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Show THE IRRIGATION BILL DEBATE. But one amendment of any Import-once Import-once waa made to the Irrigation bill as It passed the Senate. It was a proviso put at the end of section 6, and reads thus: Provided, That the title to the reservoir and the works ne. esenrv for their protee. tlon nnd operation shall remain la the Government until otherwise provided by Congress Tho debnte nn the hill was on Saturday Satur-day last, though Senator Clark of Wjo-mlng Wjo-mlng addressed the Senato tho day before be-fore In support of the bill. Mr. Hans-brough Hans-brough of North Dakota waa In charge of tho bill. No one opposed It, but there were many Inquiries. Senator Cullom was curious to know how much land the bill would open up, and how much Increase In-crease It would add to the population of the arid Slates. Senator Cockrell wunted to know bow many acres of land It would take to support a famllj-, an 1 whether one family could profitably use as much na 160 acres of land. Senator Piatt nf Connecticut wanted to Know bow much land Urlgham Young set apart to each famllj-. Senator Teller thought the slzo of Brlghum Young's family was not material to the dlsius-slon. dlsius-slon. and Senator Stewart thought twenty acres was that limit. Senator Haw Una said nothing at thla stage, but later spoke In favor of the bill. Senator Hoar defended the "log-rolling" of the river and harbor bill, saying It was merely a Just apportioning of benefits throughout the country; as to Irrigation, locally he had no Interest In It, "hut us Americans we have In It a vast Interest. There Is a great srace on the earth's surface nearly wasto and barren now, which by reasonable and moderate expenditure ex-penditure can be converted Into a fertile und blooming garden and enn blossom as tho rose. I have no doubt there are on this continent lands largely useless now, on which under proper development develop-ment nnd vvith proper human agencies ten and perhaps scores and peihaps hundreds of millions of human beings aro within a. century or less to be located lo-cated In happy American homes, and I for one, as a New 1-ngland man, as a Massachusetts man, and as a lover of my country, welcomo the Inauguration of the policy which Is to btlng that tn nflSA." Senator Bacon of Georgia also npproved; ho considered tho ownership of so much of the land to bo reclaimed being In the Government, n strong point In favor of the bill; he thought that "If wo can withdraw our attention from that which will not be of pioflt to us and center It upon that which will be of Infinite profit npd advantage to us In this Immense area awaiting our touch to wuke It from sleep. It will be sufficient suffi-cient compensation in my mind for the appropilatlon which Is asked," And further, "If wo hive millions to spure cither out of the sale of public lands or out of other funds, It Is better that vie devote the money to tho Improvement and reclamation of our own count ly limitless as It Is In Its promise nnd Its vast possibilities, than that we xhould squander It in distant lands among an alien people " Mr. Clay of Georgia, on looking look-ing over the last river nnd harbor bill, saw that fifty million dollars was carried In it, and that neither Colorado, Idaho, I. tali, Montann, Nebraska nor North Dakota received a dollar, and South Dakota and Wjomlng only small amounts. This was the kejnolc. It was a proposition to allow the passage of this bill In consideration of non-op-position from tho nrld Stntes to the river and harbor bill. All through the debate the two were Joined Senator Hoar's speech was devoted almost entirely en-tirely to tho advisability of river and harbor appropriations. Hvldently one bill was considered a set-off ngnlnst the other, nnd some Senators were astonished aston-ished at tho moderation of the Senators from the Western Slates. Tlllmnn of SOuth Carolina waa most pronounced In this; ho nlmost begged the Senators from the Wert to Insist on getting moie. On looking over the river and harbor propositions, he saw that many of them ate useless, "Wc nre spending millions of dollais," bo said, "to secure something some-thing that Is never used," And he continued: con-tinued: "Therefore, when the people In the West come forwnrd here and ask Congress to give them consideration by beginning a scheme of Internal Improve, ment looking largely to enabling those States to obtain citizens, I must confess It nppcals to mo as a pvnctlc.il, statesmanlike states-manlike method of spending money, nnd one far moio worthy of consideration and respd than some of Ihe expenditures expendi-tures for rivers, for Instance." Then, getting down to business, all the time with an eje tn the river and hirhor np-proptlatlon, np-proptlatlon, of which ho candidly said be Intended to ask Ills share, ho went on Ihe onlv thing which I see In this prnpo-sttl-ili tlut 1 rohihlj Is strnnge Is that Instead In-stead nf mnilnif UfreUly to the Treasury and u.klnu 1, specific; appropriation for annual improvements nl'aig this line, us we are making continuing contracts for Improving Hurs and harbors, we tome hero and mer Iv limit these people to a fund that Is nebulous and will certainly plote inadequate. I think the people of the i:si -und I live In State In (he l'..ut where wo get plenty of rain ordlii.irllj t-hould go at this In a bro.cilc-r and more statesmanlike wuv, and Instead of umng the tnonev that Is to be derived troni these sales winch, as I suld, will tie un-certsla un-certsla tn amount, nnd the amount Is going go-ing to be Inadequate, wo should go ut It by a illicit appropriation. Theie could be no plainer Invitation than that to ask for a specific appropriation appro-priation from the general treasury, In a degice corresponding with what n llko number of States expect to get Iti u river and harbor bill, It Is plain, also, that the Senate would ugrec to the piopusltlon. Ilut there Is tho House to consider, nnd it is conceded that tho bill will not rocevo the favor In tho House that It did In the Senate. Its Irlends are therefore wise In confining their demands de-mands to the use of the money from the sales of public lands nnd land office fees In the States to be operated In, but Senator Tillman is right, the amount so raised will neither be enough for the inauguration or completion of any great project. After a while (possibly this j ear. In conference committee Jangles,) we may be able to add something to the revenues for the Irrigation hill purposes, and doubtless If the opportunity presents pre-sents Itself, It will be seized. |
