PAGE SIX EVENING IIETvALD, KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON THURSDAY, APRIL fl, 102it Stye Eimthtg Hrrali. Issued Daily, except Sunday, by The Herald Publishing Company. Office: 119 N. Eighth Street, Klamath Falls, Ore. E. J. MURRAY VV. H. PERKINS Entered as second class matter at the postoffice at Klamath Falls. Oregon, under act of March 3, 1879. 1 Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use of re publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not other wise credited in this paper and also the local news published therein. All rights of republication of special dispatches here in are also reserved. The Evening Herald is,, the official paper of Klamath Count and the City of Klamath Falls. SUBSCRIPTION RATES v Delivered by Carrier Br Mull one Year is. so Kli Month 3.60 Three Month! 1.85 One Month .65 THURSDAY. ' THE FIXAXCIXG OF THE ST.RAHORX ROAD Wc cannot agree with Mr. Robert E. Strahorn that it is exclusively his business where the finances for the extension of the O. C. & E. come from. He must "not forget that the City of Klamath Falls. is a $300,(XX) partner in his enterprise, and while at times he seems to overlook this fact, yet he clearly emphasises it when he asks special concessions from the city. There is a well-defined suspicion that control of the road lias passed from his hands to those of the Southern Pacific. f this is correct,' the people should know it. First, because there would be some degree of possibility of the1 city securing a return of its investment in the railroad. Second, because there would be all the niore reason for the closest scrutiny of any request for rights of way and other concessions. The people of Klamath Falls are not antagonistic to the Southeri Pacific. On the contrary, they Jiave the warmest feeling of friendship for it." but this feeling of friendship is not great enough for them to cast aside caution and carefully guard the interest of .the". community insofar as future develop ment is concerned.. Everyone knows that if the Southern Pacific could bottle this city up and prevent a competitor entering, it would do so. It is only natural. Any railroad would do the same thing. The question of who is financing the Strahorn line is one of keen interest, yes. vital interest to-the people, for if it is the Southern Pacific, they want to be sure their $300,000 will come back and they also want to see that the gateway to this city is kept wide open for any railroad that wants to .'ntcr. i . THE LOWER LAKE GRAB - ' A'e wish to call to the attention of Secretary Work, while he is here, the effort that is being made to re-flood the Lower j Klamath lake-bed. He has been told by the Reclamation Service., and doubtless shown official reports to the effect, that this land is worthless, because of alkali. That is a deliberate misstatement of. fact. Immense crops of grain have been grown on this land and there are thousands upon thous ands of a,cres of this land that is just as good as that around Mai in. Thousands of head of stock were pastured on it 'during the past winter. Then, why, it may be asked, this effort to re-Hood it? The scheme is to furnish another reservoir for-the storage of water for the California Oregon Power company. The plan is to turn in tp the old lake-bed the first excess water, until the lake is completely filled, then the gates of the Link river dam are closed and the Upper Klamath lake filled to the limit. Then the water from the Lower Klamath lake is drawn off until it is drained, when the waters from the Upper Klam ath will be brought into use. It is a perfect system of control for the Power company. - ' . The statement is constantly made that the Lower lake is a great wild game breeding ground, and by this propaganda the Audubon Society and similar organizations have been in terested iii the flooding. TJie facts are that ducks and geese do not breed there and never"have. Pelican, shags, cranes and ;thc like use it for a breeding ground, but only a very few ducks and geese use it for nesting. ! 'Approximately fifty thousand acres of the finest land that is to be found in the west lies in this lake bed. It is this land that the California Oregon Power company wants to flood, denying its use to soldier boys and others who want to use it for agricultural purposes. The people or Oregon want this land, placed upon the tax rolls; they want to sec it dotted with homes; they want to see dairy farms there instead of the flood waters .t.he Power company wants to conserve: they want Secretary Work' to raise his hand to prevent this theft of the public domain for the exclusive benefit of a corporation that is seeking to build up its private resources at the ex pense of the public. There must be no further theft of public land and water by the Power company and we hope that Secretary Work will so inform Reclamation Service officials who are seeking to sell out the people in this Lower lake grab. "Now, that a radio swindle lias been, reported the gruuta will report ra dio Is at last nearing perfection. Atlantic City will fine drunks nc carding" til-Hnir" breaths,-but- one -'lending bad nun niny escape by a hairbreadth, Tublishei News Editor . one Tear -15.60 Six Months Three Months One Month .76 LRU ,S APRIL 9. 