Board of Land Commissioners were
and are now the parties of the first
part in the contract providing for the
promotion of this project that, as the
party of the first part, this board re-
quired bonds for its completion; that
the Board reserved the right to bring
proceedings to. forfeit the contract in
the event the promotion company
failed to comply with its terms You
are surely aware of the fact that on
the minutes of your meetings there is
recorded a pledge to intending emf
grants and prospective entrymen that
the State Board of Land Commission
ers would take every precaution for
the protection of the intending settlers
and you must know also that the
members of this Board of Land Com
missioners lent the influence of their
positions as members of this board to
the promotion company for use in its
advertising to entice non-residents to
invest in this project under the belief
that the state itself absolutely guar
anteed the safety of their investment
And now in the time of dire neees-
sity is this Board of Land Commits
sioners to be totally Indifferent to its
grave responsibility and is 1t for
some remarkable reason-for some
reason which certainly is not at all
understood by the people in this COM
munity-to assume the attitude of a
disinterested third party, or of an i'm
partial body in reviewing the matter"
as suggested in your letter of July
End?
This attitude can not be justified
before the people of this community
by the pretense of an excuse that the
boards present members were not
members of the board at the time il
entered into this contract We are not
much concerned in a post norton at
this very inopportune time. 1t may
very well be as Governor Haines re-
Gently told the writer, that the mem
bers of the present land board very
much regretted the unfortunate and
unwise contracts which a previous ad-
ministration had entered into; or again
it may be as Ex-Governor Gooding ex-
planned to the writer that he regretted
| exceedingly the troubles that have
come to the Carey Act projects since
leaving the State House," but certain
il is that the fixing of the RESPONSE
bility will do nothing at all toward re
| lieving the serious situation which ex-
lists on this tract
What we have asked Of your body
repeatedly is that you take the con-
tract as it stands and exert every eff
fort to enforce it, and when we found
that you would not do that we request
ed that your board bear the expense
of a competent engineer and a COM
petent attorney, and we would endeav-
or to enforce 1t. This you have like
wise declined to do, so we have been
obliged to confront the difficulty of
raising funds to accomplish this pur-
pose ourself, handicapped further by
the fact that we are not parties to the
contract We are attempting to en-
force.
Your suggestion of arbitration
reaches us Just as we are bending ev-
cry effort to effect a remedy to the
deplorable situation which exists,
along the only lines left open to us.
Coming as it does it is looked upon
with suspicion by no small number of
the settlers upon this tract. They
are naturally reminded of the recent
arbitration proposal submitted by the
company, after several months of ne
gotiating, the provisions for which
simply hitched up the proposed com
mission or board of arbitration in the
water company's harness, and natur-
ally did not appeal very strongly to
the entrymen.
Yours very respectfully.