v
W /NI
PROCEEDINGS OF SECOND ANNUAL MEETING
National Reclamation Association
in conjunction withWestern Governors Conference
andAssociation of Western State Engineers
THE PRESIDENT SALUTES
WASHINGTON, D.C., NOVEMBER 27, 1933 MARSHALL N. DANA, PRESIDENT
NATIONAL RECLAMATION ASSOCIATION BOISE, IDAHO
MY DEAR MR. DANA: I DO NOT WANT TO LET THE OCCASION OF THE SECOND AN-NUAL MEETING OF THE NATIONAL RECLAMATION ASSOCIATION GO BY WITHOUT SENDING YOU MY GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES STOP MAY YOUR DELIBERATIONS RESULT IN MUTUAL BENEFIT TO FEDERAL WATER USERS AND THE PUBLIC GEN-ERALLY PARAGRAPH
RECLAMATION AS A FEDERAL POLICY HAS PROVEN ITS WORTH AND HAS A VERY DEFINITE PLACE IN OUR ECONOMIC EXISTENCE STOP SPREAD OVER ONE-THIRD OF THE TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES AND CREATING TAXABLE VALUES AND PURCHASING POWER AFFECTING MUNICIPAL STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS AND PRIVATE INDUSTRY IT IS ONLY REASONABLE THAT WE SHOULD ALL TAKE PRIDE IN ITS ACHIEVEMENTS AND SUCCESS PARAGRAPH
THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION MORE POPULARLY KNOWN AS N R A IS DESIGNED TO PULL US OUT OF THE DEPRESSION AND THAT IT IS ACCOMPLISHING ITS PURPOSE IS ACCLAIMED EVERYWHERE STOP I HOPE THE FACT THAT YOUR ASSOCIATION HAS THE SAME INITIALS IS SIGNIFICANT AND THAT THE TWO MAY GRADUALLY BUT SURELY HELP THE FARMER TO ECONOMIC INDE-PENDENCE WITH THE ACTIVE COOPERATION OF THE ADMINISTRATION VERY SIN-CERELY YOURS
605
N3
1933
FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT
m Franklin D. Roosevelt, President d States, to National Reclamation deeting, held in Boise, Idaho.
BOISE, IDAHO NOVEMBER 27-28, 1933
FROM FRIENDS OF RECLAMATION
War Department, Washington—November 20, 1933. Dear Mr. Dana:
Having had a share in the organization of the National Reclamation Association, I am especially regretful that conditions here will not permit me to avail myself of the kind invitation in your letter of November 10 to meet with you at Boise next week.
I am just as deeply interested as ever in reclamation, although somewhat removed from the field of action, and want to see it move forward along consistent and constructive lines. I am particularly interested in the advancement of the National Reclamation As-sociation as an effective force in this connection.
Dr. Mead plans to be with you and will convey much better than I can the atti-tude and interest of the Federal government in reclamation. In your deliberations and planning, I would suggest you keep very definitely in mind two things—first, keeping faith with the Federal government in repayment of funds advanced, and second, that the great surplus in agricultural products at this time dictates the advisability of fostering new projects which will guarantee full water rights for lands already in cultivation or partially improved. I shall leave it to Dr. Mead to elaborate these suggestions.
With sincere wishes for a most profitable meeting and the continued success of the organization, I am,
Yours very truly,
GEORGE H. DERN, (Signed) Secretary of War.
Marshall N. Dana, President National Reclamation Ass'n, Boise, Idaho.
Regret exceedingly inability to attend meeting National Reclamation Association, but due to large number of applications for loans and distressed financial condition pre-vailing in irrigation and drainage districts, requires my presence here to expedite, as far as possible, disbursement of fund appropriated Stop To date loansloans have been approved in amount of thirteen million four hundred twenty-four thousand Stop Drainage and levee districts receiving six million nine hundred thousand Stop Irrigation six million five hundred thousand Stop Of amount approved for drainage districts within irrigation projects located in Colorado and New Mexico Stop We are unable to determine exact amount of loans requested as tnan.,' applicants do not designate specific amount, but from best estimates the amount will exceed one hundred million Stop No allocation of funds as appropriated has been made hut be assured that an equitable distribution based upon applications filed from the various states with the further consideration of distress prevailing and upon the basis of greatest good to greatest number will be the determining factor Stop Preliminary applications will be accepted subject to formal application com-plying with requested information of corporations circular number seven Stop Urge that all districts who can effect a sufficient discount of their presently outstanding obligations make application immediately Stop Appraisers now at work in Northwest states at-tempting as far as possible to complete appraisals of districts within early snow territory Stop Refunding statutes of various states should be amended to authorize the refunding of bonds, notes, warrants, judgments and certificates of indebtedness by the issuance of refunding bonds which may be exchanged or sold and which mature in not more than forty years so that full benefit of act may be obtained Stop Extending our best wishes for a successful meeting and assuring you and through you to those assembled that we are desirous of extending every possible cooperation to the end that all may receive the bene-fits provided under the New Deal for irrigation and drainage projects.
FRANK J. KEENAN, Financial Advisor Drainage, Levee and Irrigation Division.
GREETING from Governor C. Ben Ross of Idaho:
On behalf of the people of Idaho, I welcome the Reclamation representatives from the various sections, to the Gem State of Idaho.
The foundation of this state was laid some sixty years ago through irrigation, in fact it was built upon irrigation, and the prosperity in the state depends upon successful storage of the flood waters of all our rivers so they may be applied during the growing season upon the arid lands.
The greatest economic loss in the Northwestern territory is from the fact the surplus waters flow unobstructed to the Pacific Ocean. If these waters could be stored and applied to the land systematically, it would pay the total taxes of this area, and would build every schoolhouse in this area. Therefore, it behooves this group of men to put forth every effort, to the end that adequate storage facilities will be constructed to store the water in the wet years and carry them over as an insurance to produce crops during the dry years.
We hope through the efforts of this Association that the United States Congress and the President will be made to see the necessity of the early completion of this problem. Idaho probably has more irrigated acres than any other one state in the Northwest, and, therefore, we are again glad to welcome this group of leaders to the Capital City of our fair State.
Meeting an Emergency
A year ago emergency created the National Reclamation Association, through cooperation of Western Governors.
It may have been destiny that caused N.R.A. first to mean National Reclamation and, later, National Recovery. In the economic and social restora-tion of America, reclamarestora-tion has narestora-tional rather than secrestora-tional importance.
The reclamation conference on December 5, 1932, in Salt Lake, was held at the call of the Honorable George H. Dern, then Governor of Utah and President of the Western Governors' conference, and now Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The National Reclamation Association, then organized by delegates rep-resenting fourteen Western states and chosen by their respective Governors, confronted two emergency situations:
1. A determined effort to erase reclamation as a national policy.
2. The plight of settlers affected as were other farmers of the country, by the economic depression.
Later appeared important questions of the inclusion of reclamation in the Public Works program and the unimpaired administration of the Bureau of Reclamation under the Commissionership of Dr. Elwood Mead. These were dealt with in the light of what appeared to be the essential interest of reclama-tion
At the beginning the National Reclamation Association faced its own question of policy. Should it set up the conventional, salaried, money-raising organization? Should it move at once to meet the emergency? The latter course was chosen. No salaries were contracted, only actual travel and cor-respondence expenses were paid, and volunteer service was utilized.
