The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-12-31
Of the cost of the entire reclamation
and sale of the lands.

Va thO COoI VI tHC, CntlI
and sale of the lands.
How Work is to be Done
"The secretary of the interior will
not interfere with any private enter
prise. The reclamation. service will
only undertake the handling, the
reclamation, the sale under this bill
Of privately owned lands that are
idle, that no private enterprise is try
ing or willing or able to handle, OF
where private enterprise has tried
and failed to successfully handle
them, and not then unless and until
the owners have applied to the in
terror department and advanced the
cost for and obtained an examination
by the reclamation engineers. Then
II an examination shows that the
project is practicable and owners can
arrange to raise the necessary money
to finance the work and accept the
estimates of the government en-
gineers and ask to have them go
ahead with the work they can do so.
Land Must Bear Cost
THE engineers will ascertain the
number of acres OF land to be re-
claimed and the value Of 1t after be-
ing reclaimed and the cost of the
land and cost of reclamation, and
see If the land will warrant the ex-
pense, whether 1t is drainage of
swamp land or clearing of stump
land, or irrigation of arid land. The
policy and principle is the same. The
land must bear the cost and the own
ers must advance the money them
selves or by encumbering the land.
If they raise that money and deposit
1t, then the reclamation service will,
in case it is an irrigation enterprise,
send out experienced irrigation en-
gineers, and If they find there is sur
ficient water supply, and that 1t can
be made practical paying PROPOSE
ton, q sufficient acreage involved In
the project and what the charge will
be per acre, and report that 1t Is
feasible, and then II the people who
own the land desire to advance the
cash personally, or borrow 1t any
way, or organize irrigation districts
and bond the district for the amount
the reclamation service says is neces-
sary, private capital will take those
bonds and the government will have
absolute control over the construc-
ton work and all the handling Of its
entire enterprise, and the private
owners of the land will have nothing
to do with 1t.
I'm other words, this is simply to
make the reclamation service of the
United States available to privately
owned lands, where people are will
ing to put up the necessary. private
capital instead of going to the United
States government for the money. 1t
permits private owners Of extensive
tracts of idle lands to practically
employ the United States reclama-
ton service engineers and officials
and machinery and experience to put
their lands on a paying basis by
building settlements and homes on
the lands and thereby benefitting
the people and the whole country
and not costing Uncle Sam single
dollar. sS s
'S You can under this bill reclaim
any kind Of land that will warrant
retaining that will justify the ex-
pense, where it is in large enough
tracts to justify the reclamation ser
vice in taking up the project and
where private capital will put up the
money for the work. In nutshell,
this is the idea and theory and OBJ
ject of this bill: Trust companies
with large sums of money to invest
and thousands of capitalists gener-
ally turnout the United States have
money to invest. They do not want
to engage in active enterprises them
selves, but they want to loan out
their money on absolutely good
security.
i. Many Private Projects Fail
"A great many private irrigation
enterprises turnout the west have
during recent years proved financial
failures for various reasons which 1t
is not necessary to go into, but prin-
cipally from underestimation of cost
of construction and 0verestimation
of quantity of water and cost of pro-
motion, and other things, SO that
capital will not, generally speaking,
now advance money on this kind OF
enterprises. 1t is too much risk and
bother to look after them. / under:
stand the same is true largely re-
garding private drainage enterprises,
SO that private capital cannot be OBJ
tanned by private individuals to do
this kind of development-reclama-
ton Observation-Disclosures there
are hundreds of competent engineers
who absolutely know that there are
thruout the United States hundreds
of large bodies of land in private
ownership that are now lying idle
for the want Of proper development,
but the owners have not the money
themselves and cannot get the money
to defray the necessary ex-
pense of retaining and making
those lands productive, and the
problem before the country which
this bill tries to solve is:
Get Together Essential Factors
3 "How to get together the money
and the skill and administrative abil-
Ity to do this work and make these
lands productive and convert them
into homes for the people, and II this
bill can solve that problem 1t will be
one of the greatest pieces of con-
structive and beneficial legislation
that has been enacted by congress In
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