Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-04-14
NORTHERN ARIZONA WOMAN
 HEADS FEDERATED CLUBS


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 worth twenty-five cents after Secretary Fall made his statement to the effect that the Government would not be in | fiuenced by the voting. Some represen- | tatives of a certain private corporation have gone so far as to say in substance that they were big enough to do this | job, and that the Government was in competent, the Government was slow, the Government wasn't in that line or business. They have perched them selves up on a self-erected pedestal and blown their own horns to their hearts content. But, in so far as this com munity is concerned, do not believe that they have convinced anybody or any thing except possibly as to the extreme nerve of some of these agents. when they talk about the inefficiency or the United States Government. they are talk ing about the government whlch punt the Roosevelt Dam and many other sln
 liar projects at a total expenditure or about 172 OOO 900; they are talking about the eovernment which built the Panama Canal; they are talking about the gov ernment which crushed the German war machine; they are talking aDoue yous ta government and mine which protects the altars and the hearthstones Of its DO, ple. They ar talking about the Unltea States of America, the greatest ana most efficient organization that the sun shines upon. .s ,,,o,
 Arguments have been presented upon more occasions urging that thls ereat work could be done much more cheapIy nv priyate capital. That is mere statement of the agents or priNate lo ..n,, ests and I have never heard It ProSen by the presentation or any arson na1.s We We will proceed on the theory that t Ints Roulder Canyon project when conple;ii p;i
 ed. will cost a total of one hu,e; hunoLeu ,nt nf lion dollars. Wha tis the proposltion o these private interests? Ines tpat eY- nenditure and secure ten per cent. .i
 terest each year on their inVessme.hh.
 That would mean the peopie Si, Sn +his southwest who were benetlteo DS S,;tai
 project would pay the original eap,sr usrv pat hack to the investors once every tan wears. pay it back five times, or five hundred million dollars, Tn ',s hus wears, If that were all they Wousa na ar,S to pay it might be c,'o, considerea'c % nf cor vste corporation or combinatlon oI Goi
 nora tions have one hundred million 9oie iars to invest in such a project. Wnas M Snas if mean? In the language or tne street it means promotion, ~ inea anS that few men will get together an1 aa,snca .Ias comparatively a few thousand dollars, make the preliminary surVeSS SiS and go before the pubic ana see t''' money In any ordinary promotion pe- fore most any of the corporation com
 missions of the western states, pro
 
 sidered legitimate and is permitted. Is 1t fair to the publi etc have this great enterprise conducted in such way that twenty per cent. of the cost or twenty of the promoters? The United States Government pays no promotion Iees' Again, there are corporations which have ways all their own in paying sal aries and mourning expenses, especially when that corporation is controlled by the people and their friends who receive these salaries. It is true that this gov ernment pays no exorbitant salaries, and one of the arguments of the private 1n- terests is that they cannot get high class men because they do not pay suf- ficient salaries. I say to you that there are no men in the engineering profes- sion who stand higher as class than the Engineering Corps of the United because of Its being a navigable stream is under the joint Jurisdiction of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of Interior. Furthermore, if additional en- gineering skill be needed for this pro- ject. cannot conceive of man in that profession who would decline his ser vices under the Government at a reas- enable compensation because if he were successfully connected with such pro- ject his professional career would be secure from that time. Again. upon this question of original cost and com parative cheapness with which the work could be done by a private concern or by the Government; some portions of ed Fifty Per Cent Land Grant Rail Roads; for instance, because of their contract with the United States Gov ernment at the time they were con structed and at the time certain large bodies of land were transferred to them, they became obligated to haul all freight for the Government at fifty per cent: of the commercial rate. I understand that the Santa Fe is such railroad. For instance, if. the Indian School up here above Blackberry or down here on the Colorado River wanted the Santa Fe to haul in a carload lumber they would pay just fifty per cent. of the price , which is exacted from any commercial ' organization. The Southern Pacific Rail Road Company and others are classed as Full Land Grant Rail Roads. For in- stance, they are obligated in certain districts to haul all freight for the gov Freight rates are a big item in this country. You can buy carload Of lum- ber in the lumber regions of the north west and ship it into Arizona ana tne freight will amount to much more I,na Ihat !. the original cost of the lumber. That rate applies to commercial institutions The United States Government can buy a trainload of lumber in the northwest and ship it to the Mexican border With. out ,expending one single cent for frelgn. rates presume that there are rail road corporations and allied financlal interests and corporations which are very much interested in seeing that tnls project is built by private capital rath- CT than by the United States Govern ment But I submit to you that upon any contract which involves the expend- iture of one hundred million dollars that if the contractor can secure the reduc- tion of freight rates by fifty per cent. or entirely, that there will be saving of many millions of dollars. This pro ject not only involves the rights of the entire people of the southwest but is it. self interstate and international. For instance, some of the affected communl- ties are mining communities; some are agricultural communities; some are manufacturing communities; some are large consumers of water and power TOT domestic purposes. There are at least seven States involved. One wall or the Boulder Canyon Is within the State or Arizona: the other wall is within the State of Nevada. The river itseif, ar fer leaving this country, flows into the Republic of Mexico From financial viewpoint the project is entirely too pig for any organization except the Unlteq States Government. Because of the many interests involved; because of the sfiiount of money required; because oi the interstate questions involved; ana hnoo,,sa of tho international questions