The Fallon standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1920-1958, 1923-11-14

The following from the Reelama-
tion Record, issued by the secretary
of the interior monthly, will be fpund
of interest to the people of this pro-
jeet, as it was among the first of ths
government projects and like most
others has many complaints to file
and seeks adjustment on matters
that are believed to be the fault of
the government and not the people
who have pioneered on the farms:
The Special Advisors Committee
appointed by Secretary of the Inter-
ior Work to investigate governmental
policies and methods of reclaiming
lands went into session on October
Is in the Interior Department build
ing at Washington. The committee
10 composed of the following:
President Julius Barnes, of the
United States Chamber of Commerce.
Washington, D. C.
James r. Garfield, former Secre-
tary of the Interior, Cleveland, Ohio.
Former Governor Thomas f.
Campbell, of Arizona, Phoenix, Ariz.
~ oOAAh "A w ldclOCt lOIiutI DICSi-
dent of the state university and state
agricultural college of Utah, Salt
Lake City, Utah.
President Oscar F. Bradfute, of
the American Farm Bureau Fedora
ton, Xenia, Ohio.
Hon. Clyde e. Dawson, Denver,
Colo, authority ON irrigation law.
Elwood Mead, a noted authority
on reclamation and irrigation. Ber-
kelley. Calf.
Secretary of the Interior Work
opened the initial session of the COM
mittee with a statement in which he
declared that it appeared that nearly
all the projects were in such condi-
tion that some radical reforms or i'm
proyements must be made If they
we're to be saved and the farmers
protected from the loss of their
homes. The statement in full fol.
lows.
Soon after | was called upon to
act as Secretary of the Interior, Ia
March, 1928, my attention was par
ticulorly directed to conditions relat-
ing to the reclamation projects con-
strueted by the department in the
western states and among which +
have lived for 35 years.
Through complaints from organi-
cations of water users, individual
water users. reports of agents, in
speetors, official records of the de-
partment and congress, it appeared
that nearly all of the projects were
in such condition that some radical
reforms or improvements must be
had if they were to be saved, farmers
protected from loss of their homes.
and the return of the money ad-
vanced by the government for their
construction and maintenance was to
be secured.
1.-THE complaints and criticisms
cover variety of points too numer-
GUS to be described here, but includ-
ed charges that in many of the pro-
jeets the original estimates under
which settlers were induced to go
upon the projects were from so to
100 per cent too low and that the
actual cost has been so great that it
is impossible for the farmers to pay
out within the time and manner fix
ed by law, or even at all; that mis-
takes, engineering and otherwise,
had been made which adder mater
tally to the cost of constructed p-a-
jects; that others had been under
taken that should never have been
started; that the overhead costs of
the service and many of the indi-
vidual projects, all borne by water
users, were burdepsome and exces-
sive.
Under the system used in the
reclamation service I have been un-
able to get figures that appear to be
dependable as the cost of individual
projects or the total money expended
on all projects.
ut is represented. taken from the
records of the bureau, that the gov