, 1923-12-12


lays
II former director OF the rec
various times While the ditch and
pompous individual named Savage
membered. In getting the officia'
retary Weeks has done one good
mo &c +ho ro,so,s for tho hreoL
l., - --.-.
~ o
Hubert Work and Arthur Powell
Davis, former director of the recla-
nation service. which resulted in the
severance of the latter official from
government employ. are likely to be
told in the forthcoming report of the
factfinding commission, which is maxi
ing a searching investigation of gov
ernment reclamation.
"To the person who can analyze
figures parts of the report are like
lv to come as somewhat of a shock.
The wide d~iscrenencv between the en-
p~ineers' estimates of the costs of sew
eeraI projects and the actual costs NAV
;r,nrass COVE rarsors os no+h;ng
shnr+ If scord,ious Ar+bur poveiI
| Davis as chief engineer of tbe recla-
mot;on ee,,y;ce for several veor &c and
LATER as director of the service, had
mucb 70 do With o~nnrov;ng these es-
t;mates, which fell so far short of the
actuaI costs In Some instances actual
cost has exceeded tbe original esti-
mates three times and three nroiects
bave beer hec,use the.
settlers could not meet the heavy
charges
Means Loss Of Millions
DENOMINATION of the records of the
-recla nat;on serv;ce d;ecIoses a long
sorios of Tho mos+ s+rnendors him
dors On tho nart Of Trnc,e SAWS on
rinaors q r.s,,t of which b,,rdreds
oof sot+Iors u,ho occented tho ;udg-
mont If tho -s,,nnosad exnerts Of tho
ro,,o,nront fnd tbamsolves boneIess-
" in debt
"Cbildren of these settlers will find
themselves facing obligations larger
than their fathers ever dreamed of
Mt the beginning. and thew will be
compelled to complete the
or the government itself must take
the loss of millions of dollars. Per-
hans one of the worst examples of
engineering miscalculations is the
Newlands pro iect in Nevada.
"Coveypnent eng;neers estimated
the cost of irripatinp O0.OO acres at
81. O OOO. IT has cost S6. 69O.49S to
i~rripate 70 acres. ONLY S516.O95
has been repaid by settlers. No
drainage system was originally pro-
vided on This nroiect and To hiring
water-loqped land into cultivation
500. 900 is now being expended.
"Partial reconstruction has been
compelled by failure in the first place
TO construct diversion dams with
gates wide enough to allow passage
of heavy logs and driftwood.
Davis Claimed Economy
"In one of his animal reports while
director of reclamation Arthur Pow
! ell Davis took great credit for ner-
~fectinp economy in government ex-
penditures through the preparation
! If cement for the Newlands nro;ect
When that report was written there
were on file in the reclamation SER
! vice reports showing that concrete in
that dam had develoned large cracks
! and other defects. Repairs had to be
made and the special preparation of
cement on which the "savinpD had
been made was abandoned.
"on this same project government
engineers estimated it would cost ST.
114,540 to construct II reservoirs. Ac-
tual cost of building one reservoir
was $~1,476,000. this single reservoir
costing S361,460 more than the set
tiers were told would cost to build
IL. The settlers must pay the differ
ence.
"The Hondo project, New Mexico,