OCR Text |
Show 1HII ASKED II HP ! GET SOLDIERS' LOj Idaho Reclamation Service Wants West to Back De- ! , mands for Funds. j Representative Here in Endeavor En-deavor to Obtain United Action. Urging that Utah join with Idaho In presentir.g her rlalms for a porLion of tho sum to !o allotted by congress for tlio reclamation of arid nn.l waste lands, O. O. I !uk;l oi" Poise, vice president of tlio JdaliO UectamaUon association, in in .Salt Lake for a f;v days on legal business. busi-ness. Mr. Jla.a is enthusiastic over the possibilities of orura niza turn anions the men o the west in order to present a unit od rl.'mand to congress that the greater part uf the appropriation be used in this section, ' "The niu.st active and most -talked -of institution in Idaho todav is 1 1) o Idaho Reclamation association," 'said Mr. Haa, "which was orc.ani.ed especially to assist in t-ofiirin.L: tlio passage by ronprcss of the rioldif-r.s and sailors' larnJ lull suggested suggest-ed by L-'-r'-tai y i,;uie a nd ropi em plat iug appropriations of from ?.'iO'i,0i."'i,nnn to sev-ral sev-ral times, that amount tor the reclamation reclama-tion of arid lands and for aeouiring other niii i:i h!o hnulo f.,t- 1 1 ir re Mini in soldiers and sailors who desire to return to tho farm. Competition Strong. "The sout h is urging strongly the advantages ad-vantages of thai. K'N-Uon,' Mr. 'ilaga said, "and, with its large areas of cluap and wornout lam that conld be fnrt ilizr-d and built iij), bought, by tin- tfoveniment and .resold to intending settlers at a fairly low price, it is making a good showing In Washington. The sa me is true, in many resptis, f the east, and t'ne west must be prepared to meet that competition. competi-tion. "This cannot be done by scattered individual in-dividual effort, nor even 1 y a single slate. The entire west should bo organized organ-ized and present with a solid f ron t its claims for recognition in the land bill and t lie accompanying appropriations. It is the one great opportunity lor substantial federal aid in the reclamation of our arid l:.nds, where the undertaking i too costly cost-ly for private enterprise. The worn-out worn-out lands of the south and east can be rehabilitated by individual effort in small tracts or large tracts, but this is not true of the west, where the size of the project Is largely determined by nature and it must lie there until Die necessary capital for construction is available. Time Is Opportune. "Just nov every effort should he made to secure the passage by eungress of the necessary appropriation and administrative administra-tive legislation at tho special session. The enthusiasm of the hour to do something worth while-for those who served in our army and navy during the la le war should give us the support of members of congress from all sections it is an opportunity which the west may never have again. But work must be done to keep this legislation, constantly, before congress, otherwise it will be sidetracked. In view of the many other important questions that will come before this congress. con-gress. "There should he in Washington right now a vigorous and effective committee, representing all t iie western states, assisting as-sisting not only in the preparation of a proper bill that will fit our conditions, but also in harmonizing tne conflicting views of membe rs o f co n gr ess on the amount of t'ne appropriation and the thousand details that must be considered consid-ered in preparing a piece of constructive legislation of this magnitude. "Until the west is united on a bill, -we have little chance of getting anything through that is worth while. Looks to Utah. "Idaho will do her share, hut she looks to Utah for assistance, and will cooperate ! with representatives of Utah as soon as I they are ready to do business, uur Idaho ' Keclamation association has a large paid-up paid-up membership and it encourages loal organizations for gathering data and statistics sta-tistics on projects which are of local in- fcerst. This data as to available projects , will be presented to the proper gov em - -''"Tnent officiate when the appropriat ion is available. But at this time we should all stand together for the greatest piece ... oi' constructive legislation that the west .has ever had a fair opportunity to get ' through congress." |