Show DAVIS FARMERS SEE LAST LUST HOPE IN COURT ACTION Landowners Facing Loss of Lifetime Work Still Willing Willing Will ViII ing to Arbitrate Before Going Into Legal Legai Battle I BONDHOLDERS TURNDOWN TURN TURNDOWN TURNDOWN DOWN SUGGESTIONS Several Prepare to Start Homebuilding All Over Again as Result of High Charges Made in District By JAM JAMES ES G. G WOOLLEY Farmers under the Bonneville Irrigation Irrigation Irrigation gation district resent any intimation that they are attempting to repudiate i ian an honest obligation They Ins insist st that they are willing to pay pay for tor what they received but they are Just as Insistent that they never will pa pay the present heavy load which they believe was placed on them theta through misrepresentation tion extravagant management and wasteful construction They will not pay par they say because they cannot To continue under the present arrangement arrangement arrangement arrange arrange- ment would bind them to successive generations of ot what they declare is is' is tantamount to peonage with ev every ry cent earned by the land going to the bond bond- holders What they propose to do is to pay for tor what they got and if it such an arrangement arrangement arrangement ar ar- ar- ar cannot be made along one one of several lines open then they will let the bondholders have their land land land- but not until rec recourse urse has been had to every legal protection they ma may claim Before th they y are are willing to step out they will attack the validity of ot tho the bonds the legality of ot various actions incident to the vital history of Tot the district and the conduct of public officials charged with protection of ot their Interests But before bet re such a fight is made they prefer prefer preter pre pre- fer ter to avail themselves of ot every ery pacific p path th out of their difficulty They point out that interests and of f the bo bondholders bondholders- ate are ate identical al arid that the best way is to make adjustments that will permit them to meet wHat honest obligation they have havo and und at th the tho same time protect to the fullest fullet th the legal Interests of ot those who financed them SOLUTIONS ADVANCED If It a dollar dollar spent in this district district district dis dis- dis- dis was worth only 60 cents we feel teel that 60 cents Is all we should be asked to pay they s say y And their leaders insist that there are any number of ot ways in which the district finances may be arranged so soI I as to protect all parties For instance there Is a large acreage within reach I of ot the district that could be brought under It without advancement of any aby I capital other than security now in hand If It the bondholders would co cooperate cooperate cooperate co- co operate with the farmers for tor mutual protection the pre present ent load on the limited limited lim lim- acreage could be bo spread so as asto to bring the obligation within boune bounas It ha has been suggested that the bonds could be pledged as collateral on a loan and that the money so raised could bo po o used for the purchase of the present present present pres pres- ent acreage At a nominal nominal nominal nom nom- inal cost the present distribution system system tem tern could be extended to reach these acres and they could be brought Into th the tho district on petition In this manner manner man man- ner ncr the present average levy could be reduced more than 30 per cent and Im Immediately Immediately irn- irn mediately acreage under th project would b be bb highly desirable when the bondholders could sell out their reclaimed re reclaimed reclaimed re- re claimed acreage at a profit and redeem their bonds whose value aue would then be entirely restored PRISON REMOVAL SUGGESTED Another suggestion has been for the state to remove the state prison to tho lands in question By prison labor labora a large area of ot land could be reclaimed water on the district would be conserved con con- served In this reclamation and the load would bo be lifted from an afflicted district district district dis dis- dis- dis and the tho state would benefit from development Many other suggestions looking to some equitable adjustment of ot their dIr dlf- has been proposed by the farm farm- ers ThO generally have haye to do with adjustment of at water vater allotments spreading the tho bonds over a longer terra term of years recovering money believed to have been wasted In construction of the system and In disposing of at the bonds securing a greater acreage under under un un- der tIer the the tho district raising the bond Is Issue Issue issue Is- Is sue for tor a period sufficient to legally ef effect effect effect ef- ef tnt allotment readjustments or remis- remis Ion slon of a portion of at the principal and Interest lh These suggestions have emanated emanated em tm only from the farmers tanners who are arenow arenOW n now ow accused d of bolshevism and ren re- re They were made in good p pIUl faith the farmers realize more than do the bondholders that under the Present present arrangement both sides must eventually lose SUGGESTIONS REJECTED As often orten as these suggestions have ha made de they have been rejected e been each Ch advance ance made by the farmers To 0 king ing to a a. co conciliatory cm tOry settlement I o tOb bond brokers broken have turned a II deaf deat t the e standing P pat t on the initial barend bargain bar- bar ear cap end and advising the farmers to work hard sa gain n and pay PY payout out at whatever oost hardno for no sympathy could be expected lender londer from It is the this attitude on the t he part of at the edited representatives t of ot tho the London Parla National bank vJ has aroused th farmer Caught I i. i een an impossible debt and an ImI fecI Im- Im I bP bet r bl ble creditor editOr with the tho home that I P plara established In the he theas heI i the r t o. o as M lh the stake these the farmers farmen de- de I forced to are at fight They clare ciar mID md the record cord I hav It f In the courts tIc ic i. i on p page e BJ 8 t 4 DAVIS FARMERS Continued Continued- from page 1 1 appear now as tho the only possibility of relief Every avenue but the courts courts' courts seem closed to them Yet right now now- if it the bondholders are willing the farmers will submit to arbitration But Dut if It amicable adjustment is to be denied them they feel certain that the