1925 Two Colorado mountains are mov ing. One has moved 100 feet. May be a sign of spring restlessness. lliit the two mountains moving in Colorado Isn't so nuicll. We know a man who saw a plumber move. 1 I we have at hand. r Uscent a. my tots show that nr. Work Proceed, go right shu:tiii;; ut airplane.-! Is about like I along. '.... throwing rortts at birds. Mr. Bradbury T believe ' that . ' . .. covers the ell,nqucnt tax '.situation Arore.fiirm-ikJiaf -is- ptaiuied. Run- for -the- present. Now unothor -nM-nlng u farm seenis to pay ubout as iter 'of 'Importance' to till district wen us sending a bay to college.. STENOGRAPHIC USER J Following Is a stenographic report of iho important phases of the con ference this 'morning between Sec rotary of the Interior Hubert Work and Reclamation Commissioner El- wood Mead with the directors ami members of the Klamath Irrigation district: Mr. Work: It is our purpose In coming oiu here to get first hand Information so that tho water usors cculd talk to us. - They uro the peo ple we nro principally Intorestod In Reclamation has been going on un- der federal supervision tar some twenty tour years .and It has not been a success In cverv case. It Is the purpose of this visit to find out the trouble It it Is possible so that wo can arrive at the determination of a remedy a little later, First, I would like to ask if the water users approve of this open letter addressed to me. (This has reference to the open lcttor of the Evening Herald In the' Issue of the 7th. Ed). Mr. Bra.lbury: Yes, they do. Mr. Work: The reason I ask Is. that In one of the last paragraphs it says that tho water users do ap prove of what Is slid In this letter a?d it any dcubt fell on that mat ter, signatures will be obtained, so that it all agrco that the letter what J lie wntor users hive In mind themselves. It they approve of this that of course will Make a great deal ct difference. Mr. Thomas: Dr. Work. w had rather tell vou now what tho water users want. Dr. Work: Yon want me to Ig nore this letter? Mr. Thomas: No. we do not. Dr. Work: if this letter stands for whit Is in the mlnJs of the water users, that gives me a good idea to start with. Mr. Bradbury: Mr. Secretary, 1 be I '.eve in order to bring this to a definite point, we will ask to dis cuss, certain questions here. Mr. Wbrk: Now, gentlemen, we a ill proceed with this hearing and say what is cn our minds, and, of course, the time is limited. We do not want to curtail any necessiry irformatlon, but do Rot get too far afield. ' Each speaker will please give their name. Mr. Bradbury: R. E. Bradbury, chairman cf the Klamath Irrigation district board of directors. The first subject that I desire to touch on and which is a matter that is new being negotiated is the con- tract between the United states and the district involving the taking ov er of the project by tbe district, and the matter of the delinquent taxes and the matter of the moratorium. The subject that I am going to dis cuss at this moment Is that of the delinquent taxes. This project Is in a peculiar situat'on, and while It does not appear on the Reclamation books as owing any great sum Of money, there la a delinquency of taxes against the land owners of something over (100,000. I do not know the exact figures. We have had accountants on these figures for the past ten days but their re port Is not yet complete. We are not asking the Secretary of the Gov ernment to forgive us those taxes, but we do ask that we be permitted, under an act of the Oregon legis lature of tbe last sens' on to obtain tbo consent of the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw these delin quencies from the roll and reappor tion them, either by having them charged to the construction cost of the project or permitting the dis trict to extend them over a period of years. We believe we can, if necessary, to ft very great extent, and we believe that it Is necessary, lo save a great many of our farm ers from the loss of their property, and financially crippling tho pro ject. There are 618 parcels of land Involve! something like 11,000 acres, which Is prastlcally more than one-fourth of our project. That Is a matter that we can take up thro- Nigh the regular channels and through the " department, and we would like to have a favorable ac tion permitting us to remove these taxes from the Klamath county roll and redistribute them. The penal ties and interest are such an amount that In some Instances they exceed seventy per cent and over, of the original assessment. Dr. W'ork How man.vv delin quents arc there, about? Mr. Bradbury About 153 delin quents. ' ' Dr. , Work How' many have met their payments? . - Mr. Bradbury