, 1922-02-22
Unit Holders
On. Nelson


ton for the third time. and. as usual,
us a stone. Whether he meant for us
to use the stone as a project rave
marker, or to be tied to our necks the
better to sink us. remains to be een
But this one thing is certain. Though
he didn't sec "Old Man Warren" Ken
drick, nor Secretary Fall. he did find
time to stop off a day at Cheyenne to
feel the political pulse.
We haven't a good m but 1t
does seem true that the horse on
which Nelson rode to Washington was
groomed and cap%arisonedi at Billings
by a conference bent on junket enter
prises at a cent and a half an acre;
also that the said conference charged
the said Nelson with three important
duties to perform which he seems to
have forgotten on the way Then,
like the hunter who did not want to
return empty handed. brough back.
not a dead rabbit picked up by the
wayside. but two full grown, we'll
rursed irrigation district twins, one
for Powell and one for Beaver, not
mentioned in the plans and ~specifica-
tions.
Some of US think that these were
slipped into his grip when he left
Powell. If that be true he certainly
| took good care of them while away.
The line of communication between
Powell and Washington was closed
while Mr.. Nelson was there. but we
did happen to be admitted to the in
ner circle, by invitation Monday night
to attend a meeting of the faithful at
the Badger Club room, to hear Nell
sons report. There the "red flag was
waved in the faces of the bulls" who
happened all to be ows except two.
One of the two told them they could
get nowhere with the red flag. and IL
any plan for relief was to succeed.
that plan must have the undivided
support of the unit holders. To this
Nelson consented, and expressed SEN
timents of laying the district matter
aside until after we got the govern
ment's plan Of fconcession, and "use
the irrigation district as stock in
trade to drive a better bargain" At
ter the meeting we conferred with
Mr.. Caldwell in the presence Of Mr..
Scott and Mr.. Carpenter-all mem
bers = the water users board-and
Mr.. Inc Mr.. Caldwell did say
to us mat "for the sake of harmony
the irrigation district proposition of
Nelson's report would not be present
ed to the meeting of water users Sa-
turday afternoon-that we wanted the
five year concession and the district
matter could rest in the meantime
and be taken up later"
Everyone present understood that
to be the arrangement. This will ex-
plain to those we informed by phone,
and otherwise. why they were told
that the irrigation district matter
would not come up at the Saturday
meeting. 1t was due to a mistaken
faith in men we thought had a con
science. For. didn't you see that
these men were determined to make
sure of the district at the expense of
harmony, even if it did jeopardize the
plan for relief? 1t looked as If they
were willing to trade the whole pro-
ject for a concession which. after all,
will probably help the bankers more
than the farmers.
And what else did they do? We
never believed from the beginning
that they would let the unit holders
vote by ballot on the irrigation dis
trict matter. And they will.
You must not expect to. Just turn
over everything you have to them.
The meeting held Saturday deprived
you of any right to vote when 1t ap-
proved Nelson's propositions which
already in the hands of Director Da-
Wis for action.
You will recall, too, that Nelson
vouchsafes an irrigation district for
the Deaver people, probably on the
theory hat what is good for the gan
der is also good for the goose. We
thought he was merely a delegate