The Fallon standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1920-1958, 1924-04-16

Inc report or the fact finding COM
mission which was handed to Secre-
tary Work who has transmitted thu
same to the members of congress,
makes recommendation that If car
ried out will be of benefit to this
and the other projects.
The most important feature to the
people of the Newlands project is
the recommendation that the charg-
ing off of s3,500,0O0 be enforced.
This Is a part of the excessive con-
struction charge that has been held
against this project. 1t is also recon-
mended that investigation of some
10000 acres of privately owned land
be taken up with the purpose Of pur-
chasing by the government for sub
division.
Would Build Spanish Springs
The report makes recommenda-
tion that immediate construction of
Spanish Springs reservoir be taken
up otherwise interests of the gov
ernment and settlers will be jeop-
ardized."
The following Associated Press
dispatch to the Reno Journal gives
concise report of the findings:
WASHINGTON, April 11.-(From
Reno JournaD "A comprehensive
,-overhauling of the governments rec
lamation program, involving the
charging off as a total loss of $27,-
2Q1 11g ~ tho o1prov;..a+oI,, e1ra
100000 invested and providing mea-
sures of relief to thousands of farm
ers and protection of further federal
expenditures on irrigation of the arid
wastes of the west, is urged In
unanimous report submitted to Sec
retary Work today by the special ad-
yisory committee on reclamation.
The committee of experts, now dis
banded, has been making a study OF
the reclamation problem for six
Months and its report was presented
with the recommendation that 1t be
used as a basis for prompt remedial
legislation. Members of congress
from many western states have made
vigorous pleas during the sitting OF
the committee for aid to the project
settlers and it is probable that Presi-
dent Coolidge, to whom the report
was submitted tonight, will have
| some recommendation to make to
congress in the future.
Conditions Serious
Declaring conditions are serious
on many of the 2S projects located
in 15 western states with three al
ready having failed, the committee
stated that of the $143, 100000 al
ready spent in building irrigation
works, S1S,561, ,146 will never be
recovered with a probable loss of an
additional $s.S3O,0OO, the whole rep
resenting losses in construction to
supply water for lands found to be
of little or no return value.
The principal recommendation of
the committee, of which DR.. Elwood
Mead of California, recently named
commissioner of the reclamation bu-
reau to carry out the new policies to
be approved by congress, was mem.
ber, is that repayment of construc.
lion costs be based on the actual
crop production of the farm lands
rather than the present system of q
fixed percentage of the construction
cost per acre, which was held to be
''inelastic and unscientifie.
After the first few years" the
report said respecting the present
method, AN annual repayment
charge of six per cent of the care
cost is made for all projects, yet the
acre cost and crop producing power
vary greatly among projects Il is
idle to assume that lands of equal
fertility can bear widely different
annual construction payments, or
that all lands-good, Indifferent or
poor-under the single project can
bear the same annual construction
payments, yet the existing plan oil
repayment was based upon that as.
sumption Neither time nor an arbi.
trarily fixed per cent of cost is a
sound basis for determining annual
payments"
Remedy Suggested
As a remedy the committee ad
vocated adjustment of the 20 year