Great Falls tribune., 1921-09-10
STATE BACKING
NEED OF BONDS
FOR IRRIGATION
u. S. Reclamation Service Man
Says Canada Ahead of Mon
tana in Using Water.

Failure of Montana to enact legis-
lation for the adequate financing Of
irrigation projects has been one of the
dominating factors which have so re-
tarded the institution Of irrigation that
development here is behind that al
ready realized in Canada and in the
other irrigation states Of the Union,
DR.. T. H. Newell, consulting engineer
for the United States reclamation
service. declared Friday in an address
at Commercial club luncheon at the
Hotel Rainbow. He asserted that
Montana must adopt the method Of a
state guarantee for irrigation district
bonds before the watering Of land can
acquire the impetus necessary to its
maximum development.
Canada Leads Montana.
Time was" said the speaker. when
thought Montana was too far north
to permit successful irrigation, but
since then I have seen Canada with
her bitches running full, all available
water in use and the farmers enjoying
a great measure of prosperity, and
there is no reason to doubt that what
has been done there can be done here.
"Frankness compels me to say that
in Canada they are making good with
irrigation, while in Montana ir-
rigation is going back. A great reason
for the success of irrigation in the do
minion is that they have adequate ir
rigation laws. They have studied us.
benefited by our mistakes. employed
American engineers and they are now
a jump ahead of us. They have had
better appreciation of what consti-
tutes adequate irrigation laws and they
are now building works on their prof.
ects.
Bonds Are Guaranteed.
'Thcy are ahead of us in this: they
are selling irrigation bonds backed by
a provincial guarantee The Montana
laws is all right as far as it goes,
but it lacks tha vital spark of state
guarantee. These conditions must be
realized, we must recognize our blund
ers, before Montana people attain that
prosperity which is due to those who
fully recognize the necessity of the
proper use of natural resources. Mon
tana has greater irrigation possibili-
ties than any other state.
But there have been other causes
contributing to the non development of
irrigation in Montana. One of the chief
of these is the curse of q small rain
fall Both outside and within the
projects farmers gamble with the rains
The government has spent millions of
dollars for irrigation here, but you
have few irrigators. The man within
project will wait until his grain wits.
then rush terror stricken demanding
water. Before water can be supplied
his crops are damaged.
Farmers Gamble With Rain.
Everyone is suffering from the
habit of gambling with the rain. The
states permanent wealth does not lie
in it's minerals or its smelters or man
ufacturing, but in the soil. And the
production of the soil can be perma-
nent only with irrigation. The state
has the best water supply in the
United States, but because of your rot
ten irrigation laws development has
been retarded. In a great many cases,
the purchaser of a water right buys a
lawsuit.
Holding of large tracts by specula-
tors has been another factor in retard- |
ing irrigation development, and lack of
county agricultural agents who are
versed in the science of ir- |
rigation is another. I have yet to meet
in this state an agricultural agent who
really understands irrigation. Men with |
adequate training are scarce and |
have known them to receive a salary |
as high as $4,000 a year.
Making Homes Is Purpose.
'The theory of the reclamation act |