Mr. LITTLE. Mr. Winter, do you think that the man that owns only one wheel in that little red wagon would have the right to say what should be done with it? Do you think if you owned only one wheel of my wagon that you would have any right that I must respect? Mr. WINTER. Well, he has some rights by virtue of owning that wheel.

Mr. LITTLE. Well, he can follow up the proceeds when it is sold; he can not interfere with my running the wagon.

The CHAIRMAN. It is now too late to bring on another witness. We will meet to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock, with the understanding that Mr. A. B. West will be the first witness.

Mr. RAKER. Before you adjourn, Mr. Chairman, may I ask Governor Boyle one question?

The CHAIRMAN. Certainly.

Mr. RAKER. Governor Boyle, you have been over California and Arizona in the last couple of years; you attended many of the meetings of the Colorado River Commission, and went around with the commission; and I wanted to ask you if it is your opinion, from what you heard relative to the power companies who desire to build in the Colorado River, that they believe that the building of dams there for the purpose of generating hydroelectric energy was feasible? Mr. BOYLE. Well, Mr. Hoxie, of the Southern California Edison Co., told me that, from the engineering standpoint-from the hydroelectric engineering standpoint-they would prefer to see their equalizer further up the stream.

Mr. RAKER. That is not the point-I mean any place in the river? Mr. BOYLE. Do they believe it to be feasible?

Mr. RAKER. Yes.

Mr. BOYLE. They certainly do.

Mr. RAKER. Well, from your observation and experience, do you further believe that it is feasible and practicable and would justify the expenditure of the money, and do you believe that they are opposed to the Government constructing the dam, in order to do it themselves?

Mr. BOYLE. I think the time was when they sought very diligently to promote public sentiment in favor of turning over the river to private development. Whether they feel that way about it now or not, I am not prepared to say.

Mr. RAKER. Well, so far as your information goes, they left that impression in your mind?

Mr. BOYLE. They did at one time.

Mr. RAKER. When did they change it?

Mr. BOYLE. I do not know that they have changed it.

Mr. SWING. Let me ask you this question: At what time was it that this idea was put into your mind? Was it while you were State engineer or governor of Nevada?

Mr. BOYLE. No, sir: I think it was about 1920 or 1921, when the Southern California Edison Co., through its representative, came into Nevada and made filings in the State engineer's office.

Mr. SWING. Well, were you the State engineer at that time?

Mr. BOYLE. I was governor.

The CHAIRMAN. On the 23d of February I was instructed by this. committee to notify certain individuals to come before the committee, and all of them have responded or will be here later.

I have a letter from Mr. Chandler, of Los Angeles, which I advised him I would submit to the committee:

Hon. ADDISON T. SMITH,

Chairman Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation,

MARCH 4, 1924.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. SMITH: I have your letter of February 23 inviting me to appear before the Irrigation and Reclamation Committee during the next two or three weeks for the purpose of giving testimony and furnishing such information as I have regarding the building of the Boulder Canyon dam on the Colorado River,

I am inclosing you herewith an article which I wrote some time in December, which was originally published, as you will see, in the California Journal of Development. The Times, under my direction, has printed hundreds of columus of matter pertaining to this subject, all of it calculated or intended to be calculated to promote the building of a dam on the Colorado for the purpose of preventing floods, furnishing water for irrigating the arid areas, and incidentally to develop power. If you desire it, I can send you an enormous amount of such matter as I have prepared or had prepared from time to time on this subject, which would give everything and more than it would be practicable or possible for me to give verbally before your committee.

I am opposed to that part of the Swing bill which couples with the building of the dam the building of what is known as an all-American canal, but not because of my own personal interest in Mexican property, but because of my interests and what I regard as the general public interest of landowners on the American side of the line.

It would be very difficult for me to leave my business at the present time and make a trip to Washington. If it is possible for me to be excused I shall be very grateful. I expect to be in Washington about the middle of April on my way to attend the annual meeting of the Associated Press in New York, and at that time I shall be glad to give your committee all the information I have which they desire on this important subject.

