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settlement by ex-service men. That survey was made; that was submitted to the United States Congress. That survey showed in the Eastern States there was no land available for settlement; in the Southern States there were some lands available for settlement, and in the Western States there were desert lands available for settlement. The swamp land in the South has too much water, and these western lands haven't got enough water. We are interested primarily as ex-service men in these Western lands and particularly the desert lands which will be reclaimed by the Boulder Canyon Dam and the All-American Canal.

The statement has been made and is prevalent, I think, that exservice men do not desire to settle on land. Now, I have some facts that I want to present to you gentlemen, if you will bear with me for just a few minutes. This is the Reclamation Record; this is the paper that is gotton out by the Department of the United States Government; the Reclamation Service gets this record out. In this record there is a statement on page 221, concerning the opening of the Platte project. I simply cite this to you for the purpose of showing you that there is a demand, a necessary demand, and an insistent demand on behalf of ex-service men for some land on which to settle, and there is no land now available for them.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, may I offer this remark: I am familiar with the report, and one also issued by Secretary Fall and I want to remind you that the present Secretary of the Interior says he has available on irrigation projects 6,000 unoccupied farms. I thought perhaps you were not familiar with that statement.

Mr. HEALD. I am familiar with that, yes sir, Mr. Chairman. This other was thrown open in 1919. There were eight units available, and there were over 3,000 men who made application for it. Those 3,000 men deposited with the United States Reclamation Service $1,192,000 to pay the official construction cost necessary to be paid before they could get their land. There were only 80 men who could get land out of that 3,000 men who made application. Now, I looked up the records of the Reclamation Service too, of the Interior Department at Washington at one time when I happened to be there, and I was informed and I found from the records that since 1919, since men were discharged from the United States Army, up to 1924, March, 1924, 204,541 men had made application for land and they had been informed that there wasn't any land. Since that time the Reclamation Service has stated that there have been 1,000 applications a month that have come in.

Now, we feel here in Imperial County, the ex-service men do, that if this legislation goes through it would make available approximately 500,000 acres of land below this dam which would be available for settlement under the Swing-Johnson bill, which would give preference to ex-service men. Those figures I took from the

The CHAIRMAN. That is already an existing statute.

Mr. HEALD. I realize that, yes sir, but we are interested in this legislation because it will make available for settlement under the present Reclamation Act.

Now, on behalf of the ex-service men of Imperial County, I wish to state this, that we have here in Imperial County ex-service men who are farmers. We have men who have been placed on farms here in Imperial County by the Veterans' Welfare Bureau; some 76 or

78 men are now occupying farms which they obtained under the Federal Vocational Training in Imperial County.

We also have in Imperial County ex-service men who are farming land under the Federal welfare bureau of the State, and these men. are interested in this legislation for floor protection primarily. That is one reason why they are interested in it. They are interested in seeing further lands brought in, so that other ex-service men who desire these two hundred odd thousand ex-service men who desire to settle on lands may have an opportunity to do so. Now, there has been a statement made here that the farmers of Imperial Valley do not want to have their lands burdened to help construct the AllAmerican Canal. I can say this on behalf of the ex-service men farmers who are in Imperial Valley, that they are willing to bear their proportionate share of the cost of constructing the All-American Canal in order that this water may be brought in, not necessarily and primarily for land that they are farming, but to reclaim Government land out there on the mesa. They are willing to bear their proportionate share of the cost of constructing that canal for the purpose of making other lands available for other ex-service men.

Senator DILL. Who worked out the figures by which they propose to charge $37 or $38 an acre straight on the present irrigated lands? Mr. HEALD. Those figures I think you will find, Senator

Senator DILL. Who worked them out? Who made those figures; that is, what organization or set of men?

Mr. HEALD. Do you mean the cost of-construction cost per acre for the construction?

Senator DILL. For the figuring out, what was the basis by which they arrived at that?

Mr. HEALD. It appears in the All-American Canal report. That is my impression of those figures in this document.

