Show 01 9 con be V 0 ea 1 ei ap eipl r ae F alres alm 16 4 0 1 kiert Z I 1 11 0 cc WORK APPOINT 5 CIAL TO biake 6 exhaustive INQUIRY by JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN OF THE INT INTERIOR bRIOR BERT WORK WORX Is reorganizing the bu reau of reclamation and all tl it e west Is w ahching the process and there la Is plenty to watch tor for there are 28 reclamation projects in 14 states representing an investment by the fed eral government of con sider ably over a million acres of ir righted lands are cropped each vear year and the products are valued v at 50 or more on these project lands are about people ex 0 elusive of the cities and villages the influence of each project Is of course wide read react ing wholesale purchases of manufactured products by the people on the yuma project arizona california for example totaled 0 o in 1921 so the prosperity of many people Is bound up with the prosperity of each project senator ashurst of arizona in a debate in the last congress said this at the outset let it be remembered that the full importance of national irrigation cannot be meas ared in dollars for it has an intangible value not to be estimated in tonnage tables nor transports tran tion rates in building new commonwealths in the arid lands of the west the government is ing undeveloped resources and creating op ties for its citizens one of the primary purposes ot of the reclamation law was to create homes and this purpose has been richly fulfilled viewed from this standpoint alone national reclamation has amply empty justified all for or which its advocates hoped t this may be true nevertheless this tion work is a bubness bul bu iness ness proposition uncle sim sam furnished the funds and did the work and is eventually to get his money back it now looks as if it would be some time before he breaks even members of congress have been preparing to make demands for repayments in this congress serre secre tary work is quoted as saying TI tie e bervice service w was as on the rocks and couldn coulden t have lasted five years longer he ile Is also quoted as speaking of himself as the receiver of the reclamation service al at together the twenty years of government tion do not seem to have been an unqualified sue cess fortunately there is an official statement which gives a fair idea of conditions it was made bv by secretary work to the special adv ady sors committee appointed by him last fall to make an exhaustive inquiry into the financial and pt leal feature features fit tl III e 28 projects and into go governa verrin policies a and nd methods tl TI e personnel ot of ih th a committee is dis the members now at work on the in Nesti gation are julius barnes of the united states chamber of commerce wasi wasl ington james R garfield former secretary of the in perlor cleveland ohio former governor thomas E 13 campbell of arl zona phoenix dr jol jot n A widtsoe former president of the state university and state agricultural college of utah salt lake city utah I 1 resident liesl ies dent ident oscal r br of the american farm bureau federation xenia 0 clyde cinde E dawson denver authority on tion law hawood hilf tood mead noted authority on reclamation and irrigation berkeley cal mr campbell was elected chairman and ur dr widtsoe secretary secretary work a statement to the committee was in part as folio follows Ns soon after I 1 was called upon to act as acre tary of the interior in M ach 1923 my attention was particularly directed to conditions relating to tl it e reclamation projects constructed or being con ted by the department in the western tates states and imong among NN wl I 1 id ick I 1 have lived for thirty five 3 sears cars through complaints from organizations of wa lei tel users individual water users reports of agents inspectors ois official records of tl tie e department and con congress gress it ai al scared tl tt at nearly all of the projects were in such condition that some radical reforms or must be had if they were to be s ined tarn farn ers protected from loss of their homes and the return of the money advanced I 1 y tl e gov arnn ent for tl air construction and n e NN was as to be secured tie TI e complaints and criticisms cover a arleta kar lety of points too nume numerous rou 9 to be deser bed here out included cl aiges that in many of the projects 11 tie e original estimates under w wl ich settlers i ere in lp deuced to go upon the projects w were ere brou trou i 50 to per cent too lo 10 v ind that tl it e actual cost I 1 as been so great tl it at it Is imps ble bie for the farmers to pay out will in tl tt e time and manner fixed by law or even at all that mistakes engineering and oth berwise had been made which added materially miteria lly to tl it e cost of constructed projects that oil eis had bad been undertaken that should never have been start ed that the overhead costs of the service and many of the individual projects all borne by water users were burdensome and excessive ander the system used in the reclamation kadir the beor eor diniz tion tl it e dit pet or of recin nation I 1 as been ib list ed pd A con in ss s oner of breclin tion I 1 s been appo P 1 W D vis vig and find tl it e b i ren i 0 ginned in line with the other 14 hu bu ren s of the depart n st nt of interior in tl it e W ial ing 1 ton office v w e w will III no v hive tl it e law son tte tie aull ting d vision tie tl e chief cherl s office the hu bu reau ei gincer an I 1 the four field inspectors in tl it e D denver nver of flee the detles nil be engineering hav bay ing to do with the construction w work 0 r k relative to bringing water to the d ifer ent projects it t that point the bet I 1 commissioner cin non an agriculture 1st will assume charge of the project management except for the work ork that C 9 0 Z oi arn Z Z i ak az I 1 6 Z tr 1 I hiim river project amny be required ed 0 of technical eng who will work from the office of the chief engineer the engineering division will sell senj its reports on the con eon work to the wash washl n g t 0 n office and rind the field co con a miss missioner loner will for ward his reports on tl it e operation and maintenance of the W 4 J ja A qu felly ici affy davis ke projects to the same C place campbell e 1 I C r weymouth Wey month chief engineer at ice fee I 1 hive been unable to get figures that aphea to he dp dependable as to the cost of individual piol ecks or tl it e total money expended on all projects it is represented taken from the records of the bureau tb abat at the governments total invests li ent to june 30 1923 in round numbers Is and its total tta I 1 rece apts about 46 1 e lying a bal ance invested and unpaid of the relan at on service for which th s depart ment is responsible apparently res re cation anguil leports on some projects indicate their ir fir solvency and