Three separate journeys were made to Washington, D.C., in the follow-ing order:
1.
JANUARY:
To present to the regular Congress the reclamationemer-gency, to support extension of time on payments due from settlers on account of construction, and, in New York, to confer with Mr. Roosevelt as President-elect on questions of reclamation policy, as these would arise during his ad-ministration.
2. APRIL: To press before the Special Congress the $5,000,000 loan with which to continue construction of authorized projects, to make personal appeal to President Roosevelt for inclusion of reclamation in the administra-tion program, and to ask the President and the Secretary of the Interior that the administration of the Bureau of Reclamation might continue unchanged in essential personnel.
3.
JUNE:
To appeal to the President, the Secretary of the Interior, the Cabinet Board for Public Works, the Administration of Public Works, as then constituted, and others in authority, for inclusion of reclamation in the Public Works program, the understanding being that new projects and raw land would not be added by appeal of the Association.Details might occupy great space. The following are in the record: 1. Reclamation has been continued as a national policy with support of the Administration and of Congress.
2. Time extension of a year and a half on account of payments due for construction was granted to Federal irrigation project settlers in response to a joint appeal by the Federal Irrigation Congress and the National Reclama-tion AssociaReclama-tion.
3. A loan of $5,000,000 with which to continue authorized construction was included in the Administration program and was authorized.
4. Essential organization of the Bureau of Reclamation was continued with Dr. Elwood Mead as Commissioner.
5. National publicity has been obtained for reclamation as a necessary method of agriculture and not as political pork barrel or subsidy, but as an enterprise sustained by the revolving fund created by Federal administration of Western resources.
6. Fifty million dollars were set aside with which to refinance drainage, levee and irrigation districts organized under state Jaw and not in a position to qualify as Federal projects.
7. Twenty-five million dollars were assigned to a fund for subsistence homesteads with certain reclamation contacts.
8. Many phases of agricultural adjustment and home and farm loans were identified with the interests of reclamation project settlers.
9. An agreement was reached with the Secretary of Agriculture that the Department of Agriculture would discontinue a previous activity against reclamation on consideration that new projects would not be sought.
10. Reclamation was included in the Public Works program and author-izations were made approximating $200,000,000, including, in part, the sums above indicated, but disregarding the reclamation phases of the Fort Peck and Bonneville dams, representing a total ultimate cost of more than $100,-000,000. The following are the direct reclamation allotments at this time:
ALLOTMENT FROM STATE Arizona Arizona Arizona-Nevada Arizona-Nevada California Idaho Idaho Idaho Montana Montana Montana Montana Nevada Nevada New Mexico-Texas Oregon Oregon Oregon Utah Utah Utah Utah Utah Washington Washington Washington Wyoming
NIRA FUNDS FOR RECLAMATION PROJECTS
PROJECT AMOUNT
Yuma Verde Boulder Dam Boulder Dam All American Canal Boise
Upper Snake River Minidoka-Gooding Bitter Root
Milk River Chain Lakes Dam Sun River Newlands Humboldt Rio-Grande Owyhee Stanfield Vale Hyrum Ogden Deer Creek Moon Lake Sanpete County Cle Elum Kittitas Grand Coulee Casper-Alcova Total -$ 120,000.00 18,000,000.00 28,000,000.00 10,000,000.00 27,000,000.00 100,000.00 4,000,000.00 400,000.00 100,000.00 65,000.00 2,000,000.00 600,000.00 1,500,000.00 2,000,000.00 500,000.00 5,000,000.00 100,000.00 1,000,000.00 930,000.00 3,000,000.00 12,000,000.00 4,000,000.00 500,000.00 400,000.00 60,000.00 63,000,000.00 22,700,000.00 - $207,075,000.00
In connection with the above list, the National Reclamation Association does not arrogantly say, "We did it all.- In all of it, we helped. In some of it, we led. Throughout there was cooperation. We might paraphrase a classic statement, "All of which we saw, part of which we
were.-RECOMMENDATIONS
1. That the National Reclamation Association be continued in full strength and power of appeal, not only to advance the interests of reclamation as a national policy, militantly when necessary, but equally to safeguard the integrity of reclamation and to insist upon the good faith of its transactions. 2. That the Association continue its cooperative relationship with the Western Governors' Conference and that each affiliated state also be represented by its own State Reclamation Association or Congress.
3. That great care be taken as to reclamation proposals before the next Congress, that facts be thoroughly scrutinized in advance, that any sugges-tions for cancellation of settler-government contracts be opposed and classified as intended repudiation, and that only those proposals worthy the support of honest men shall be countenanced by the Association.
4. That the discussion in respect to the retirement of marginal lands in equal dollar value with lands hereafter to be reclaimed, be joined by the National Reclamation Association with the proposal that the marginal lands to be retired be primarily within the states and regions where reclamation projects are located.
5. That as the final unit of the authorized program not included in Public Works authorization, this Association give its support to the Roza unit of the Yakima project.
6. That the National Reclamation Association stand behind President Roosevelt, Secretary Ickes, Dr. Mead and the Bureau of Reclamation with appreciation of the generosity and the loyalty shown in the allotment of Public Works funds.
APPRECIATION
To Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, who said -I'll do it,- when asked to include reclamation in national Administration policy, and who did as he promised.
To Secretary of the Interior Ickes, who advanced reclamation by opera-tion of Federal agencies.
To Dr. Elwood Mead, the great builder of the reclamation era.
To the Senators and Representatives of Western States, with honor to the memory of a valiant friend, the late Senator John B. Kendrick, of Wyoming. To Kenneth C. Miller, Secretary of the National Reclamation Association, whose unflagging aid and splendid work could not be paid for in money.
To A. E. Larson, Treasurer, who has been an inspiration.
I had prepared for reading at this meeting a list of those to whom I desire to express appreciation and gratitude, but I find the distribution of honors SO great that I am making only a general statement of appreciation to every person, in whatever capacity, for work and services rendered. You who have so faithfully served will know, within your own hearts, that you have con-tributed definitely to a cause of lasting importance to the West.
Conclusion: Reclamation has received this year support more than equal to the total of the preceding period after the Act of 1902. Every job created by money assigned to reclamation will create two jobs, indirectly, in the Eastern industrial centers, and add to the market for material manufactured, products and supplies already created through the activities of reclamation projects. Western agriculture will be influenced and Western interests moulded for generations to come. The West's position in the nation will be immeasur-ably strengthened and vivified. Yet beyond the lands to be cultivated, the homes to be established, the related interests of cities, ports, industries and transportation to be advanced, the material values to be increased, and the strategic position to be strengthened, the great accomplishment of this year will be found in the broadened area of human opportunity. We shall not witness a regimented colonization of reclamation projects. Americans will not readily lend themselves to removal, even from marginal to fertile land, under the order of the so-called superior minds. But we will witness the pioneering spirit of American'initiative seeking out the spaces, the power and the vital relationship of soil and civilization. We will witness the production of an
individualism able to supply its own leadership, in wholesome life and superior mentality, for strong local citizenship, national loyalty and international viewpoint.