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There is just one more thing to it: While in Washington at one time, I was before this committee when Senator Kendrick's bill was before the committee. I just wish to say this, that if the Kendrick bill were passed as proposed, and I listened to the testimony very carefully there, I believe that financial assistance could be made available so that an ex-service man could onto 40 acres of this desert land and make an improved farm out of it. I say that for this reason, that veterans in the State of California have been considered by our own State legislation and have gone upon the farms and out of all the farms that have been given ex-service men here, we haven't had one failure. And if this proposed legislation, as submitted in the Kendrick bill, were put through, as I understand it, land would be made available to ex-service men by which they would have $3;800--I think I am correct in that statement--which they could borrow from the reclamation office, which would be a revolving fund, and if this land were made available and that money were made available, then under the reclamation act which provides that they pay down 5 per cent of the construction cost at the time the land is opened, and it is opened up in five years, then on the beginning of the fifth year after the land is turned over to the veteran, he has 15 years in which to complete his payments. And, I believe, under that there would be no question but what an ex-service man could go on this land and make a productive farm out of it in the course of 10 years anyway.

Now, we believe this, gentlemen-I am not an engineer and don't profess to be able to give you any statistics regarding the feasibility or the unfeasibility of the All-American Canal, but I do submit that the gentleman that we selected and the recommendation that he made as to the feasibility of the All-American Canal should be sufficient for this committee, together with the other evidence that you have.

Now, if this land is available, can be made available, we believe that this committee should consider this proposition seriously.

From this standpoint, Mr. Chairman, there has been testimony here to show that there are a million acres of land below the border in Mexico that can be reclaimed. We believe that the ex-service men should be given first chance at the waters of the Colorado River, rather than outside lands or lands in a foreign country, and that is why we contend that the All-American Canal should be constructed, and why we ask you to construct the All-American Canal and give the ex-service men the first opportunity to take the waters of this American river and apply them to American lands, rather than build a dam, store the water, and allow it to flow into a foreign country where it can never be used again by Americans or used on American soil.

The CHAIRMAN. Dr. L. C. House.

STATEMENT OF L. C. HOUSE, PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON, IMPERIAL COUNTY, CALIF.

Senator JOHNSON. Just state your occupation, please, and your

name.

Mr HOUSE. I am L. C. House; I am a physician and surgeon in Imperial County, Calif., and have been health officer in Imperial County since 1913, up until the first of this last year.

The CHAIRMAN. Your are a land owner?

Mr HOUSE. No, sir; I am not land owner.

Senator JOHNSON. Go ahead with your statement, please, Doctor. Mr HOUSE. I don't come representing any league or club or anything of the kind, but merely to state to this committee something about the water that you may not already know that might help you in drawing your conclusions as to what you want to do.

As you already know, the water is taken out of the Colorado River about 10 miles below Yuma and then goes through Mexico for some 50 miles; then it reaches the line again. It is a notorious fact that a good many of the lower class of Mexican people dispose of almost anything they don't want by throwing it into the canal, horses, cattle, people, dogs and every other sort of refuse that they have. It is also well known that typhoid fever, especially, is a water borne disease. If at any time an epidemic should occur below the line, the health officer in Imperial County has no control over this water or over anything that may be in there. In Imperial County the canals are continuously patroled and dead animals and dead people, etc, are taken out. But below the line we have no knowledge of what gets in there until it strikes the head gates, and this takes about 24 to 48 hours for the water to reach the Imperial Valley from the intake. No one could think that the pathological

bacteria would live, and they die during the course of their travel in 24 to 48 hours.

There is another thing that I would like to acquaint you with, although this is no fault of Mexico and perhaps no fault of anybody. The city of Yuma, with a population of some 6,000 to 10,000 people, empties its sewage directly into the Colorado River, which is 17 miles above our intake. All during the summer time we take all this water, and it is no small portion of the water that we unfortunately have to drink in Imperial Valley. Now, that is in Yuma. They have got to empty their sewage somewhere, but it is a situation that the canal, of course, would change. We have had some concern because of typhoid fever that has been directly attributable to drinking the water out of the canal without its having been filtered or chlorined, and this sewage is not filtered nor chlorined, and they don't have septic tanks, but if they did have a septic tank over there it would only decrease the need, so far as the drinking qualities of the water are concerned.

