The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-02-24

water his decree calls for; that hi
ditch wouldn't carry it and that if h
did use it he would ruin his land.
A lawyer member whose practic,
largely consists of water right liti
cation is afraid the operation of tn,
law will interfere with his practic,
and he is doing his durndest to hans
onto this practice. 1 must say how
ever that as a rule the attorneys art
above this sort of reasoning anC
there is only one member l have
heard of who has given this as his
reason for opposition. Then there
are other members who think the
operation of the law will cost the
state too much money still others
who don't think the state engineer
should be granted as much power
as the bill gives him.
We know from the past experience
of the other states which have this
law that the bill introduced has the
proper provisions and that every
one will be well satisfied with the
operation of the law. We also know
that the passage of some such law
will do much in the way of helping
AAO 0ONOtORLAOb vi
enterprises. We hope it will pass but
at the present time it is pretty much
of a guess.
Another reason for our lack of de-
velopment is that in the past it has
been extremely difficult to interest
capital in securities of this nature.
Part of this has been due to our poor
laws or lack of laws. Many bills to
correct this feature have been intro
duced and the legislature seems will
ing to pass the laws that will tend
to help this situation. Lack of knowl-
edge about irrigation securities has
held back the sale to quite an extent
and this lack of knowledge is not
only prevalent among people of other
states but our own people seem very
ignorant on what We have to offer. 1
heard of a case the other day where
a woman had some money which
she wanted to invest. Someone sug-
gested irrigation district warrants to
her. She consulted the attorneys for
the district and they assured her
that the warrants were legal and a
good investment and advised her to
consult her own attorney giving her
the necessary transcripts of the pro-
ceedings. Her attorney after having
examined the proceedings advised
her that everything was legal and
that it was a good buy. She went to
draw the money at the bank and
her banker convinced her that in
stead of buying these irrigation
district warrants she should buy
bonds of the English government.
contention is that irrigation
district warrants are probably the
pest Montana securities being offer
is very small usually not over
)ne dollar per acre and they are
,irst liens, taking preference over
Ill mortgages. No will say a word
English bonds, but when
hey are bought the money is ship
'ed out of the country instead of
icing spent in Montana where we
iced it so badly.
This matter of education is one
where we all can help. We must first
INFORM ourselves and then transmit
his information to places where it
will be of value to us. There are now
rganized Of in process of organiza-
into irrigation districts over a
lalf million acres of land which need
inancing. This is no child's job. In
territory where these districts
ave been organized, they have de-
ided irrigation is their only saliva
The people who own the lands are
angling on to them in the hope that
he construction of the projects will
e begun in time to do them some
God. If construction isn't started
Tithin a reasonable time, the owners
ave no option but to let the lands
e sold for the amount of the mort
ages and taxes. If this happens 1t
Ill probably be some time before the
can be revived as nothing
a country such a black eye as
hen taxes or the principal and
lterest on mortgages is not paid.
To my mind this is not something
Or the future, it is a situation that
i'll have to be taken care of in the
Immediate future, that is why / say
the title to this article that irriga-
is Montana's biggest problem.
/ don't wish to be understood as
6lh6 Shot OfOi PiOJOtl 10 nSCcSSdl-
Y good Or that money should be in
in the bonds of irrigation dis
lets Unfortunately. What 1 do
ish to say is that any project that
lperficially looks as though it
light be successful is good security
II the necessary expenditure to
axe thorough investigation as to
alter supply, character of soil and
,st of construction and operation.
it is found upon the completion
this investigation that the project
mt justify itself as a business
opposition then it should be DROP
ID. To spend money on the con-
ruction of a project which is not
asible will of course be a cata-
rophe not only in the territory
here the district is located but for
9 entire state. Thus far while some
the irrigation district projects
ay have cost more than was orig
ally estimated and while the earn
gs may not have been as large as
e enthusiastic promoters hoped
r, the projects built in Mon
ma under the irrigation district
- t.oro III Hoar foon;IJ1 - -