Mr. SWING. What was shipped out of the valley has been estimated at $40,000,000 for last year.

Mr. HUDSPETH. You mean the products of that valley?

Mr. SWING. That was the statement prepared by the commercial agent of the Southern Pacific and furnished me as I was leaving. Mr. HUDSPETH. Of this proposed district?

Mr. SWING. Of the present Imperial irrigation district. We think we have the assets, but it is hard to realize the cash on them.

Mr. SINNOTT. Are you familiar with what is known as the Smith bill, introduced by Mr. Addison T. Smith. It is frequently referred to as the Chamberlain-Smith bill. Would that bill meet your situation?

Mr. SWING. I have not read the bill introduced by Mr. Smith this year very carefully, Mr. Sinnott; it is somewhat different from the bill as heretofore introduced.

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. As a matter of fact, whoever drew this bill must have read it carefully, because this is almost a copy of it. Mr. SWING. The one you introduced in the last session of Congress?

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Yes.

Mr. SWING. Yes; the provisions of that bill I am familiar with and favor.

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Now, you propose then to amend section 3 so as to provide that the amount shall not exceed in the aggregate $35,000,000-not to exceed?

Mr. SWING. Yes; I think that will be a good amendment in view of the Secretary's criticism.

Now, there are two other members of the delegation who would like to have 10 minutes apiece. I think they could be disposed of in 15 minutes apiece anyway, if you want to hear them to-night. That will conclude the statements on behalf of our delegation.

The CHAIRMAN. Who will you have first?

Mr. SWING. We would like to have Mr. Brooks.

The CHAIRMAN. We will be glad to hear you, Mr. Brooks. Give your name and residence and occupation.

STATEMENT OF MR. W. H. BROOKS, EL CENTRO, CALIF.

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is W. H. Brooks, pioneer rancher of Imperial Valley, Calif., post-office address, El Centro, Calif.

Mr. SWING. You are chairman of the board of supervisors of Imperial County?

Mr. BROOKS. Also chairman of the board of supervisors; yes. The CHAIRMAN. How long have you lived in Imperial Valley? Mr. BROOKS. I have lived there, I think, about 16 years.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you been irrigating land during this time? Mr. BROOKS. Yes; my occupation has been ranching.

The CHAIRMAN. And that includes raising crops by irrigation? Mr. BROOKS. Yes, sir.

Mr. SWING. You have been a rancher all the time you have been there?

Mr. BROOKS. I have been ranching there all the time and we do no ranching there except by irrigation.

The CHAIRMAN. Proceed with your statement.

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, when I went to Imperial Valley in 1902, it was a desert. We had to go about 30 miles into Mexico to get cottonwood poles to make a framework for shade for ourselves and our horses. We had to go 15 miles to get brush to put on this frame work.

There was no railroad there at that time. Now the railroad company is selling $50,000 of tickets per month and large per cent of the travel goes out by auto.

Last year we shipped 18,000 cars of produce from the valley. We shipped 600,000 pounds of turkeys last year. Think of it gentlemen, about 40,000 turkeys being shipped annually from a place where a few years before there was nothing.

We have a man with us, I believe, that hauled the first dairy cow into the valley.

We last year produced 7,000,000 pounds of butter and have 20,000 dairy cows and 40,000 beef steers on feed.

Our assessed county valuation, $35,859,028, or about one-third of its market value.

Very often the land produces more than its value in one year. There have been cases where the landlord has offered a deed to the land for the crop that was on the land, and there have been many cases where the tenant has lost his crop for lack of water when there was a good supply in the river.

This condition is caused by the unsettled condition of our water supply.

We not only have the unsettled condition, but we have the unsanitary condition to contend with.

Who wants to drink from a stream when he knows that there are 7,000 Chinamen, Japs, and Mexicans camped on that stream a few miles above in Mexico? And we have nothing to say as to what they shall do to or with this water in Mexico. Shall we let this go on and on, and let these Japs and Chinamen take in more land and use more water until we are not only prevented from developing our new land but are cut short on the land we now have water for?

We are using our hard-earned money to build weirs, enlarge canals, and build structures to get more water. This water goes into Mexico and those people take what they want to use or waste, and we get what is left. We now have nearly 60,000 people depending absolutely on the water that makes this circuit through Mexico. If we can build an all-American canal it will be but a short time and we will have several times 60,000 free, prosperous Americans building homes and schoolhouses on land watered by water that has never touched a foreign soil and water that 7,000 Japs and Chinese have not used to bathe in.