I offer this statement as the chief explanation of any devotion to reclama-tion of which I may have given evidence. I shall confess that another explana-tion is the cherished associaexplana-tions that have been formed.
The service has been gladly given.
Report to National Reclamation Association
By
MARSHALL N. DANA, President Boise, Idaho—November 27, 1933
Address
ByDR. ELWOOD MEAD,
United States Commissioner of Reclamation
I am not unmindful of the good opinion of my fellow men and have been deeply moved by the praise of our Chairman. Let me say in response that I feel grateful for the privilege of being associated with the thinkers and workers who are unselfishly striving to create, in what was once a desert solitude, homes and a civilization equal to that of any part of this country.
The proposals which confront us today are so much brighter than they were a year ago that they must fill with hope everyone in this hail. When I think of the contrast of the situation twelve months ago with the oppor-tunities and responsibilities that rest on us today, I sometimes doubt whether I am entirely sober.
A year ago the income of the Bureau had shrunk to one-third what it had been in former years, power revenues were low, and payments of irrigators had been reduced because of the ruinous low prices of farm products, which had caused Congress to grant a moratorium on construction payments. Not only had there been a shrinkage of revenue and a slowing down in construc-tion, but the situation of irrigation in the West was not understood elsewhere. Only the cultivators of irrigated farms with a short water supply realized the need for the activities of the Bureau of Reclamation in the rescue work it has been doing on the older irrigation developments, and the imperative need that these activities be continued if the imperiled homes of the pioneers were to be saved. The people who live in the valleys along our Western streams know that under nearly every one of the earlier canals we have more acres than we have water to irrigate. They know that this condition can not be changed until we build reservoirs to store the floods and save the water which runs unused to the sea outside of the irrigation period. They know that the irri-gated land is being better farmed and growing higher priced crops than it did twenty and twenty-five years ago, but this improvement has changed the relation of the needs of the irrigator to the water supply of streams. When the principal crop on the irrigated farm was wheat, it could be irrigated when the stream was in flood because irrigation stopped in July. Now, when the principal crops are sugar-beets, fruits and vegetables, it is the water that is used after July and not before, that is important. That late water supply can only be had in one way and that is by having a reservoir to draw on.
The situation in Salt Lake Valley, one of our oldest and best farmed sections, was presented to the Board of Public Works by Governor Blood and his associates in making an appeal for more storages. What they said can not be too often repeated.
"Thousands of our farmers work hard .until midsummer and then see the result of their labors rendered fruitless for lack of water supply. The farmers' sons will not submit to this annual agony, and drift into cities, thus increasing the problems described by President Roosevelt as
a dislocation of the proper balance between urban and rural life.' "Already there has been a decrease of 33'70 in the total irrigated area. In practically all rural areas within the State of Utah the school population is less in number than that of 25 years
ago.-For several years the Bureau has fought for more money and more action in this matter of salvaging the older irrigation districts, and because the money was not available and there had to be unending delay in the beginning and completing of storages, it has suffered with the farmers. Up to the coming of the Public Works authority and its recovery program there seemed no hope for much of the Western area within our lifetime. Hence, the providing of funds to build so many of these important and needed works has come like an answer to prayer.
Let us take as an illustration the situation on the Owyhee River before the Owyhee dam was started. Many of the settlers came there forty years ago with no knowledge of how the flow of streams fluctuated, no knowledge of how much water crops needed, or when they needed it, so they laid out their farms and built their ditches and homes, planted orchards, and towns sprang up only to find that, as development extended, dangers and losses that they had never foreseen occurring by reason of a short water supply, came to dominate their future. At last, six years ago, the Owyhee dam and reservoir were authorized. The same has been completed and stands there as a guardian spirit over the future hope and prosperity of the valley below. When it was approved the Bureau and Congress were criticized. The $6,000,000 that the dam would cost was more than the construction income of the Bureau for a whole year. Other valleys that needed expenditures of money were fearful of this large sum and its effect on them, and the East looked on it as a symbol of evil means of increasing the surplus. There was also fear that the settlers would not be willing and could not repay the development, but the need for this dam has grown every year since its construction. It has been completed at a time when the farmers in the valley below know that without it they are ruined, that the future would have no hope for them. It is true that it ought to have been completed in less time. It could have been completed in half the time if the money could have been provided. In Italy in the valley of the Po there is a great irrigation system that dominates the valley, called the "Valley of the Lost Bread,- and it is so-called because they had to wait forty years for the money to build the system after the need for it was known. Now the dam is built, we can store the wasted water. We need a system of main canals to connect with the old works, and here Public Works comes like the answer to prayer. Instead of a meager appropriation, we get a single $5,000,000 appropriation, so that much of the country will have an assured
water supply next year.
Even now many other sections of the country do not understand what a fitting symbol this dam is of a recovery program. They do not understand the gratitude and relief of the struggling families who have gone through the agony of crop failures in the five years behind us. They do not realize how many stores and banks would have been closed if this dam had not been built, and how many orders of farm machinery and new suits of clothes will go East because of the larger yields and better incomes that will result from its building. A prosperous irrigated farm is the best customer of factories and business in the East. A drought-stricken farming area hurts the East. What we grow is more and more consumed at home, and more and more it is con-fined to crops that can not be grown elsewhere.
Take the valley in which this meeting is held. Once its surplus crops moved East. Now, with the exception of potatoes, they move West and South.
Last year the opposition to Federal irrigation menaced the projects. Secretary Wilbur of the Interior Department was preaching the gospel to store the floods. Secretary Hyde of the Department of Agriculture was urging that the door to Federal irrigation be closed and kept locked. Few realize how small is the whole area that has been reclaimed by Federal irrigation, and still fewer realize that one good rain in the Mississippi Valley will do more to increase the surplus than all the crops grown under Federal irrigation works.
The National Reclamation Association was born to confront and help cure this discouragement and dangerous economic situation. It was altogether fitting that it was called by the Governor of Utah and met in the valley where modern irrigation in this country had its birthplace. The men who attended that meeting and the action taken at that meeting show that it voiced the hopes, the aspirations and needs of the arid third of the country, that it was entirely divorced from self-seeking and was dominated by men who had no selfish interest. The selection of Mr. Dana as the first President gave the cause the exact kind of leadership it needed and the man who could voice the situation in the West with an eloquence and fervor that commanded attention. That there was need of some voice capable of interpreting the Western situation and the Western future was shown by the fact that when the Public Recovery Act was framed, it enumerated a great list of objects for which its funds could be expended, but reclamation, the paramount need of one-third of the country, was conspicuous by its absence. This omission was not due to opposition so much as a clash of opinions and prejudice. Mr. Dana and his associates were able to educate public opinion and, best of all, to assist the President of the United States to understand the Western situation, and so enable reclamation to have a place in the Recovery program. The Bureau of Reclamation was asked to submit to the Public Works Administration a list of projects about which it was informed and which it believed worthy.
