Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-09-29
HAYDEN ON SOLDIER
 SETTLEMENT PLAN


 The following excerpt from the Con-
 gressional Record will be of interest
 to friends of Carl Hayden:
 MT. HAYDEN. MT. Speaker, am not in such cheerful frame of mind
 as the gentleman from Wyoming (Mr
 MondelD apparently is with respect to
 the elimination of the reclamation and
 soldier settlement provisions from this
 bill. My feelings are outraged at the
 wrong that has been done. l am con
 vinced that if the conferees had sin
 cerely desired to reach an agreement
 upon Title VIII containing the land
 settlement provisions they could have
 done so without difficulty. The only
 reason that there was no such agree
 ment is because a majority of the
 members of this conference commit
 tee are not in favor of the reclamation
 of waste lands. Tine two Houses have
 expressed their approval of the enact
 ment of legislation providing for the creation of farms and home for re-
 turned soldiers. It would have been
 perfectly easy for the friends of a
 national reclamation policy to recon cile the differences between the House and the Senate, but this most benefi- cent Legislation fell into the hands of
 it's enemies, and in cold blood they killed it. The plain and absolute truth is that the conferees made no honest effort to reach an agreement.
 That both the Senate and the House are in favor of ths reclamation of waste lands to provide homes for vet erans of the late war is clearly demon strated by an examination of this bill. Both bodies have provided the means whereby that entirely worthy object can be accomplished, the only differ ences being in mere details. Certain ly it would not be difficult for the conferees to determine whether the work of retaining arid and swamp lands is to be carried on by board of five members, of which one is to be the Secretary of the Interior, or whether the Secretary alone should have complete supervision of the un- dertaking. The Senate amendment provides that the Federal Government shall deal only with legally organized irrigation and drainage districts, while the House bill provides that con- tracts maye be made with such dis tricts. Conferees earnestly seeking to obtain results would not have taken | long to reconcile the differences be- tween the two Houses on this ques- tion.
 Neither ,he House bill nor the Sen ate amer dment carried any specific amount or money for the construction of reclamation projects. The Senate amendme mt limited the total sum to be appropriated for this purpose to $350, ,000, ,000 while there was no limita- tion fixed by the House. In each case the amounts actually expended would be fixed by appropriations here after made by Congress based on es- inmates submitted thru the Budget The House and the Senate also agreed that the Government should be reim- bursed for the cost of retaining lands except that the House bill allowed ere dit to veterans to the extent of their adjusted-service pay, while the Senate provided that the Govern ment should be fully reimbursed fo' all expenditures made. Will anyone dare to say that a conference com ] mittee honestly in favor of the re- of waste lands could not have compromised these slight differ ences with the result that legislation could have been enacted as part of this bill which would have carried out the plain intent and purpose of both the Senate and the House?
 Gentlemen say to-day that because the Senate amendment merely provid- I ed that soldiers should have prefer ence right of entry, therefore, it was not a soldiers settlement bill, and yet at the opening of every reclama- ton project since the close of the war there have been 10 soldiers asking for farms where one was to be found. If ! 60 days preference right had been given it is absolutely certain that none but ex-soldiers would have ob- tained the farms. Experience has demonstrated that fact beyond ques- ton. And can anyone doubt that this, 3 disagreement on the subject of sol Her preference, could not have been easily reconciled by the conferees if .heir hearts were in their work?
 The undoubted truth is that in vio- ation of the trust imposed in them hey followed their private inclinations rather than the will of the two Houses ! md that is not my concept of the luty of conferees. . When the House, fter due. deliberation, after mature consideration, adoupts soldier settle