OCR Text |
Show THE IRRIGATION CONGRESS. The Irrigation Congress at El Paso did very well In the selection of its officers and' managers, but it seems to have placed ltoclf cromways with tho irrigation irriga-tion service and with tho irrigation law. All the resolutions regarding changes in the land laws and their administration, administra-tion, and the repeal) of the timber and stone act, must be at onco relegated to the rubbish heap, as ill considered and of no consequence. There is one resolution, however, which Is of an especially evil tone. We refer to that In which urges the passage of a law permitting States to "organize "organ-ize into districts for the salo of Irrigation Irri-gation lands and upon approval by the Secretary of the Interior to be allowed to employ engineers of the reclamation service." If that means, in fact, what its language lan-guage means, then It Is something which by no possibility should be allowed al-lowed or thought of for a minute. It contemplates turning over to the States, by districts, the control of the reclamation reclama-tion service and irrigation work. It Is not worth while to waste time on a proposition like that, which Is wholly vicious. The strength of the service is In the general control by the National Na-tional officials; to turn any part of it over to the States, with the money that would necessarily be claimed; would be not only to Invite confusion and disaster, dis-aster, but to compel them. Another resolution that is not only vicious, but wholly impracticable, Is the one calling for the extension of the Government reclamation work into Texas, where there ia no Government land, and whatever is done the arid land fund derived from other States would have to pay for. If Texas wants this help, let her place herself on a parity pari-ty with the other States by first transferring trans-ferring to the General Government its public lands. Until then, Texas is not in the reclamation class, and it would be a gross Imposition upon the other States to take the money derived' from lands sold within their borders to Improve Im-prove lands for a State which retains the ownership of all the public lands within its borders for itself. This session of the Congress, with its unwise declarations, its barrenness of good ideas, and its general tone of irresponsibility, ir-responsibility, raises the question whether it did not reach Its high tide of usefulness at' Its session in Ogden last year, and Is now going into decadence. deca-dence. There does not seem to be any reason to expect helpful or fruitful action ac-tion by holding further sessions of this body. Its work was In fact done when tho Irrigation of the arid region was taken in hand by the National Government, Govern-ment, and it might as well die: its work is done; its usefulness Is past. |