In this list Owyhee was included, and yesterday I had an opportunity to see the great progress that has already been made in connecting the reservoir with the poorly supplied canals, and to learn how much it is doing to provide needed employment, but still more to bring hope and encouragement and con-fidence to this Oregon and Idaho valley. Owyhee is only an illustration of what the recovery program is doing for every one of the arid states; to valleys in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and all the other Western states.
What is being done means new and better days. The Bureau did not do this. The funds were provided by the Secretary of the Interior and the Board that handles the Public Works funds. At first we were fearful that the new code of wages might cause delay, but I am delighted to say that thus far there has been no added burden to the water users from contracts let. Providing money in adequate amounts to enable work to be pushed at an economical rate means a great reduction in the cost over what was possible when we had to divide up our meager yearly income and prolong unduly the work being carried on, with the consequence of added expense for overhead.
We are not yet able to sense what it means to the West to have more money provided in the last six months than was available for construction in the previous twenty years. The problems of letting the right kind of con-tracts and supervising construction and seeing that it is properly done has placed new tests on the Bureau of Reclamation as a technical organization
entirely divorced from politics. It is only fair to our engineering staff in Den-ver and to the engineers scattered throughout the West in charge of field work, to say that competent observers believe it is equal to this new responsi-bility and that it is one of the finest engineering organizations in charge of reclamation in any country in the world.
I want to bring out one thing. those who object to irrigation point out the large amount of money that is being spent in sparsely settled areas where there are few unemployed and where the benefits to labor would be greater if the money were allotted to sections where workers live. The fact is that the money allotted to these projects is not all being spent where the works are being built. The benefits will come to these regions hereafter, but the construction benefits, the employment benefits, are widely distributed. Forty per cent of every dollar being spent on Boulder Dam today goes east of the Mississippi River. Fifty-five thousand tons of steel are being rolled in Gary, hundreds of miles of pipe, used in chilling the concrete in the dam, is all being made in the East. We have let contracts for turbines, generators, for gates and valves and reinforcing steel, to factories in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Birming-hc,m and Newport News. From all of these industrial plants we get the same story; that this work is of a special character, that it puts machinery in their factories to work which would otherwise be idle, that it gives wages to labor that they could not otherwise employ.
The next contract that we let on the Owyhee will be for a steel siphon, which will be fabricated somewhere east of the Mississippi River.
Let me say to this body before closing that the members of the Bureau have a deep debt of gratitude to this organization for the confidence shown and the support that has been given it during the past year. We have an equally grateful appreciation of the kind words said and the kind acts done by Governors, Congressmen, and Senators. All these place us under obliga-tion of faithful service and achievements. I hope a quarter of a century from now, when there is a historical appraisal of the work of the Reclamation Bureau during this period, that the judgment of the qualified will be that it met this demand on its loyalty and its capacity, and that these large expendi-tures will mean better homes, better farms, and a larger contribution to the economic welfare of the whole region. We have an obligation to the States, to the President of the United States, and to the Secretary of the Interior, to show that the reclamation part of the recovery program is as fruitful in results and contributes as greatly to the social and economic welfare of this country as any monies spent in other fields.
Address
By EDWARD HYATT, State Engineer of California
Origin and Purpose. The Association of Western State Engineers is an organization of those administrative officials in Western states who are charged with responsibility to administer the laws relating to water. The purpose of the Association is:
1. To formulate broad principles, applicable to all of these states, for use, control, and regulation of the waters thereof.
2. To cooperate in making common cause for the preservation to the states of their inherent sovereign right to use, control, and distribute the waters thereof, and to facilitate the adjustment of inter-state problems.
3. To help stabilize the commercial phases of the use of water by en-couraging the perfecting of the laws relating thereto, and by other proper
means.
Membership. Membership in the Association includes representatives from the seventeen Western states. In addition to its voting members, each member state is entitled to two Associate Members who may participate in the discus-sions but cannot vote. The Federal Power Commission, the U. S. Forest Service, the Division of Agricultural Engineering of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the U. S. Reclamation Bureau, the U. S. Geological Survey and the U. S. War Department are also entitled to one Associate Member each. These are the Federal agencies with which the members of the Association have most intimate contact.
Papers and Discussions.—Some conception of the varied subjects which have received attention during the course of these conferences will be gained by reference to the following subject titles:
Interstate River Compacts and Their Place in Water Utilization; National Legislation Affecting Matters of Common Interest to Irrigation States; Duty of Water with Special Reference to Determination of Rights and Administra-tion of Streams; State Laws Governing ConstrucAdministra-tion of Dams; Measuring Devices; Ownership of Return Flow; Forecasting Stream Flow by Snow Sur-veys; The Future Reclamation Policy of the Arid and Semi-Arid States; Federal and State Policies with Respect to Control of. Water; particularly with refer-ence to conflicts in jurisdiction, the construction and operation of reservoirs, navigation flood control, etc.; Conservation and Administration of the Public Domain.
The great distance between the West and Washington had led to misunder-standings which have been adjusted by personal contacts around the con-ference table.
Federal Power Commission Fees.—One of the first activities of the Associa-tion was to participate in the movement to secure a reallocaAssocia-tion of the fees collected by the Federal Power Commission. A reallocation was made of fees previously collected in which California alone profited immediately to the extent of more than $81,000 and the other states proportionately.
Payments to the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation from Federal Power Com-mission fees were increased by an even greater amount. The Association tackled the problem of the delay of stream flow records and topographic maps
vigorously, with the cooperation of the U.S.G.S., and it is gratifying to note the stream flow records and frequently the topographic maps are available within one year after completion of field work. It has been my experience during visits to Washington since the Association was organized, that Federal agencies are glad of this new agency which assists them to interpret and make effective the desires of the irrigation states with respect to water and related matters. The Association in accomplishing its objectives has become known to officials in Eastern states who are concerned with comparable problems, and they are requesting that the Association enlarge its scope and take them in. The Association of Western State Engineers is concerned, as is the National Reclamation Association, with the cause of reclamation by irrigation, but that is but one of the many problems with which its members are concerned arising out of their responsibility to administer the laws relating to the ap-propriation, use and control of the waters of the Western States.
Refinancing of Irrigation Districts
By
DR. W. L. POWERS of Oregon State College
DerVopment of Plan. The first definite plan to refinance reclamation dis-trict indebtedness was the outgrowth of rehabilitation study of Ochoco Dis-trict, Oregon, and was drafted in November, 1927, by the Secretary of the Oregon Reclamation Congress.
The plan provided for refinancing debts on the basis of productive value with Federal funds over a long period' at low interest. The plan was presented to the new board of directors of the Oregon Reclamation Congress and later to the California Districts Association and then to the National Water Users' ,\ssocL-ltion conference at Reno, where it secured finally the endorsement of the National Farm Bureau Federation and was made a national policy.