Well, 'there 'are about CS0 water users. Of course, "II lis understood that this Is only what Und one that we are teeing 'now is' REPORT OF WATER EIS the matter of town and Industrial property. The town Is rapidly growing and extending Into the country, and we have some land nom ine town that U strictly a town site. In some rases the laud has been as sessed for years, but has never hud any. water. And a largo sawmill owner notified ma the other day that they would, In Iho uc.ir future, have their land excluded from the district. Of course, you uuderstuud that that laud, although withdraw ing from tho district and not re ceiving any bonefit from tho dls "ti lot; Is still held by Its lien to thrt govcrnment. We bellevo It would simplify matters to take advantage of a state law which was passed recently In this connection. The next matter that I desire to touch on hero will bo tho matter project. There has been some four project. There has been some four or five allocations of cost made on the Klamath project. Two or tbrco public notices which were based on separata allocations of cost. Within tho Inst year I under stand that thcro Is a so-called Hap pen allocation of costs. While It Is understood It has kept wlthlu tho outside figures that we owe the United States, that part Is true, and we admit that we are not asking any more mouey, but they have changed the Items that went to make up this total sum and tho changes made of these items has resulted In depriving the district of property and in other instances there Is a further object in a rc-allocation of tbo cost of this project und that Is to bring tho cost of the entire pro ject to a more uniform basis, ami not have such great discrepancies between the variuuj uults of tho project. It is my contention and I eel love tbe contention of a groat many that the best value of a pro Ject is its water supply, and that Ij the cnly sourco the government bus to regain tho money spent on the project. I believe on this project this plan has not been carried out. While tho various units of the pro ject have been charged on the bails of the amount of water uaed. this does not fully cover the situation. ! might illustrate in this way. That while the main canal of tbe Klam ath irrigation district will bold from 1200 s. f. to 1600 s. f. there is five times that amount of water used for power purposes out of the reservoir that was purchased by the govern ment for reclamation. I maintain that It Is unfair for all the land of the project to have to bear the cost of the reservoir and permit tho In dividual uso of thoaa reservoirs, free of chargo, which It virtually amounts to at this time, t might say that there Is a contract which Js supposed to justify the alloca tion as It now stands, and the al lowance of water to the Power company on tho basis that this water Is . used partly for pumping plants, i want to bring out this point, that the Klamath Irrigation district which Is one of the major portions of the project, and Is bearing the major cost of the pro ject, Jn no wise benefits from that salo of water. Wo havo no pumping und no use for powor for agricul tural purposes. At this tlmo we d elro to enlur our protest to the Keppen allocation and wc desire (hat the allocation bo entirely recon sidered. ' That Is all. Charles Wood Eberloln. Dr. Work What ure your con nections now? Mr. Eborleln Prlvnto citizen and water user. Dr. Work You are a water user? Mr. Eberlcln Yes sir. Mr. Eborleln Previously J was an officer of the Southern Pacific during the times to which I am testifying, having churge of all land, timber and other matters for tho Harrlman Intorests, reporting to Mr. Hnrrlmnn, having an office in Now ora, Han Francisco and Portland. In 1904 there was a great deal of trouble in I lie Interior, department, especially the Itoclamatlon Service, In regard to this Klamath project. Home very Important state legisla tion was required ut that tlmo to make the hike bods available. Thoy .had to be ceilod to tho United States before this project could g" on. I was culled Into consultation on the first of January, 1906, and 1 was asked to und did succeed In get ting through these atls, and they wore passed in January, , that year. When' that was ' (lone Mr. Nowell came lo my office In New York and said: "Wo have pasjed that crisis, but have come to one that Is equal ly bad. The government cannot spend four or five million dollars, all told, In puling In on Irrigation systeii) .Jilnety or. bttmirjid. inU'e from, a, main linn road. I wnnt your neslstnnco In v -bringing this DETAILED matter to the attention of Mr. liar rlmiin, Tho government cannot ask puoplc to go there and suttlu except In mood faith. They cannot compete with noil horn California In That w'uy. A brunch line projecting in thero eighty miles long will not do. Which was all true. Tho result was a number of conferences In New York und the final outcome was the promUe of a main lino, and lluit Juntu lino Is Ibis