Arizona republican., 1919-07-17
Water Users and Cement

Water Users and Cement
 ' A published interview with Secretary Van Der Veer of the Water Users Association gives an inn pression of his hostility the proposition to amend the articles of the association that it may take over the local Portland plant. The secretary is also made apparently assume a position of au- thority beyond functions of his office in state ment as what the association would or would not do in the case of the amendment of the articles We think the secretary has been misunderstood.
 Accepting the interview as it appears, one would gather from it the secretary detaches the as- sociaton from the temporary of it; that he regards president the secretary and the gov eining boards the association; that he fails to recognize that the association is composed only of some thousands of farmers every one of whom has an interest cheap cement not only for the use Of the association but for personal uses; very large ma Sory of whom voted the s4,O0O,OoO county high way bond and who, therefore have an interest in saving by the use of home made cement at least s16OOOOO of the proceeds of the issue from being dssipated in freight charges and in extortionate profits of the cement Certainly the nine out Of ten farmers voting for the bond issue expected that the proceeds of the bonds would be applied to the most economical and effective road building It Is impossible to detach the interests of farmers as teersts or their interests members of the com rnunity We cannot think that the secretary meant to convey that the association independent of the community whose will respecting good roads so recently and unmistakably registered.
 The interviewer makes the hostility of the secre- tary apparent in almost every paragraph. He is made that if the amendment to the articles should be adopted and the association should enter
 
 new modern machinery and at the best sources of supply" The inference from this only be that the present plant would be taken over, but that Inc association would begin great expense from he bottom.
 . That the best machinery should be employed Is something hardly to be dsputed is the statement that the plant should be placed closely as prdc- ticabe to the of supply.
 But we have the assurance of MT. E. Duryea and there is no higher authority in the United States on the subject of manufacture, that the present plant is a good one that it is well located and that with present capacity it produce cement at s1SS barrel as against $4 barrel which the members of the Water Users Association and all other persons in the valley have pay.
 The secretary is also made to say and it can be interpreted only as a further slam"
 When the dam finished the machinery of this plant moved down here purchased by private company and set up at Portland siding for operation. It used a while, but has been idle for some time now. An attempt made to manufacture cement in it's by hauling in all materials but this could be done paying basis.
 It is true that cement could be made paying basis and that the plant has been idle for long time. But we feel that if Dr. Van Der veer had been fully quoted inference would not have been left that it fault of the plant, because of the long haul of materials to it.
 It is well known that the enterprise under taken with an entirely inadequate capital The ce- n1ent trust determined to crush it and succeeded Cement was poured into the valley at great loss of freight to and sold at price below that at which the local manufacturers could make it at price probably below the cost of at the plant of the trust We were during that period buying cement lower price than prevailed anywhere else in the country. The local manufacturers could not this competition But before they went down they had succeeded in turning out at a lower price than had before been paid for it in tbis valley. And it good quality of cemept. Among the most conspicuous monuments to the local cement plant is the PrattGibert building
 The cement trust though could not crush local plant owned by the Water Users Association the county. It would not try to crush it. All we would have do if the trust should try it by offering nlent below cost, would be to buy trust cement and let the plant lie idle while trust cement at ruinousy low prices available. When the trust should in ,rease the price, say beyond s1S3 barrel, all We would have to do would be to start up the plant again Such periods of idleness would not hurt the plant. The trust would attempt competition be- sause there could be ruinous except to itself
 We think if Dr. Van Der veer had been fully quoted by his interviewer all these facts would have been brought out and that what may be taken argument against cheaper would have been en argument in it's fs's~-