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Show RECLAMATION OF THE ARID LANDS 677 5. Where costs were too great for the land to bear, adjustments should be made. G. Costs should be allocated in proportion to the productive value of land. 7. No new project should be authorized until all privately owned land in excess of a single homestead unit for each owner should have been acquired by the United States for subdivision and sale to settlers. 8. Lands in project areas should be classified according to their physical and economic features. 9. Homesteaders on infertile and unproductive land should have the privilege of exchanging their tracts for suitable land. 10. Payments on construction charges for infertile land should be suspended. 11. Settlers should be carefully selected, for their industry, experience, character and capital in future. 12. Settlers should be encouraged to form water users' associations of irrigation districts to take over and manage the project works. 13. Income from power plants should be credited to construction costs. 14. Penalty rates on all unpaid charges when due should be 6 percent annually, instead of 12. 15. Payment plans should be made more flexible. 16. Reclamation authorities should cooperate closely with the Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural colleges and experiment stations in disseminating knowledge of the crops and methods of farming best fitted for each project, and agricultural advisers should be made available. 17. On the Yuma, King Hill, and Milk River projects owners of excess lands should be required to sell at prices determined by the Secretary of the Interior for division into small units. 18. Because of excessive and unwarranted costs in the Lower Yellowstone project and the fact that the land would not bear a $60 an acre water rental charge it should be reduced by $15 an acre. 19. The cost of general investigations of projects and of the Washington office should not be charged to the construction accounts.129 The committee's general recommendation was as follows: The Reclamation Service needed a comprehensive reorganization into three divisions: a division of engineering whose functions should be limited to construction, operation and maintenance; a division of finance to coordinate and supervise expenditures and collections; and a division of farm economics to aid settlers in getting established and improving their farm practices, and to have charge of classification of the land and promoting the settlement of unoccupied land.130 Efforts Toward Reform Congress used the not uncommon device of tacking such of these proposed reforms as it approved onto a deficiency bill in December 1924. No new projects were to be undertaken until accurate information was available concerning the water supply, engineering problems, the cost of construction, land prices, and likelihood of the project returning its cost. The Reclamation Service was to determine the qualifications of applicants, such as their industry, experience, character, and capital. Irrigable lands in new projects were to be classified according to their economic potential and the Secretary was authorized to assign variable charges for the different classes of land. On existing projects annual charges were to be 5 percent of the average gross annual acre income. Reports were to be made to Congress of land in projects on which, for lack of fertility, adequate water, or other reasons, the settlers could not pay construction costs. The cost of the Washington office of 129 Ibid., pp. 1 ff. 130 Ibid., p. 152. |