Natron cut-off, us it Is railed, but that does not start up, here us Is supposed, bill starts from Nevada. Mr. Hnrrlmnn died In 1S0!I, and . Immediately his plan were dropped, so far ns this con structlon Is couceriiod, and uro only now being revived. Now, ( have bn foro mo hero the original survey of tho Southern . Pacific on this line which runs ' through this project. Wren you go down thoro 1 wish you particularly to look at that develop ment south of Adums' point. Those miles from un rail connection, uud men are down thcro, thirty or forty miles from any rail connection, and they have kept their" agreement with the governnmnt, . trouble on this project Is that -beginning with lfy. wheullio slump cumo those luun would not. be In tho condition that they are today If tho promise the government made to them had Jjeen kept." Mr. Work TJhe question resolves Itself Intojhis, Vhon,.' I, tuko It. Tho Power company p lu, ,, You tear that In making power thru tho winter they will draw down tho storage for the summer. . You be llevo (hut 'Is the property of the district, and should not have boeu sold or given away. Asido from that you have no objection to tha(. Is that right? Mr, Uradbury I have no objec tion to tho company as a business, but I object to It using (ho property that was ucqulrcd and mnlntulned tor tho purposes of Irrigation, and we believe that It there was water to sell from that reservoir that It should bo sold undor tho Inw, by act of congress, which provides that that water should bo -old and Credited to the project. Mr. Work They are uslnj this water to muko power with? Mr.. Uradbury Yes. Mr. Work And you think tho power facilities should huvo been retulned In tho Interest of the pro ject Itself? i Mr. urudbury I do.- Mr. Work Where does this monoy go to from this project? Mr. Bradbury I believe It Is credited to the project. I might say this. That In tho matter of the sale, the Klamath Water Users, the Institution before tho Irrigation dis trict took place hero, wanted to tako the power sltos -and pay for them. Now then this project has paid its balance, and Is not In ar rears to the government, but the reason for the salo was that It re imbursed tbo government to the ex tent of 120, 000.(0, and tho condi tions of the sale made It possible for tho district to como In as a bid der, and It was our proposition to puy tho United States that portion which was not allocated to tho Klamath' Irrigation district and re imburse the government, but wo wero deplcd Hint right. Now as to whero that monoy $120,000 goes. It Is extended over a period of ten years. You are virtually giving It to tbe Power company. I cannot see how the government bonotits to any extont from It. Wo havo always wantud to pay for It. Com. Moud Didn't tho district own It until July, 1016? Mr. -Bradbury Tho Ankony canal was acquired and. water rights tbut had boon la existence for twenty years prior to the time when tho United' Stules becamo Intorstcd a total 4035 s. f., or actually moro water than the Kluinath wator shed affords. iMr. Work Is this dam of aiiy use to control water (or tho sum mer? Mr. Bradbury Absolutely not at all. I might say tlils.You tako the water falls through a porlod of years, and the crost .of the Irriga tion season comes In Juno and -the latter pnrf of July, and tho rocords will show that at tho time the water flow of tho rlvor Is sufficient to fur nish the canals. 20S s. f. was the only obligation the government had to incut In that lake. Mr. Work Is (ho use or opera tion of this powor company dimin ishing the supply of wutur on the project until now? ' . ' . Mr, Uradbury Not shortugo.be- cause of the power, but wo huvo bud our wuler level In danger. Mr. Work Have they doplolod your water supply up until now? Mr. Thomas No, not up .till now. Mr. Work We nro Irrlgatlonls'ts by federal Irrigation, and I urn not Intemslod in thorn us long us they do not Intorrero with out purposo of reclamation by Irrigation. Mr.. Thomas Well, do Hot lose sight of our contention, We want lo make (Ills thing broad enough t.) say that this generation anij peoplo Here hnve nn. right-to, cheat the fu ture generation, Mr, Work-T-yoii;are absolutely! TODAY'S CROSS f "Is I K I ' I"""! P FT I 2 is -tr- J UJ- " " 34 h i rj rj-iv-" 15 t u 1 i v T? vr . pf'Tr 44. " W T" ' I -to yT" 8;hjt SJ 4 " SS ' t 47 "T-' """"" """Hpe IKIItlXlNTAI, (i.uno played In picture. Purt of golf club which strikes ball. ;' Soo picture. i ' Negutlve. Wrath (Inspired by HO score). $uo picture (hoy who carries sticks.) l.engthof time II lakes to play a good game. . , . Jumbled typj, .' Snokellko fish. " . -Meadow. ' To accomplish. '. ' ' Perfect scoro. . Orecn ground i.lom a 1'ver Un plural name of golf i-ourno.l To stuff, To attempt. To 'fit.. Altar. I'nroimnou. Departing gtuvt. Iluu.its of bur.lua. - To clip. Chief linguist -lock of Indo china. Paid publicity (pi I. Warning, cry gf a golfer bof.ire a drive. Automobile. Indefinite article. tioa picture. Exclumatlon