The Smith-Glenn bill brought irrigation and drainage interests together
tad was drafted by the Congressional Committee on Reclamation and Irri-gati,)n.
In the Agricultural Adjustment Act, Section 36, a simplified plan of re-financing was given the great final push needed for enactment, due to the (r-ginlization and efforts of the National Reclamation Association and the
leadei-ship of its courageous President.
.1 Cafe
DISTRICT REFINANCE NEEDS OF WESTERN STATES
No.
Applica-tions
No. Acres
Amount of No. People Loan Debt Directly Requested Retirement Be/IL fited
Popu-lotion No. of Farmers Washington 30 500,000 $ 3,500,000 $ 8,000,000 50,000 Oregon 24 128,200 3,579,500 12,451,519 13,668 4,979 Caliiornia 35 1,021,000 29,000,000 54,000,000 73,000 25,000 Montano 10 60,000 1,250,000 3,094,100 20,000 7,600 Idaho 15 970,000 2,500,000 4,930,000 73,000 13,000 Utah 6 100,000 2,000,000 5,000,000 Nevada 4 250,000 1,000,000 1,300,000 5,000 TOTAL 124 $42,829,500 $71,775,619 240,668 50,579
Prcscnt Needs and Problems.--Continued unity of effort is necessary if the \Vest is to get a fair share of benefit from this refinance program.
1. Representation should be provided to press for action.
2. The time limitation, January 23, 1934, will need to be extended. Time is required to perfect applications and secure pooling of securities.
3. The law will need to be broadened to include other projects doing the same thing as irrigation and drainage districts.
4. When the value of this policy is demonstrated and the fund is ex-hausted, it will need to be augmented by at least twice the initial fund. It is hoped that this plan may become established policy comparable to the activity of the Federal Land Banks.
5. Loans would be more adequately secured if a small percentage thereof were made available for repairs.
6. Some state district law amendments may be required to take full advantage of the refinance plan.
(a) An enabling act is being introduced in the special session of the Oregon legislature, authorizing the districts to contract with any Federal agency for the purpose of reducing and refinancing indebtedness.
(b) Provision for receivership may need to be extended to districts in the light of recent court decisions in Florida and Oregon, in order that directors may continue to act with security.
(c) Authority may he needed to adjust or amortize general taxes where contracting for Federal refinancing.
(d) Assessed valuation should not be raised until the reclaimed land is nearly in full production.
(e) A state supervising agency may be more definitely needed. In Oregon the State Reclamation Commission, with some cooperation from the State Agricultural Experiment Station, gives aid and supervision in developing rehabilitation plans for financially burdened districts. Have eliminated nearly 24,000 acres in rehabilitation of 24 Oregon Districts and 51,000 total in few years. This is using best lands first. This is a time for consolidation rather than expansion.
(f) Procedure for the determination of the equity of non-contributing bondholders, as provided for Oregon irrigation districts, should be extended to drainage districts and merits the careful consideration of other states.
Finally, be reminded of that ancient admonition—to agree with thy adversary quickly. The bondholder needs the land operator on the one hand, and on the other the landowner must realize that adjustment is not repudia-tion. Speed is necessary if we are to check deterioration and salvage values created and clear the way so that the land operators can carry on. The Federal Land Bank and similar agencies cannot operate in districts in default, and until the general indebtedness is adjusted, the individual's financial problems cannot be taken up and solved.
DISCUSSION OF
Refinancing of Irrigation Districts
By
DENNIS P. WOODS
The refunding act that passed as part of the Emergency Farm Loan Act in May, 1933, providing relief for every state, provides relief for drainage, dikes, levees and also irrigation, and applies to every state in the Union, in-cluding Minnesota, Mississippi, Florida and Texas.
The law as passed, and the appropriation as made, was rushed through somewhat. The fifty million dollar fund which Dr. Powers reported was in the Emergency Farm Relief Act was thrown out. Recently, through the efforts of an Oregon Senator, it was put back in. At the time it was put in, friends of this appropriation knew it was too short. They knew, also, the money appropriated was too small an amount to do the work, but it was the entering wedge. They had to take what they could get and do what they could with it. The act was passed in May, and in June there was an organization set up for making loans. It was determined the Reconstruction Finance Corporation would make these loans. That agency was established June 24th, and pro-vides that no loans can be made after January 23, so we had seven months within which to appraise lands, get agreements between the creditors and debtors and go through the necessary formality for refunding loans.
When the law was passed, the Federal Land Bank realized the fund made available could do a vast amount of good. The officials of the bank were fearful lest the Northwest would not get its share of the fifty million dollar fund. They thought it advisable that someone should give their entire time to bring about agreements between debtors and creditors.
We went into the thing with a rather narrow spirit. We thought fifty million dollars would not be a large consideration. We estimated it would take two hundred and fifty million dollars to properly refund the debts of irrigation and reclamation districts. Now we are not only trying to get our share for the Northwest but we are trying to get additional appropriation.
The Future of Reclamation
as A National Policy
By
SENATOR GEORGE W. GREBE of Idaho
I propose to prove to you in this plea this afternoon that there was a condition at the time the reclamation act was passed when there was no Eastern opposition to Western reclamation. I propose to prove to you that a very similar situation exists today, and try to submit to you a plan by which that condition may be overcome.
To make this history brief, there came the act of June, 1902, providing for the reclamation of this vast area by the government. There was at that time, and there still is, though not to such a great extent, the means at hand by which this reclamation might be brought about; great mountain ranges, adjacent to this desert, covered with a rich and tremendous growth of valu-able timber; the rainfall on all those high plateaus and mountain ranges pro-vides an abundance of wonderful grazing pasture land; and the whole under-laid with a large deposit of wealth in the shape of oil. What was more natural than that we should take those natural resources and apply a part of the returns from the sale of the public lands and the natural resources of the West to the reclaiming of those lands lying in the adjacent valleys.