pealing pen ling failure out of the 28 projects only one has met its obligations as they fell due long extensions of time for payments due arc u being urged individually and by projects the al at 20 v ear car period for paa pa n ent Is exair ing on certain projects and an additional 20 year ear extension Is being asbed asked in one instance such ex tension is to be preceded by a five year morat moratorium orlum reclamation of arid lands by irrigation atom government funds as hereto heretofore foie bract ced is falling failing on a majority of projects as a b 1 is ness procedure and must be promptly readjusted is to method of le of funds appropriated and for t the he purpose of securing to the settler a permanent home your committee Is requested to survey the whole hole subject abject in its give to the bureau your opinions concern ng our operating methods that we may an avoid old errors and finally 3 our becom wl wilch ich c tigress may study and which should ultimately preserve ve tl e sanctity ltv of con tract secure to farmers formers safety for their invest ments already made and insure a return of invest cd ed funds secretary work s first move was to accept the resignation of A P davis as director of the rec la mation ind ta to abolish the office lie ile then ar appointed davidw david W davis commissioner of the bu reau of mitlon and miles cannon former commissioner of agriculture of idal 0 field recia matlon mation commissioner late last fall he announced that the two principal headquarters of the reel recia mation service u 0 ild be in wasell agton and den ver the latter city being a central po nt aa as to the carlois ree projects TI tie e reclamation service will henceforth be divided into two separate departments lepart ments one will cire care for tl it e construction of the projects the other will cai cal e acl tl e operation and ind maintenance after construe tion secretary worl wort s announcement of tion was made to a special committee of the den ver er civic and coi mercial assoc aaion with when he I 1 rad ad been in conference he ile sal sail I 1 in part the dropp ng of 25 employees in washington will mein a savin of 20 a year as tl e sn qa anes aries of these employees amounted to ip proximate ly a and the expenses incidental to their employment totaled about the same amount tt ere are about 71 7 employees of tl it e bureau in den denver er and some 5 en engaged in orl of construction operation and maintenance on tle tl e lif ferent projects no decision will nill be reached in regard to these employees until I 1 I 1 ave I 1 lad ad an opportunity to go ON over er the situation tl or hughly I 1 orm ariy riy the reel n atlon service wis under the dh ector of ree A P davis w wl I 1 0 wa waa an engineer with offices in ili wasi wasl ington lie it e branch office in denver was w is for the administrative work in the field fach rach project was supervised by a manager who attended to the operation of the project and who w m is tl e connect connecting ln link between the government and the farmer tl is project man ager tiger did the collecting supervised the operation of tl e ditches and endeavored to get settlers for the land 9 denver brinch will act as engineer and miles can non Is the field commissioner they will act un ler lei day d W davis the commissioner of tl e bureau who will have charge of the administration of the reclamation work and the 0 sir mr wey mouth and mr air cannon have gone over this plat ditl me and are thoro igl ly in accord with it mr weymouth mouth stall smi have ha NO charge of all engi en 1 I y needing work such as reconnaissance In eions designs construction ind such oti oil cr er as may be assigned he ile will have two assistant cl lef en engineers inders with whom to consult and who will substitute for him in his absence As field commiss oner mr ir cannon will hive charge of the operation of the reclamation dis tracts such as the delivery of water land crop production handling and marketing improvement of farm conditions industrial betterment callec tin tl n of water ft ater and oti otter er charges and tl tie e settlement of lands chairman campbell of the advisors committee afeei preliminary invest gation says that a art c moratorium will have to be granted bv by the government on a number of reclamation projects to prevent disastrous failure for the present ten ants in my opinion said mr campbell it wl wt I 1 be nece aary foi the government to recon t the ciscil 11 policy of its reclamation service and grant ber of projects probably one oue a i ew to a nuu third of them the western states reclamation association re antly met at salt lake elected R E sl epi er I 1 president in place of D W davis resigned tt TI e annual report OR 0 secretary frank E brown said in part tt TI aseff us who are inclined ned pessimistically to view vi ew ft teeming inability of settlers on govern ment arx gation projects to pay their just orilga eions because of it tie e wide spread between the cost of living and production and the price of farm products hive have taken the view tl it at a situa tion dangerous to expansion has developed through the necessity of the appointment by tl e seret secre secretory tiry try of the interior of a fact find ng commission special advisors cor cov cittee the report of which they bel bet eve may blast the hopes for tl it e future but the truth Is if we will revie v tt it e situation calmly we will agree that the fact fin hn ilg commis cominis slon Is really the first greit effort the government has ever made to look into the of these projects project abich mean can personal ing ih fh s fact finding commission with a personnel ahiel brings confidence Is not to be led on bj by tie vagaries of gue Norl it vv NN 11 not be E v ay ed by tl e narro s of unsound economic ai a nor w v 11 it be turne I 1 in its fin lings by those en tl among us in the west alere tl ere have ho v ever never been counter currents me 1 farmers of the united states i ail est of tl ti e api rin river er have been I 1 qi I 1 hit man many of tl it em and son e of the r representatives e in congress ire of tl ti e op nion mon that tl it e e is ill eida land in ili the united states too to i inch i ich cultivated this association cannot depart from its tits firs position of a broad and comphel ansh e reel mation plan lie ile I 1 principal inn rin cipal reclamation projects are tire as fol I 1 Ns s salt river arizona yuna yun a Arlzo arizona ca grand valley nalley and uncompahgre colo coto rado boise ind minidoka Mini doka idaho milk river ani sun river riter montina lower yellowstone mon tana north dakota north platte nebraska N new ew landh nevada rio grande new mexico texas umatilla oregon mamath oregon california belle fourche south dakota strawberry valley utah yakima NV washington ashington Sho shoshone shou oe |