of disgust. ' Like. tiundry far washing ores. Dabs again. Provldout Ipaect. Correlative of elthor. To play of golf ball Into the lido Slate of cxcltumont. tivo picture. VKIITICAI, To grasp golf -club. Position of ball In relation lo Its surroundings on the course. Common conjunction. Klsh caught around Now Eng land. Itofrosblng bevoraga secured at 7. rlght. Do not mortgage the future Mr. Thomns No one knows what that will bo worth to our children and grandchildren. Wo are trying to estnbli'h ourselves to the benefit of cur government. And these people say It Is to (ho benefit of thi town . Mr. Work The benefit of the town Is to doyolop tho county around It. I want to muko clour what tho purpose of the reclamation sorvlco Is, and Hi" policy -Cf II, und (hat Is to benefit the Intorost of tho peo ple so that they may bo able to make homes. Many of tho projects havo fulled und others aro falling. Wo want to clear up kite thing und soo what property Is worth und what (hoy should pay for It. Wr. Thomas You do not know how much wo npprooluto that alti tude, Doctor, Mr, Work We wunf to work with you people to cure tho troubles of this project. So thut wo muy understand each other, and I Imagine wo do. When I cumo Into this service this iwnt on of my Inheritances, tho recla mation situation. I sot about to muko a property accounting, which 1 did. It wns made from the fig ures found In tbo reclamation ser vice, as faithfully fls It could - be mndo. Then we called this fact Finding comnilfHlon together and called for an accounting, which thoy did, Whon that was dotio they pre dicated a bill tor un net which has since been passed. Now then, It develops In the Investigations of this I''act Finding commission tlmt vory ambitious , promises were hold out at first, That so many ucrns .would bo irrigated and tho cost would be so much. : If co, then the ucronge cost would ho so in ii . That was simple as u matter 'Of nuttlioinatlcH, but it Is like tho old story of tho dog and the rut, On much of the projoct the cost of the' construction was two, three or four times more Ulan promised. Those facts mnde t nccossury for us to proceed on a definite plan, and wo jippiilnlud jip; praleors tq go' oVor those , projects and dotnrintna. Aral, how much -land WORD " PUZZLE club house. T. Light .'cotton fabric ' (uukeyrd letter "o") . Somethlin cold put III bovorngo. 13. A tear In tao cbihe.i. IS. Altogether. ID: Kind. ' 18, One niiiri strolio limn your op. , poiUMit makes. 20. One who oncouriifjc; error, , 22.. A stroke to land bnl'l op putting green, 2.'i. To be present at. 2D. I. ick of power to i o. ordinate voluntary musrulnr movement (or why I cau't play.) 29. Low. heavy clouds. 22. A small hole In the lurf. 34. Toward. 20. S.:coml nolo In scale. II. Some. 42. Monoy paid to the "pro". 1 4.1. To retire or recede. 45. Played on ground In-tend of lifting ball. 4t). Upon. 4S. To sin. - CO. Tree with tough wood. f2. To thrust. 64. To dine. 56. Porlod. 57. Part of Vorb to be. DS. To be slrk. Yl-HTKHPAY'H HOI. tl ION was Irrigated and how much could bo Irrigated, what the construction cost. wa etc. After that 1 all dono, during tho sumnior, wo will get these togathor. It is un ambitious proposition. It Is tbo blggost thing tbut was evor undertaken In tho department of tho Interior, and wo aro held responsible for all tho nils- UnkoH und promises that were mndo by tho dupartmont In tho beginning. Thoy have failed. They wore rioin builders und did nut seem lo ho much concerned, when thoy rutf out of money thoy went to congroi. Thoy workod together with tholr congressmen and got tyoro money; The project did not have to pay It back. It was an easy time, but tho tlmo has coma for aattloinant. We uro going to make recommendation-!.. Soma will bo drastic and somo will ha unpopular. I nni going to muko recommendations to congress and whother they nro popular Or Un popular does not mutter. That is the object or this meeting. Wo carry a mossngo of hope this fur that'-wti aro going lo work with tho people' on the other end. Unlns- reclamation can be mnde to Hiioeuod from tlin tormlnal ond, Sudoral ' roclnmatlon' will fall. I think with tills : slntoJ mont you will understand what' our Ideas uro. I am a farmer. I have Irrlgatod every year for 25 years; I havo lost somutlmns but not It I could avoid it, i know the' hourt hrenklng situation on the ruclamu- llon projects benuiiso I huvo lived among thorn. I luiv practiced modi cine In u one-room Iioufo with a heartbroken wife In It. It Is' about tlmo the government recognizes tho situation. '" ; ' ': M- I)r. Mend I want ,lo' ask 'two1 questions to clear up somo ' mntf tni's that ! mil anxlnim (o khow.1') wiiih la know how ' much" yon ' tin ilorHlund thu Pwar company 1 Has expended In lis development bore under this contract, itow' ,' miifli money? ' ' (if "'.Mr. Ilriidbury t hhVe no , fig-' tires, pr.- Mimd, ( could not sny, that any hn.m boon .published., J ."" , ll J. (Continued Jon Page Might)