The Winslow mail., 1921-03-04

The Mail is very pleased to reprint
the following from the Congressional
Record of February 23 1t is just an
indication to the people of Winslow
that the powers that be are working
coordinating, if you will, with the ef-
forts of the Chamber of Commerce
and the State forces in keeping the
Little Colorado River reclamation
project moving:
Mr.. ASHURST. I shall thank the
Chair and the Senate for induldging
me long enough to offer another
amendment. l ask the Secretary to
recur to page %, line 20, of the bill.
Commencing with line II, on that
page, the language reads as follows:
For investigation in connection
with western irrigation agriculture,
the utilization of lands reclaimed
under the reclamation act, and other
areas in the. arid and semiarid re-
gions, $4,000.
I propose an amendment to in
crease the numerals in line 20 from
$4,000 to $94,420
| was recently travelling through
the West, not in my own State but
in another State, and some of the
citizens appealed to me to assist
their Senators, if possible, in secur-
ing an investigation of valley there
the soil of which would be very fer
tile, and if water could be placed up
ON it would produce abundant crops.
The citizens directed letter to the
Reclamation Service, but the reply
was tc the effect that the service did
not have adequate funds with which
to make an investigation as to the
suitability or the feasibility of re-
Clamation project at that point. In
Arizona / was recently appealed to
by the citizens of the town of Win
slow, which is on the Little Colorado
River, with vast tracts of land ada
cent, upon which practically no crops
are grown, which is wholly a desert,
and yet with the Little Colorado
River running through it. So the
Representative of Arizona in Con-
gress, Mr.. Hayden, telegraphed or
wrote to the Chief Of the Reclama
tion Service and simply asked him to
send some person from the Reclama-
tion Service to investigate the soil
and water supply in order to ascer-
tain the suitability or feasibility of a
project at that point. The Reclama-
ton Office replied to Mr.. Hayden to
the effect that they had no funds with
which they could make such an in
Vestigation.
The estimate of the department for
this item is $94,420. 1t will simply
give the Reclamation Service an ade-
quate fund with which that service
may examine into the feasibility or
the suitability of reclamation projects
at a particular point. No more
worthy appropriation could be made,
as citizens of our country are entitled
to have some governmental agency
tell them officially from scientific
standpoint whether or not a project
could successfully be established at
a particular point.
When we speak of irrigation we
must not forget that there are 49,
100000 acres in the United States
now under irrigation, but only 2,00O,-
900 acres are irrigated by the
Government, whilst 100000 acres
are irrigated by private enterprise,
and l can not at the moment conceive
Of an appropriation more worthy or
more beneficial to the country than
one that will provide adequate
moneys to the department TO enable
it to ascertain whether or not the
physical features here or there are
such as to encourage farmers and
home builders in induldging any fur
ther hope for Government project.
Mr.. GRONNA. Mr.. President
Mr.. Ashurst. I yield the floor.
Mr.. GRONNA. 1 simply wished to
ask the Senator from Arizona a Ques-
ton.
Mr.. ASHURST. yield.
Mr.. GRONNA. This is very
meritorious amendment, undoubtedly,
but the present law carries $52,3S0,
l believe. The House increased that
amount and made it $4,000.
Mr.. ASHURST. Yes; the House
fixed the sum at $4,000.
Mr.. GRONNA. will SAY that the
committee did not 60 intio this parti-
cular case in any minute detail, but
l have no objection to letting the
amendment go to conference, mas
much as it proposes to appropriate
the amount estimated for.
Mr.. ASHURST. I thank the Sena-
tor. The amendment is not subject
to point of order, as it was estimat-
ed for by the department..
The VICE PRESIDENT. The ques-
tion is on agreeing to the amendment
offered by the Senator from Arizona.
The amendment was agreed to.
Senate Joint Resolution No. in
troduced by the Seriate Roads Com
MI D ic q nj I'm emf