Today, 30 years later, we find cities, churches, schools, civic communities, railroads, business industries and factories grown up within this reclaimed area
Today we find, during my investigation throughout several Eastern states, during my conversation with members of the National Grange last week, why agriculture is in distress everywhere. Distress? Why? There is a strange difference between the situation now, a strange difference between the depres-sion we have just come through and the one of the 90's. This time, we are told, it is not famine; it is not because men are hungry for bread and there is no bread; no! we are told now it is because we have too much. Next Thurs-day when the American people seat themselves at their tables, they will return thanks for the many good things which God has provided, for the granaries full of grain, for the cattle and great herds of turkeys, but will say, "Don't give us any more.- We are told this condition is brought about because we work too hard, we produce too much. I do not find that condition; in fact I find agriculture has one major trouble East and West and that trouble is the great burden of indebtedness; I find in the majority of cases that there is nothing wrong with agriculture on the reclamation projects; there is nothing wrong with agriculture in Pennsylvania, New York, or elsewhere, except just a burden of indebtedness brought on by an over-expansion of credit caused by the grand and luxurious aftermath of a great war. So our problem, the problem of this organization as well as my own, is that burden of indebted-ness. I find agriculture, by this burden of indebtedness, by the fact there is an extremely low price for the products of the farm, is pinched down to a condition of envy, a condition brought about by the great law of self-preser-vation, which compels the man who cannot clothe his children, pay his taxes and have a feeling of security, have a feeling that he is going to preserve his home and farm and they are not going to be taken away from him; I find him cringing under fear of competition; I find him envious of his own neighbor
and the amount of produce brought in competition with him; I find state against state; East against West; West against East; all because of agricultural fear of competition. So, our first great duty, and that of every American citizen, is to put agriculture generally everywhere in an easier position, in a greater feeling of security so that neighbor will not fight against neighbor, and neighbor will not fear the competition that might be brought by neighbor. Now, let me say to you, and let me tell you, that my investigations dis-close that the Eastern farmer is not in as dire distress as we are. All of those Eastern members of Congress are broad-minded, intelligent, and, if permitted, they will help us. It is not the Eastern Congress that is our enemy. We might criticize certain Eastern newspapers who take a whack at reclamation, but even then they are doing things they know will receive commendation from their patrons and constituents. We cannot blame them for that. We must take our problems into the Eastern grange meetings, school-houses and farm-ing communities, go right to the farmer himself, and when we find out what is the matter with Eastern agriculture and we manifest a desire and show a purpose not to talk, not to spread propaganda which will be opposing them, and when we say to them we are ready to act, we are ready to say to our Congressmen and Senators we want to help you men in your agricultural troubles in the East, we are ready to send our Congressmen to help you, there will be no more Eastern opposition to Western reclamation. We have to extend a hand across the Mississippi to our fellowmen in distress. That is the mes-sage I want to bring to you today.
I went into rural New York. I saw the most beautiful lands I ever saw in my life. I came back to the City of New York and went into a very fine vegetable and fruit establishment. I saw Idaho potatoes sitting up there displayed like fruit, in 15 lb. bags. Those 15 lb. bags were marked 33c. I said to the proprietor of that establishment, "I just came back from some of the finest agricultural land I ever saw in my life,—why can't you raise potatoes and sell them for fifty cents per hundred and beat us out of this market?' He said, I'll tell you why. Coming in with Idaho potatoes is surely a prob-lem for Eastern agriculture. I cannot sell a Pennsylvania, New York or Maine potato at all when I have an Idaho potato, even at any price. I have heard about the reason for that. You have a continuous sunshine and control of your moisture, and by that you produce a product so perfect that when we bring in the potatoes grown here by a system under which they get too much moisture this week and not enough next week, the Eastern market will not buy them at all."
Naturally, those housewives buy the Idaho potato in preference to theirs. i
There is some competition, but t is not great, not if we had the friendship of the Eastern farmer himself, because he would overlook what little compe-tition we bring in.
The Eastern farmers are in trouble. They are in trouble just as much as we are in trouble. I do not know why they are not entitled to 40 years with-out interest to buy fertilizer, just as much as we are with 40 years withwith-out interest. I do not know why, but perhaps there is some reason. If they are, it becomes the duty of this organization, and mine, and every Western citizen, to induce our Western Congressmen and Senators to help those fellows get the financial advantage and low interest rates we enjoy, through some means. There might be some means by which they can put over a plan whereby they could have 40 years without interest, like we do under the reclamation act for our water.
I think if we show any effort toward that, if we show a purpose and determination to help our brothers in distress there will be no more Eastern opposition to Western reclamation. I propose, ladies and gentlemen, aild mem-bers of the National Reclamation Association, that all Western organizations join and send some man back there who can meet with the granges, farmers' unions, farm bureau federations, and the southern farmers, and find out a feasible manner in which financial aid can be made available for them and listen to their troubles and tell them we are here to help them so they can help us. We are all in the same trouble. As a South Caroliiaa gentleman said, "Your troubles are ours.— When we do that, we will have solved the problem of the East and West as to its competitive envy and animosity and blocking of our little bills that go into Congress. Furthermore, I think there should be no East nor West, no North and South, but a great united nation working for the civilization and continued prosperity of its citizens.
The Future of the National
Reclamation Association
By
GEORGE W. MALONE Of Nevada
The voice of this meeting should go out that the integrity of the loans we are underwriting at this time, and the credit that is loaned to our people should be properly underwritten and nothing recommended except it be de-termined it is feasible and a self-liquidating project before the money is loaned to it. For the future of this organization, we must have a voice, and how else can we get it but to have one man to talk for this organization. When he says before the committee that he represents the Western group and Western states in the thing he is saying, then talks to the directors who are elected to represent each state, and he calls on them and they in turn call on their groups, they are still with him in that statement and there is nothing more to be said. He lays the proposition as outlined before them. Let each state, then, handle the details of its own problem. Let the policy be established by this organization and laid down and put before the Congressional committee, and the states can handle the details.
We have one other important thing, in my opinion, an organization whose representative you heard speak this morning, Dr. Mead. I say this because Dr. Mead has made good in that position, and also the personnel of that organization. One of the definite things for this organization is to keep intact the organization that has been handling it for forty years. Its projects are standing up and have the confidence of the nation.
As to definite organization we should have, we have a difference of opinion in our organization. Some thought we should have a paid manager or something of that kind. I do not favor that. I say we should continue the way we have been. We should have a president; have a board of directors in every state the president can call on to get the sentiment of their state when necessary; and have funds for expenses, as the president and secretary should have their expenses paid. Organization in every state shows that we have a definite organization to call on for these expenses, and the railroads and other industries are interested in continuing reclamation because it reacts to their benefit even if they are contributors.
The resolution for a legislative program—we should make it short; make it concise; do not include any new policies that are not absolutely necessary; stay with this so the organization will continue to function and this organiza-tion will continue to be successful.
Carrying Reclamation Forward
By J. W. HAW, Director of Agriculture Northern Pacific Railway Company
Those of us who are familiar with the situation which confronted reclama-tion proponents at the Western States Governors' Conference at Salt Lake in 1930, at Portland in 1931, and again at Salt Lake last year, are convinced that substantial advance has been made and important ground gained for our cause in the past eight months. At Salt Lake a year ago we were chiefly concerned with securing an appropriation of 5 million as a loan to the reclamation fund to complete pressing work then in progress. With the approval under the Pub-lic Works program of projects whose ultimate cost will be 207 millions, and the amount is growing daily, our last year's request takes on penny ante pro-portions. In view of this situation, therefore, sound strategy dictates a policy of consolidating our front and entrenching reclamation in such manner as to hold the territory recently acquired. This is not a propitious time for a new major offensive, except as that may be necessary in the consolidation of our front. By a major offensive, I mean a new ambitious program aggressively prosecuted for large, widely scattered new irrigation developments. Perhaps I should further clarify my thought as to consolidating the front. To my mind, this means carrying through to completion projects for which at this date allocation of funds has been made only for expenditures to be incurred in the near future. We should be prepared to repulse efforts which will no doubt be made in the next Congress to entirely shut off or to curtail appropriations for the continuance of recently authorized storage power and irrigation proj-ects. Consolidating the front certainly means securing funds with which to complete projects that have been in the building for many years and units of which have not yet been authorized, and for additional storage facilities on existing projects that they may have an adequate and dependable water supply. Consolidating the front certainly means making additional funds available for loans to existing projects for their financial rehabilitation and for replace-ment of worn-out structures. Consolidating the front means the protection of our interests, in the program agreed to between the Secretaries of the In-terior and Agriculture, for the retirement of a compensating area of marginal land now in production, as new areas of irrigated land are brought into pro-duction on projects authorized under the Public Works program. We have agreed to such a program in general principle, but we have a large stake in seeing that the details are practical and workable and that they do not operate for the injury of and injustice to established communities in the West. I do not propose to disparage the present birth control— program for agriculture, but I do assert that as it is applied to agriculture in this Western country it can do us irreparable damage if not carefully planned to an adjustment with present social and agricultural set-up. The West must be adequately represented in the councils of those authorized to carry the acreage retirement program into effect. This is what is meant by consolidating the front.
