of other important details regarding the feasibility, necessity, and advisability of the undertaking.

In view of the conditions regarding the possibility of passing an appropriation for construction of the works as presented by the committee, it seems to me that the best thing which can be done at the present time to advance the interests of this proposition, which I regard as meritorious, would be to appropriate further moneys for the necessary investigations which would be preliminary to construction.

I therefore suggest favorable action upon the bill.

Cordially, yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary.

Mr. Kettner is to be here at the meeting this morning. He wishes to be here and support this bill. He is not here yet, and, as Mr. Kibbey is present, we might just as well hear a few words from him, and then we want to hear Director Davis.

STATEMENT OF MR. WALTER B. KIBBEY, REPRESENTING THE IMPERIAL VALLEY IRRIGATION DISTRICT.

Mr. KIBBEY. Mr. Chairman, I took the matter of the bill up at the time of its introduction with the people of Imperial Valley. They held a mass meeting last Saturday of representatives of the American Legion and the irrigation district board-in fact, they say "Imperial Irrigation District, Interpost Council of American Legion and affiliated organizations."

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Where is that from?

Mr.. KIBBEY. From the board of directors of the Imperial irrigation district.

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. But from what city?

Mr. KIBBEY. From El Centro. It is addressed to me in care of the Washington Hotel, dated February 29, and reads as follows: EL CENTRO, CALIF., February 29, 1920.

WALTER KIBBEY,

Care the Washington, Washington, D. C.:

The board of directors of irrigation district, Interpost Council American Legion, and affiliated organizations, which have been urging the passage of the Kettner bill, 11553, met to-day and considered your committee report and statements from Washington that neither this bill nor any other bill for the relief of Imperial Valley can be considered this session of Congress, excepting only the Kinkaid bill, which directs the Secretary of the Interior to make additional surveys, and gather complete data on construction costs, amount of lands affected, and apportionment of costs contemplated by our bill, and to make his report to Congress, with recommendations, not later than December 6 next. We reaffirm our belief that the provisions of the Kettner bill, 11553, more fully and adequately cover the needs of this valley than any measure heretofore presented or considered; that the needs of the valley urgently require the passage of such bill in substantially its present form; that the valley will at the next session of Congress again urge such bill for passage. We believe, however, that the provisions of the Kinkaid bill, if passed at this session, will provide needed data which will be helpful to the valley whenever the Kettner bill is finally considered by Congress. We must regard the provision of the Kinkaid bill when passed as a pledge given at this time that Congress will pass legislation to carry into effect whatever recommendations for the relief of Imperial Valley shall be contained in the report required by this bill to be made to Congress by the Secretary of the Interior. You are therefore directed by this board to urge Congress to pass the Kinkaid bill at this session, and you are authorized to pledge this district to pay to the Secretary on demand onehalf of the cost of the work provided for by said bill.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS IMPERIAL IRRIGATION DISTRICT.

I take it that if Congresses passes this bill they are morally bound to give the Imperial Valley some relief.

The CHAIRMAN. All this means-their expression is that we are acting in good faith.

Mr. SMITH of Idaho. Excepting the passage of this bill does not mean that Congress must pass another bill.

Mr. KIBBEY. No; of course not.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, gentlemen, I will read the bill:

[H. R. 12537, 66th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To provide for an examination and report on the condition and possible irrigation development of the Imperial Valley in California.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to have an examination made of the Imperial Valley in the State of California, with a view of determining the area, location, and general character of the public and privately owned unirrigated lands in said valley which can be irrigated at a reasonable cost, and the character, extent, and cost of an irrigation system, or of the modification, improvement, enlargement, and extension of the present system, adequate and dependable for the irrigation of the present irrigated area in the said valley, and of the public and privately owned lands in said valley not now under irrigation, which can be irrigated at a reasonable cost from known sources of water supply.

SEC. 2. That the said Secretary shall make report to Congress not later than the 6th day of December, 1920, of the result of his examination, together with his recommendation as to the feasibility, necessity, and advisability of the undertaking, or the participation by the United States, in a plan of irrigation development with a view of placing under irrigation the remaining unirrigated public and privately owned lands in said valley, in connection with the modification, improvement, enlargement, and extension of the present irrigation systems of the said valley.

SEC. 3. That the said Secretary shall report in detail as to the character and estimated cost of the plan or plans on which he may report; and if the said plan or plans shall include storage, the location, character, and cost of said storage, and the effect on the irrigation development of other sections or localities of the storage recommended and the use of the stored water in the Imperial Valley. SEC. 4. That the said Secretary shall also report as to the extent, if any, to which, in his opinion, the United States should contribute to the cost of carrying out the plan or plans which he may propose; the proportion of the total cost that should be borne by the various irrigation districts or associations or other public or private agencies now organized or which may be organized; and the manner in which their contribution should be made; also to what extent and in what manner the United States should control, operate, or supervise the carrying out of the plan proposed, and what assurances he has been able to secure as to the approval of, participation in, and contribution to the plan or plans proposed by the various contributing agencies.