The CHAIRMAN. Don't you treat the city water by some chemical process?

Mr. HOUSE. We do, but the farming communities don't have that. The cities all treat it.

Senator JOHNSON. Would the All-American Canal obviate this condition that you have described?

Mr. HOUSE. It would.

Senator DILL. It would not in any way affect the stuff grown on the land?

Mr. HOUSE. No, because the irrigation does not go up over the laterals, nor any of the things that they eat. If it did, of course, they would be affected.

Senator JOHNSON. That is all.

STATEMENT OF D. A. HARRIGAN, HORTICULTURAL EXPERT, OF IMPERIAL COUNTY

The CHAIRMAN. What is you name?

Mr. HARRIGAN. D. A. Harrigan.

The CHAIRMAN. What is your occupation?

Mr. HARRIGAN. Horticultural expert of Imperial County.

The CHAIRMAN. You are a resident here?

Mr. HARRIGAN. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. A land owner?

'Mr. HARRIGAN. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What is your acreage?

Mr. HARRIGAN. I own my property here in El Centro, and I have a desert land entry out at Westmoreland in the irrigated district. The CHAIRMAN. Oh, yes.

Mr. HARRIGAN. There is a serious weed situation, noxious weed situation in Mexico. Johnson grass has become well established in the agricultural lands, considerable of it, and if allowed to spread in the future as it has in the past, it will only be a few years until it will cover the banks of the main canals that flow into the United States, and they will carry the seed to the agricultural lands of Imperial Valley.

The CHAIRMAN. That is considered a menace, is it, to the farmers?

Mr. HARRIGAN. Yes, sir; in California.

The CHAIRMAN. That grass doesn't bother you when you cultivate? Mr. HARRIGAN. Yes, sir; there is a State law in California requiring that all Johnson grass be eradicated, and when it becomes thoroughly established you will lose the use of the land for two years.

The CHAIRMAN. I don't know what Johnson grass you refer to, but the Johnson grass in Oregon is not necessarily a nuisance to the farmer or the horticulturist. Thank you very much.

Senator JOHNSON. It is a real menace here, is it?

Mr. HARRIGAN. It is a real menace here, where you attempt to raise truck crops and alfalfa and other grains in Imperial County, and particularly cotton.

Senator JOHNSON. How much money has been expended in attempts to eradicate it in Imperial County?

Mr. HARRIGAN. I can't tell you offhand, but I dare say it costs the farmers of Imperial County at various times in the neighborhood of $75,000.

Senator JOHNSON. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF J. STANLEY BROWN, FORMER COUNTY TREASURER AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Brown, for the record, your occupation, please, and where you live?

Mr. BROWN. J. Stanley Brown.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you do here, Mr. Brown?

Mr. BROWN. I don't do anything.

The CHAIRMAN. What have you done some time in your life?

Mr. BROWN. I helped to reclaim this valley-17 years of the best part of my life, I spent.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you owner of land in the Imperial Valley? Mr. BROWN. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. To what extent?

Mr. BROWN. Lots of it.

The CHAIRMAN. How much land do you own?

Mr. BROWN. Eighty acres.

The CHAIRMAN. Is it under irrigation?

Mr. BROWN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead and make your statement, Mr. Brown. Mr. BROWN. Mr. Chairman, honorable gentlemen, I have had the pleasure of attending the major portion of these hearings during the last several days and I have been much interested and edified by so doing. I have listened as carefully as I could to all the evidence that has been given, and, as I say, I have been much educated by that. Now, it seems to me that the two great, important points in this question have been so thoroughly discussed and listened to that it would be wholly unnecessary, even if I were capable, to speak upon those particular points at this time. The engineering feature has been so well demonstrated and explained to you by some of the most eminent enigneers in the United States that it would seem that the feasibility and the practicability of that part of it has been practically settled. The financing, which, of course, is not only

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