Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-04-14
NORTHERN ARIZONA WOMAN
 HEADS FEDERATED CLUBS
lContinIlad From Page 3l

N
 (Continued From Page 3
 worth twenty-five cents after Secretary , Fall made his statement to the effect that the Government would not be in fluenced 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 iob and that the Government was ln- competent, the Government was slow, the Government wasn't in that line of 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 of any thing except possibly as to the extreme nerve of some of these agents. when they talk about the inefficiency Of the United States Government. they are talk ing about the government which punt the Roosevelt Dam and many other sim. liar projects at a total expenditure ot about 172, 0OO 900; they are talking about the government which built the Panama Canal: they are talking about the gov ernment which crushed the German war machine: they are talking about your government and mine which protects the aitars and the hearthstones or us DO, Dle. They ar talking about the Umtea States of America, the greatest ana most efficient organization that the sun shines upon. .,.od ,non
 Arguments have been presented upo more occasions urging that tnls srea. req, work could be done much more cheaply by private capital. That is mere statement of the agents of private lnter, ests and I have never heard It proven by the presentation Of any Iacts 'us Is could convince reasonaple petSSot tSt +his will proceed on the theory that ats uats Roulder Canyon project, when compie;ii- p;i ed will cost a total of one hundred Ihli lion dollars. Wha tis the proposltion oa these private interests? They proposo to raise that money ana ii,ane au oant in
 terast each year on their inVestme.t. That would mean the people on .his tns southwest who were bene1lteu py .aI
 project would pay the origlnai eap a,,ery pat hack to the investors once every ten years: pay it back five times sst', or five hundred million dollars, Tn ',s tiius years If that were all they wou,u naJ n, to nav it might be considered. No nr- p yate corporation or complnatl91imi, 1ii,on doi. norations have one hundred mliiioH Nhof If iars to invest in such a project. wnas .s Noes if mean? In the language ot t
 street if means a promotion; It means That A few men will get together anS advance comparatively aew snrveys, dollars, make the preliminary sulVeS Sis and go before the public and get this money. In any ordinary promotion De- fore most any of the corporation com missions of the western states. pro- motion fee of twenty per cent. is con sidered legitimate and is permitted. IS it fair to the publi etc have this great enterprise conducted in such a way that twenty per cent. of the cost, or twenty million dollars, would go into the hands of the promoters? The United States Government pays no promotion fees Again, there are corporations which have ways all their own in paying sal aries and mourning expenses, especially when that corporation Is controlled by AL. ~t- I<. yIN ntxyn these salaries. It is true that this gov ernment pays no exorbitant salaries, and one of the arguments of the private in 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 States Army. and the Colorado River, because of Its being nayigable 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 a man in that profession who would decline his ser vices under the Government at reas- enable compensation because if he were successfully connected with such pro- ject his professional career would be 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 some of our western railroads are term 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 the Colorado River wanted the Santa F'e to haul in a carload lumber. they would pay just fifty per cent. of the price , which is exacted from any commerclai organization. The Southern PaGiflc Rali 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 ernment absolutely free of charge. Freight rates are a big item in this country. You can buy a carload of lum- Der in the lumber regions of the north west and ship it into Arizona and the freight will amount to much more Inan the original cost of the lumber. That rate applies to commercial institutions. The United States Government can buy d trainload of lumber in the northwest and. ship 1t to the Mexican border With. out expending one single cent Tor 1relgnt rates. l presume tndl lhClC diS road corporations and allied financial interests and corporations which are very much interested in seeing that thls 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 a 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 communi- ties are mining communities; some are agricultural. communities; some are manufacturing communities; some are large consumers of water and power for domestic purposes. There are at least seven States involved. One wall or the Roulder Canyon Is within the State of Arizona: the other wall is within the State of Nevada. The river itself, af- fer leaving this country, flows into the Republic of Mexico. From financial viewpoint the project is entirely too pig for any organization except the united States Government. Because of the many interests involved; because of the af,otint of money required; because of the interstate questions involved; ana because of the international questlonss
 VIO