Trusting that in the face of the situation stated above that your committee may be willing to excuse me, or if not, that my trip may be deferred until the time suggested, I am,

Yours very truly,

HARRY CHANDLER.

Mr. LITTLE. Does the information furnished by him contain any statement as to what taxes or anything of the kind he pays to Mexico or anybody else?

The CHAIRMAN. I do not know. He has submitted a lot of data which I have not examined. He does say that he does not hesitate to express himself on the matter.

Mr. LITTLE. Well, I was asking particularly what taxes he pays in Mexico.

The CHAIRMAN. I say we have not examined these papers. Mr. LITTLE. I would like to get at that information in some way. The CHAIRMAN. I think probably we could make up a list of questions and get his responses to them by wire.

Mr. RAKER. I am opposed to that, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SWING. If he is going to put in an ex parte statement, I would be opposed to it. I think he confesses everything that has been stated here. He is opposed to Imperial Valley getting this system out of the control of the Mexican officials and land operators; that is all that has ever been charged against him. His strange solicitude for the farmers of Imperial Valley has not been recognized by those farmers; they have never recognized any interest on his part in them.

Mr. HUDSPETH. I take issue with the gentleman from California as to that. I think he says that he has no interest in Mexico, except his great solicitude.

Mr. LITTLE. What does he pay for that water that he gets in Mexico?

Mr. HUDSPETH. I would like to have him appear before the committee.

Mr. RAKER. I move, Mr. Chairman, that it is the sense of the committee that Mr. Chandler appear at the earliest date possible; we would like to have him come here about the 1st of April.

Mr. ALLGOOD. Is that the time that he said in his letter that he was going to New York?

Mr. RAKER. No; but I wanted him to come a little ahead of that time.

The CHAIRMAN. He said in his letter that he was coming on the 15th of April.

Mr. ALLGOOD. Have we enough witnesses to take up our time until then?

The CHAIRMAN. We have witnesses that will probably occupy the balance of the month.

It is moved and seconded that Mr. Chandler appear before the committee early in April.

Mr. RAKER. The first week in April, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; the first week in April.

(The motion was unanimously adopted.)

(Thereupon, at 12 o'clock noon, the committee adjourned until Wednesday, March 19, 1924, at 10 o'clock a. m.)

COMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION AND RECLAMATION,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Wednesday, March 19, 1924.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Addison T. Smith (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. We will resume consideration of H. R. 2903.
Mr. West will be the first witness.

TESTIMONY OF MR. A. B. WEST, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRAS POWER CO., RIVERSIDE, CALIF.

(The witness was duly sworn by the chairman.)

The CHAIRMAN. Would you prefer to make your statement uninterrupted, Mr. West?

Mr. WEST. I would very much prefer that, Mr. Chairman, for the purpose of continuity, and it will not take but a brief time, and after I am through I would be very glad to submit to any questions that the members of the committee may desire to ask.

The record should show that I am president of the Southern Sierras Power Co., and vice president of the Nevada-California Power Co.

The Southern Sierras Power Co. and its associate company, the Nevada-California Power Co., are not numbered among the first five light and power companies in the United States. In fact, to be frank with this committee, we have already been identified as to size by the testimony of both Mr. Ballard, and, I believe, Mr. Mulhol

land. We are the small, private power company referred to by Mr. Ballard as serving a portion of the pumping load in southern California. And we are the company that Mr. Mulholland had a little trouble in recalling, but which he finally referred to as the small concern that was selling electricity in that region.

Now, in these days I do not know but that there is some advantage is being small; the big fellow seems to be under suspicion. So we hope that the committee will deal gently with us as a "little brother of the rich" among the fraternity of the power companies of the Pacific coast.

Now, while we admit that, measured by the balance sheet, the Southern Sierras Power Co. and the Nevada-California Power Co. do not bulk large compared with the Southern California Edison colossus, yet we do contend that we are not without distinction. These two companies are, in two respects, unique: They stand, not one among five, but first among the light and power companies of America in these particulars:

First. We are to-day transmitting electric power on a commercial basis farther than it has even been carried previously in the history of the world.