That group of American public opinion, for which the present executives of our government are spokesmen, has in the past eight months demonstrated its faith in our representations and its confidence in our cause by the previously mentioned substantial appropriations out of the fund for Public Works for
arid land reclamation. We must look to them for further support if authorized projects are to be carried through to completion, and to them we must turn for assistance in what I have termed consolidating the front, as well as to them in the future if further projects are to be authorized. Already present executives of our government have been attacked vigorously for their support of reclamation. It is our responsibility to see that their confidence is vindi-cated and that their critics are proven to be ill-advised and poor judges of what is or is not in the long run sound national policy. I believe it was ex-tremely poor practical politics, entirely aside from merit, for one political party to have particularized in its criticism of Public Works expenditures and singled out Western reclamation works for attack. Reclamation counts among its ardent supporters members of both parties. In many respects our cause is as controversial as religion. As a means of bringing about the economic re-habilitation of this country, the wisdom of a Public Works program might be made a party issue, but to dissect that program and hold up for specific criticism certain types of expenditures will merely arouse sectional prejudices and breed internal party strife. Reclamation should not be, and we hope it will not be, an issue between our major political parties; but, to the extent that the issue has already been raised, it can best be eliminated from further party controversy by a clear demonstration of its merit. It can be and it should be our duty to make it a good enough cause to finally win the approbation and support of the leaders of both parties. That is our responsibility and that is what I mean by entrenching ourselves in such a manner as to hold the ground recently acquired.
We have heretofore made the point that the West had particular and prior claim to reclamation fund monies. It has been our contention that funds derived from the sale of the land and mineral resources of the West should be used to apply the water of our rivers to our fertile, arid land. Only by building a permanent agricultural industry could we be compensated for the permanent loss of our natural resources. We were willing that the prin-cipal of the reclamation fund should finally revert to the Federal treasury, but we contended, I believe soundly and effectively, that interest on such principal should be waived. The argument was heretofore convincing that in the long run the country would be the winner by such policy. Creation of taxable property alone through irrigation development more than compensates the Federal government for waiving interest and for such minor losses of principal as occur in projects of this character.
I would at this time call your attention to the fact that funds allocated to Federal reclamation projects in the past eight months have been from the Public Works appropriation and we cannot contend that the West has any prior or particular claim on such funds. We are now using money derived from Federal taxation and not from proceeds of sale of land and minerals in the Western states. Surely this must have a sobering effect. It lays upon our shoulders a heavy responsibility in seeing that the money be spent with scru-pulous care and only upon such works as, after careful analysis, present an unqualified expectation that they will in time be self-liquidating and that the farms created can maintain an American standard of living. I do not desire to convey the impression that we have heretofore been wasteful or have not exercised close scrutiny of expenditures from the reclamation fund, but I do assert that we must review present and future expenditure of funds from Pub-lic Works for our cause in light of the fact that it is a mingling of the money of others with our own.
I view arid land reclamation as a program which must be continued over many, many years generations if you will. Not until every acre of fertile, topographically suitable land within reach of an adequate water supply is under ditch in the West will this program be complete. It would be fatal to this long-time program if, in these times of a loose regard for obligations, reclamation should establish a reputation as a slow, poor-paying debtor of our government. I hope you will go with me in the theory that it is of para-mount importance at this time to establish reclamation as a select credit risk in the eyes of the people of this country and the responsible officers of our government. Only in that way, it is my belief, can we ever achieve a realiza-tion of our hopes for ultimately capitalizing our agricultural opportunities and for a maintenance of the agricultural self-sufficiency of the West as our population grows. Only in this way can reclamation be carried forward to its ultimate goal. We, as proponents of reclamation, must not be so short-sighted or so biased by immediate self-interest as to support or propose un-economic projects or promulgate a lax attitude as to repayment of the costs of construction on projects now built or building. At the moment, the tempta-tion is very great to regard the expenditure of public monies in a different light than expenditures of states, counties and their subdivisions, and certainly in a far different light than expenditures of our own money. At the moment,
we are prone to overlook the fact that Federal money in the final analysis is, after all, our money. We are tempted to think of money advanced by the government as a debt which either need not be repaid at all, or that eventually can be compromised. We will pay when and if we can. By — can,— we mean if it is easy. Should we not bear in mind that at no time was any debt ever paid easily or without painful sacrifice?
Carrying reclamation forward, in my judgment, means at this juncture more than any other one thing, the careful building of a sound credit basis foundation for reclamation. A lax conscience on the part of those who pro-mote programs for the construction of battleships, post offices, waterways, civic improvements and flood prevention is not an alibi behind which we can make our peace with our conscience. We must put our own house in order. Ultimately the poorer their showing of justification or liquidity, the better by comparison ours will be. In the next ten years we have an unusual oppor-tunity of establishing beyond question of contest the soundness of reclamation from the standpoint of both economic need, creation of taxable property, satisfactory farm home life and self-liquidation. If we fail, Federal reclama-tion will warrant the condemnareclama-tion which it is now receiving in certain important groups and sections of the country and it will fall into a condition of disrepute from which it cannot emerge in a generation. That would mean carrying reclamation backward, not forward.
Certainly what has been said does not mean that on Federal reclamation projects built, or now in the building, we suggest that farmers submit to a process alleged to extract blood from a turnip. It is the isolated creditor that in these days of depression adopts a harsh attitude with a debtor. Particularly are honest farm debtors being given every advantage of the doubt in meeting fairly contracted obligations. Low price levels and crop failures have created a situation on farms which everybody recognizes and the government is not and will not be an exception to this rule. I believe the government will expect only such payment as the unvarnished facts will justify even though such payments on some projects are nothing more than a recognition of the debt and its maintenance in good standing. But with the return of better price
levels, which now appears imminent, there must come likewise an understanding that the debt owing the government for construction on Federal projects must be reassumed in proportion to the average farmer's ability to repay. I am firmly convinced that blanket moratoriums on construction payments on all Federal projects should not again be requested. Bad as conditions were this year on many Federal projects, the blanket moratorium was actually un-warranted. Certainly it is possible to devise some plan of concessions on the part of the government, should low price levels continue, which is more equitable and follows more closely the ability of the farmers to pay and which will at the same time effectively maintain the financial integrity and sound judgment of the government's reclamation activities.