courts will see that justice is done That substantially sums sums' up the attitude attitude at attitude at- at of ot the average farmer under the Bonneville irrigation district Many Manyo of 01 o them are men who in normal times and relieved of ot the present blight t would be accredited men men of ot wealth COURTS COURT'S LAST RESORT I One One has only to run over into Davis county for an hour to become at first firsthand firsthand firsthand hand convinced that something is isI I amiss During the past two t w weeks eks th the writer has visited a number of bf these farms Wherever he went he found the farmers alarmed at the possibility o of I losing their lands land b buoyed up up only In Inthe Inthe inthe the firm belief that the courts will compel justice One heavy landholder who through years of arduous toll toil has built up a valuable property started more than thana a 5 year ear ago to build a home upon a certain piece of ot land This homesite is under the Bonneville ditch and he like others had been led to believe that difficulties would be adJusted But since last spring spring- he has been fearful and the home half finished awaits the outcome of ot this controversy If It he can hold his land he will finish the house If It he be cannot th the bondholders will be the g gainer by the improvement as as It stands Another owns a home under the ditch He also holds some forty acres of range land on the benches above the district On this range there has I been developed a thin trl trickle kle of ot seepage seepage seepage seep seep- age water Out there In midwinter he has been nursing this slender stream across the hillside In order he I explained that should his home betaken betaken be betaken taken away he can start over o here SEES HOME IN DANGER i There ought to be enough for culinary culinary cul cul- inary use he wistfully contemplated the little stream You see he explained ex exI explained ex- ex I have always paid my debts But this piece and the home Is all allI I I have and unless they make the water tax so I can meet it ft Ill I'll have to toI I give them the home for what I owe Its It's tough to start all allover over at my age age And he went on grubbing at the hand- hand wide course getting ready for the worst with this little leaky crevice a lest laet hope There was an elderly lady owner of ofa ofa ofa a small strip In the town of Bountiful It had been her home for over half halt a century Most o of the influential resIdents residents residents resi resI- dents in the district had been known to her since infancy She had shares in one of the mountain streams sufficient sufficient sufficient suf suf- to water her place but the engineers engineers engineers engi engi- tacked on on an allotment of ot nearly nine acre feet They told me it would all aU be fixed later so I 1 didn't bother much about It It she said And this year jear I 1 get a awater awater awater water tax for tor Ive I've rented that piece to a neighbor for a. a 3 year rear ear right along ADVISED TO PROTEST And when I went to pay my taxes I protested protested There was the district di directors directors directors di- di rectors sitting in the room And when I told them about It Pay it under protest protest protest pro pro- I test they said But I r cant can't pay a a. abill abill bill like that Better the they should take my place lace specially when any t r t number out there getting more water than th n I do do- doand and not paying a cent Those owning large acreage under the ditch are even harder pressed One ambitious y young ung fellow bought a twenty twenty ty acre piece when whim he learned the ditch was coming through He has a family and Is paying for his lan land on install- install He owes about third one the purchase price We sat down and fig fig- This year his total receipts from the farm were vere under 1600 He has an Investment o of His general taxes were about 80 He was presented with witha a water bill for 1280 But there was th the grocer and a dozen other small creditors to pay pay and Interest t and a I payment due on one his land So he had to let the water bill slide because when he got through he had a little more than one half th the amount of the tax left WORKS NIGHT AND DAY He is working nights this wn winter er erand and choring around the farm days because if possible he wants to hold his land and he may be able to save it before it goes up for sale I wouldn't have It on a bet without the water but at the rate they're charging I wouldn't have bave It I If I could get out Everything Ive I've got is tied up here and I cant can't afford to lose it it A Aman Aman Aman man has to look out for his family O Of 01 course and he smiled everyone every one knows now that the district was mismanaged but it may be too too late Why they wasted our money in a a dozen dozer different ways and the only hope Isee I Isee see see for any of us Is that the courts will make an art an adjustment rit so we can pay It could be done and we could keep our our ur places and the bondholders wouldn't los lose a dime if if they'd only see It that way And then 1280 a year for twenty years would buy a couple o of farms as good as this And so it goes throughout the dis dis- One owner has rented his place under lease for a 0 year His water tax on on that piece this year ar was nearly 1100 Another one of the prime movers movers movers ers in In Inthe the u of the district owns a a. large tract made arable only by t the e ditch He defaulted the first year when the 1921 water tax w was s presented to him The Tho land can cannot net support s sucha suet such ch a a. burden The farmers feel this way about it They believe that mismanagement is responsible for their predicament anc and they believe that incident t to that mismanagement mismanagement mismanagement mis mis- management many acts were They hope to establish this not with rancor against any individual In Individual In- In nor In an attempt to get something something some some- thing for tor nothing But in an honest hones effort to save their homes and to remove re remove remove re- re move the Incubus of a watered obligation obligation obliga obliga- tion from the land on n which they de depend depend depend de- de pend for sustenance Editors Editor's note not This Is the second of ot a series of articles on the Bonneville Irrigation district based on hand first Investigations Others will follow |