Second. We are, through a single connected system, serving large portions of three States, and of one foreign territory, and we believe that we are serving a larger area than, perhaps, any other light and power company in this country; and not only a larger area, but an area that is composed in large part of mountain and desert regions, and that does not include within its limits a single town or city having a population in excess of 30,000 people and I might further and say that it does not have a single city with a population in excess of, say, 7,000 people served by our company exclusively, I will call attention to the map of the States of California and Nevada on the wall [indicating] on which has been marked this system.

go

Our generating plants are located on the eastern slope of the Sierras, in Inyo County, near the town of Bishop, and in the Mono Basin, the principal plant in that territory being on a stream known as Rush Creek.

For the service of this territory, which embraces-well, I will first go over the territory itself. The territory we serve covers southwestern Nevada, including the counties of Nye. Esmeralds, and Mineral and the mining camps of Tonopah, Goldfield, Round Mountain, and Manhattan Candelaria, as well as other camps.

It includes all of eastern California, extending from Mono Basin, which is further north than San Francisco, down through Mono County, Inyo County, eastern Kern County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Imperial County to the Mexican line.

And then we serve a considerable territory south of the line, wholesaling the current to the company that sells it in Mexico.

We further wholesale the current that is used in the Yuma terri tory, which does not appear on this map; it is this section here [indicating] in southwestern Arizona.

Altogether in that territory served by our lines there is embraced over, I think, 75.000 square miles-something like the total area of England and Scotland.

For its service we have installed some 90,000 horsepower, of which to-day about 75,000 is hydroelectric and the balance is in steam plants. And we have under construction about 20,000 of additional capacity in hydroelectric plants that will be brought in during this year. I think that, as far as installed capacity of power plants goes, we are about on a par with the city of Los Angeles.

The population of this territory is, roughly, a quarter of a million people.

We are carrying power to Nevada at 66,000 volts and through California at 88,000 volts.

Now, I think that your committee will find of interest this statement as to the territory we serve and the distance that we are carrying our power in connection with the matters referred to in Secretary Hoover's testimony.

The Secretary, I believe, raised some question as to the commercial feasibility of carrying power from Glen Canyon to the coast.

Now, the distance and I will point out those distances on the map from Rush Creek to Bishop Creek is about 55 miles. From Bishop Creek down to San Bernardino, in southern California, is 238 miles. From San Bernardino to El Centro, in the Imperial Valley, by way of our transmission line is some 165 miles. And it is 55 miles from El Centro to Yuma. That makes a total of 517 miles.

And I might say at this time that a line is under construction that will carry the power east from Yuma to the Welton irrigation district, some 40 miles further.

It is to be borne in mind that we are carrying the power these distances, which are wholly unprecedented, not to serve a large, populous community or any great industrial center, such as Los Angeles, but to serve a sparsely settled and as yet largely undeveloped territory.

Now, by reason of these conditions-the fact that we have to carry the power such distances, and that when we arrive at points of distribution we have to go farther and build more miles of distribution lines in order to pick up our load than would be the case if we were serving a thickly populated center; it necessarily follows that our rates are somewhat higher; particularly in the service of the more remote sections, than those which are in force to-day, for instance, in the city of Los Angeles and vicinity: yet the rates have been low enough to displace all forms of competitive power, such as local gas engines or Diesel engines. I say to displace them. They are practically displaced. There are, perhaps, on our whole system, half a dozen or more gas engine and Diesel engine plants of any size.

Furthermore these rates have been low enough to play a very important part in the development of this territory that we serve. Ex-Governor Boyle, of Nevada, yesterday, was kind enough to refer to the part that the service of our company-he did not mention us by name, but it is our company which serves that territorythe part that the service of our company has played in the devel opment of the great mines in that section. Without hydroelectric power being available, neither Goldfield nor Tonopah would have ever had the outputs of mineral wealth that they have shown.

Furthermore, at numerous other points in our territory, large industrial loads have developed. For instance, at Inyokern, which