In a program of carrying reclamation forward, our progress could be greatly accelerated if we at this time recognize that we are in some respects our own worst enemy. Critics of reclamation are not all in the Middle West and East. There are many caustic critics among Western farm people and Western business interests. We must "sell the book- to our own people, thus enabling us to present a united front when we go East to "sell the book- to people whose interest is indirect and who cannot reasonably be expected to know the facts. We are frequently torn by internal jealousies over projects as between states and even as between areas in states. Too often we have attempted to strengthen the case of our project by slurring, if not damning, the other fellow's project. The result has been that we merely pull the house down on our own heads. A proponent of the Roza project in Washington is almost as ignorant of the basic justification of the All-American Canal in California as the editor of the Chicago Tribune is ignorant of the necessity for provision of additional storage on the Bitter Root project in Montana. Why can't we Westerners stand together on the basic principles which substantiate the Federal government's support of reclamation and let each project present its claims at the proper time and place without prejudice? That unfavorable comparisons are odious is an axiom which particularly applies to our discus-sions of the merit of our project.
Again, why is it that projects' proponents are enthusiastic supporters of Federal reclamation only until their project finally wins approval, whereupon they immediately become either apathetic or join the ranks of the insidious critics? No group of Western people, regardless of the merit of their cause, can carry reclamation forward if active support and cooperation is withheld by those groups who are the direct recipients of the benefits flowing from reclamation.
Coming now to a broad vision of the future and the need for perpetuating The National Reclamation Association and what it stands for. Throughout the West in the next three years great dams will be thrown across our streams. Electrical energy in enormous volume and at low cost will seek a market. It is doubtful whether this energy can be sold and put to work unless new in-dustries locate adacent to these developments. But inin-dustries are not at-tracted merely by cheap power and nearby sources of raw material. Equally important to them is an assured consumption of their finished products close at hand and reasonable living costs for those employed in the industries they propose to establish. These latter requisites for industry location can be obtained only by provision of opportunities for more people on the land. The extensive agricultural opportunities afforded under an irrigation project are the best and, I think, the only answer to the problem which this area will face following the completion of such vast power projects as the Boulder,
Grand Coulee, Bonneville and Fort Peck dams. In fact, at the moment it would seem that they are necessary to market the power now made available by private companies. It may be debatable whether industrial development should precede rather than follow the agricultural development above men-tioned. In the past, the other order has prevailed. Agricultural has preceded industrial development. But whatever in our present situation may be the horse, or what the cart, it is certainly a fact that there must be harmonious, complimentary development of both agriculture and industry. Such a con-dition is fully appreciated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has in hand the comprehensive development of the vast watershed of the Tennessee in the Southeast, and we of the West should not be less foresighted than the alleged unprogressive mountaineers of Tennessee. In many respects conditions are very similar. In that territory, agriculture follows clearing away the moonshiners and the application of fertilizer. Here we clear away the sage-brush and apply water. They have already begun an attack on their problem through land clearing and farm settlement, and we must take a "page from their book- if sound development is to take place in the territory west of the Continental Divide. Thus, in the near future, we will be compelled to go to the government for additional money in substantial amount for reclamation, and we must make very sure that we can then make our appeal as a demon-stratively reliable credit risk.
It has been suggested that I should speak for the carriers in this program of carrying reclamation forward. Our interest is so perfectly obvious as to seem not even to require statement. There can be no separation of the interests of this Western country from the interest of companies which provide it with transportation facilities. We advance or we retrogress in the same direction and at the same speed as the territory we serve. Perhaps we do not fall as far in periods of depression as does the farmer or the businessman, but neither do we rise as far in periods of prosperity. In the end it works out about the same. Railroads have been frequently accused of being unprogressive and being bound by rule of thumb and precedent. I would like to testify in our behalf that irrespective of such criticism we are usually to be found in the front rank carrying our share of the burden in the promotion of any cause which in the long run is in the interest of our territories. We have refused to espouse any cause which is a forlorn hope or smacks of unsound promotion. But we have made our decision as to the classification of arid land reclamation in this regard. We have decided that carrying reclamation forward is not such a cause. We have dedicated ourselves to the purpose of building ade-quate sound agriculture in this Western country. Maintenance of the present reclamation policy in good standing is the means of achieving that goal in the arid regions. No recitation of what we have done or are willing to do is necessary in this regard. We have supported and will continue to support this organization. The record speaks for itself. What we have done in the past, we will do in the future. We do not seek to carry the flag but we want a chance to march in the front rank and welcome an opportunity to do our share of the fighting.
A Regenerative Program
By
MARSHALL N. DANA
President of The National Reclamation Association
There are such differing impressions of what the National Recovery program is and what it comprehends, and sometimes one hears discussions that are laudatory about a portion of that program as though it were the whole of the plan; sometimes one hears censure of a part of the program as though that part were a whole of it and it was a failure.
I have only the desire to bring to your attention that the N.R.A. program is constituted of the restoration of credit and stability of homes, of farms, of business and of industry, of transportation, of finance, and in public works, while it is chiefly spoken of as the duty administered under the State Advisory Board.
It has long been the custom of states and political subdivisions, cities, counties, school districts and the like to carry on a public works program to serve the needs of a modern civilization. They would have continued doing so. In the year 1928, the public works expense budget of this nation was ten billion dollars, but under the depressing influence of economic emergency the market for the securities of the cities and the states was gone. This alloca-tion of funds for public works of non-Federal character, partly at the credit of the political subdivisions, was undertaken to provide a market for securities that were not otherwise marketable, in order that a needed public works program might be carried on, and that employment might be provided and social and economic values be created.
Now, not very long ago, an announcement was made of the allocation
of the $3,300,000,000 public works fund. At that time it showed that $245,-000,000 had been allocated to non-Federal projects, a part of which was to be repaid at interest rate of 4%. 30% of the cost of labor and materials was to be a grant by the Federal government in recognition of social and economic importance of this work, and nearly two billion dollars had been allocated to Federal projects, and under the listing of Federal projects may be found those great enterprises including Columbia River project, storing of the Missis-sippi and enterprises of levees under the war department, the work done by the National Park Service, by the National Forest Administration, and by several of the other branches of the Federal government, including—not least but the very greatest the work of the Bureau of Reclamation, concerning which we have had the privilege and inspiration of seeing today that the allocations exceed $200,000,000 without including those allotments of Federal character that are directly or indirectly to the interest of reclamation, and that work is going forward and four million men have been employed.
So, my friends, it comes to my mind as we are sitting here watching, as we do in this convention, the onward swing of destiny, the destiny of the West, that never once has the sun failed to rise upon this country of ours; nor has the productivity of nature been reduced in the slightest degree; nor have the needs, the essential needs, of human beings been reduced in any smallest scintilla during this period of time that we have been repining and lingering under the depressed influence of our own economic and social sins, and today we see in the country, when we gaze across the tremendous
