| Show ABOUT irrigating CANALS complaint Is heard from shareholders in irrigating canals in this vicinity that a change is being made in the method of repairing them which bears hard on the farmer he is being required to pay in cash his share of the expense of making repairs instead of being allowed to work on the canal himself as has heretofore been the rule the result is he is obliged to raise a sum of money which often amounts to a serious tax and is deprived of employment which he used to have this is all wrong and shows gross mismanagement to compel the shareholders in a canal to raise money to pay for making repairs upon it and then to stand idle and see others do the work and receive the money they have contributed is indic inflicting ting upon them a needless and senseless burden there has never been a period in utah when the average shareholders in an irrigating canal did not have more time than money taking the year round and hence it has hag always been vastly easier for him to do a few days work in putting a canal in repair than to raise the cash with which to pay some other mans wage for doing the same work of course when some improvement has to be done on a canal which can not be accomplished by manual labor but requires the purchase of mater material lai which can be obtained tor for cash only it becomes necessary to collect cash from the shareholders the complaints referred to do not relate to such cases however but to the ordinary cleaning out and enlarging of the canals some people seem to think that it is a good thing to put all business on a cash basis but there are exceptions to this rule and one of the exceptions is the business of irrigation districts in them the infliction of cash assessments should be avoided and opportunity to pay the cost of repairs etc in labor should be given as much as possible in no one thing did the founders of utah display greater practical foresight than establishing the rule that irrigating water should go with the land so that the same person should own both in many localities in the arid and region where large corporations control the water the natural advantages offered to bome home seekers are vastly superior to what utah could originally boast the climate and soil are better and the water more abundant yet the fact that the tiller of the soil must each year pay cash tor for irrigating water makes it difficult or impossible for him to prosper and build up the country hence localities where this condition prevails rarely grow and increase in wealth and prosperity as do those where the water is held afa appurtenance to the land j the charge of one dollar per r aea CRI for water seems at first sight to t 2011 ii very moderate one and canal coca 7 canles truthfully assert that it wa no more than keep up repairs and a reasonable interest on the cost ot t their plants but to the farmer that irrigates no more than fifty or na oak hundred acres it is a very hea heavy VY ft tax 4 and consumes a large share of b hs crop why is the tax so large to hw when it is so small to the canal COA 6 pany 9 because he has to pay tt it te cash enste instead id of labor the princ principal apal of utilizing labor tri la stead of demanding cash in turn tah ing water for irrigation is one ot of j tte great secrets of prosperity aad should never be lost sight of b by tn gation districts and canal A |