If we do not get the all-American canal some day there will be a serious water shortage. Then, some red-blooded, free Americans wil! ask themselves: "Why should our crops burn up, and our stock perish, when, just across an imaginary line, these Jap, Mexican, and Chinese tenants of American millionaires are getting water that we have turned into our canal?" Will they abandon their homes and walk out or will they take their guns, cross this imaginary line, and undertake to defend that which they have paid for and which they believe to be rightly theirs and which is necessary to their actual life?

Now, gentlemen, as a pioneer rancher-and I, like many of my neighbors, have every dollar we possess invested in the Imperial Valley-I would ask you to think seriously of this matter, and I know you will. We are beggars but not paupers. All we want is a chance to help ourselves. We have proved that we can produce the stuff. Now we want help so that we can make this water system permanent and not have to throw our earnings away on the temporary work or abandon all that we have done in the past 18 years.

Now, I have here a report-a crop report. This report was taken from the Southern Pacific commercial agent at El Centro. He kept account of the amount that was shipped out, the produce that was shipped out in carload lots. Now, this doesn't take in the produce from Coachello or what was consumed in the valley; it was just his report from shipments; and I will file this report with you. I will just sketch over a few of the items that are of note here.

Now, of alfalfa we have something over 100,000 acres, and 1,884 carloads were shipped out last year.

In cotton there were 85,000 bales shipped out, amounting to $11,900,000.

Cotton seed amounted to $2,305,000.

Millo maize amounted to $3,025,000.

Our cantaloupe crop amounted to $4,974,750.

Mr. TAYLOR. Where do you ship this produce to, mostly?

Mr. BROOKS. It goes all over the United States. You are eating our cantaloupes right here in Washington and have been for the last month. We are shipping them now. This year we shipped something like I believe Mr. Shaw has the exact figures.

Mr. SHAW. The last report showed about 7,000 carloads of cantaloupes, valued at $9,000,000. That was the heaviest crop we shipped. Mr. TAYLOR. Did you use Rocky Ford seed? [Laughter.] Mr. BROOKS. That is right.

Now I will give you a few of the summaries. Forage and grain crops and cotton amounted to 6,517 cars, valued at $19,781,113. The vegetables amounted to 6,251 cars, valued at $5,973,812. The live stock amounted to 3,943 cars, valued at $6,335,000. The poultry amounted to 60 cars, valued at $380,000. The total output, as we have it, is $37,557,465.

Now I will file this with you, gentlemen.

(The paper referred to follows:)

Crop production, Imperial Valley, Calif., 1918.

Crop production, Imperial Valley, Calif., 1918-Continued.

No estimates are herein made covering production for home consumption.

Further facts taken from the railroad records:

Total number of cars of freight loaded and shipped out of the Imperial Valley 1918, 18,682.

To care for freight and passenger traffic in Imperial Valley the Southern Pacific Co. maintains six passenger crews, two passenger trains from valley to Los Angeles each day, and two passenger trains from Los Angeles to valley each day.

Each passenger train carries two, and sometimes three, standard Pullman, operating 100 per cent space occupied.

Each passenger train carries two coaches, operating 85 per cent space occupied.

Valley ticket sales amount to approximately $50,000 per month or $600,000 per year.

One mixed train crew.

One switch crew.

Four local freight crews.

Ten station agents.

Special stock train from valley to Los Angeles Tuesdays and Fridays each week.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., June 20, 1919.

ESTIMATES,

Agriculture, Washington:

Estimate value of all crops, Imperial Valley, Calif., only, 1918, twenty million dollars; dairy products, two and one-half millions; live stock, eleven and onehalf millions. Former years slightly less account lower prices.

KAUFMAN,

Assistant in Crop Estimates.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

Mr. O. N. SHAW,

BUREAU OF MARKETS, Washington, D. C., June 24, 1919.

Washington Hotel, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Am sending you herewith supplemental figures on shipments of live stock and cantaloupes from the Imperial Valley, Calif. During the period May 1, 1918, to June 23, 1918, shipments of live stock from the Imperial Valley were as follows: Cattle, 2,214 cars; hogs, 709 decks; sheep, 1,020 decks; horses and mules, 164 cars; and mixed stock, 6 cars. Loadings for May, 1917, to April 30, 1919, were furnished you in previous communication. The carload shipments of cantaloupes this season to June 22, inclusive, amounted to 5,591 cars.

Very truly, yours,

C. W. KITCHEN, Assistant in Market Surveys.

Mr. O. N. SHAW,

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

BUREAU OF MARKETS, Washington, D. C., June 20, 1919.

Washington Hotel, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Reference is made to your conversation with Mr. Kitchen, of this office, yesterday afternoon concerning the available statistics regarding the shipments of agricultural products from the Imperial Valley in California. The following figures represent reports made to this bureau by railroad officials concerning the movement of fruits and vegetables and live stock. Figures are not available on any other products. The figures represent car-lot shipments only.