SEC. 5. That, for the purpose of enabling the Secretary of the Interior to pay one-half of the cost of the examination and report herein provided for, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated not to exceed the sum of $20,000: Provided, That no expenditure shall be made or obligation incurred hereunder by the Secretary of the Interior until provision shall have been made for the payment of one-half the cost of the examination and report herein provided for by associations and agencies interested in the irrigation of the lands of the Imperial Valley.

We will now hear Mr. Kettner just briefly. You have examined the bill that I introduced here, H. R. 12357, for investigating the Imperial Valley situation?

STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM KETTNER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

Mr. KETTNER. I have read the bill, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, will you state to the committee whether you favor the bill as a solution of the problem at this time?

Mr. KETTNER. Mr. Chairman, I think it is evident to every member of the committee that Congress must do something for the Imperial Valley, and as this is the only solution, in my opinion, at this time, I strongly favor it and for the reason that the Imperial Valley people must take steps to prove to the people of Yuma that they are in earnest and that they want to remove the very serious situation which occurs every year at high water.

The CHAIRMAN. You mean remove the menace?

Mr. KETTNER. Remove the menace, yes; which is very serious; at least, they are thoroughly convinced, in my opinion, that it is very

serious.

Mr. TAYLOR. It hangs over them like the sword of Damocles.

Mr. KETTNER. Yes, sir. It is very true that it is very serious with the people of Yuma and also the people of Imperial Valley.

Mr. EVANS. It seems to me this is putting it off a long time. We had all hoped ever since last summer that Imperial Valley might be relieved more immediately. Why can we not get faster action on this?

Mr. KETTNER. Mr. Evans, I would freely give everything I have on earth if we could give immediate relief to the people of Imperial Valley.

Mr. EVANS. It is a disappointment to me, this delay.

Mr. KETTNER. In my opinion, that is impossible at the present time, and as this is the very best we can do at least I have reached that conclusion after thorough investigation-I think the committee should act immediately and grant us at least this small relief, which, I hope, will prove to the people of Yuma that we are doing everything we can.

Mr. SUMMERS. Mr. Kettner, in view of the fact that an investigation would have to be made before progress could be made on the work, even if your bill were passed, we are not particularly delaying, it seems to me, in providing for the investigation in this bill and the reporting back at a very early date-December 6.

Mr. KETTNER. The people of Imperial Valley have made several surveys, and they think that the Government should go ahead and make an appropriation; but the committee, I understand—or, at least, a number of them-are not satisfied with the surveys that were made, and they want a survey made directed by the Congress itself. Mr. SUMMERS. But, Mr. Kettner, isn't it a fact that those surveys have mostly been in that part of the country, and that they have not taken into consideration all of the damage that may be done by storage and the cost of storage and various things of that kind on the upper river? And those things will have to be investigated before the work can proceed in the lower valley?

Mr. KETTNER. That is very true.

Mr. SUMMERS. That part of the investigations, as I understand it, had not been fully made at any time by anybody.

Mr. KETTNER. I do not believe the comprehensive survey that should be made or at least, that some members of the committee with whom I have talked think should be made has been gone into as thoroughly as it would if the Government would take hold as they are doing now and would direct the Department of the Interior to go over the whole situation. In other words, do not put in a part of the system and not consider the other part or what damage it would do. There is a great deal in the contention taken by a number of the members of the committee whom I have conversed with, but the people of the Imperial Valley have been threatened with an injunction, and to shut off that water would mean that the 400,000 acres now being irrigated would dry up in a very short time.

Mr. BARBOUR. Isn't it a fact, Mr. Kettner, that an investigation of the question of storage and a solution of the storage problem would really be for the best interests of all the irrigationists along the Colorado River?

Mr. KETTNER. This is very true, provided that by taking this action—and I am living in hopes that it will prove to the people of Yuma that we are doing the best we can-it will not shut off the water in the meantime to the people of the valley.

Mr. BARBOUR. We all hope that.

Mr. TAYLOR. Has there been any other investigation, any official investigation of this matter before?

Mr. KETTNER. Yes.

Mr. TAYLOR. How many?

Mr. KETTNER. If I remember correctly, Mr. Taylor, the Department of the Interior appropriated from the general fund, I think, $15,000 or $20,000, and the people of Imperial Valley appropriated a number of thousand dollars to make this investigation; but I believe, as Mr. Summers stated, it was only in regard to crossing the sand hills; it was not in conjunction with the dams and water sites and the scheme taken as a whole.

The CHAIRMAN. We will have Director Davis tell all about that very soon.

Mr. KETTNER. Now, are there any other questions, gentlemen? The CHAIRMAN. I think that is all. We are very much obliged

to you.

Mr. KETTNER. I want to thank you and the committee very much for this opportunity.

STATEMENT OF MR. ARTHUR P. DAVIS, DIRECTOR UNITED
STATES RECLAMATION SERVICE.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, Director Davis, we will hear you.
Mr. LITTLE. How long is Director Davis going to speak?

The CHAIRMAN. Well, I don't know. I think we had better hear him while we can.

Mr. DAVIS. I haven't much to say myself, unless there are questions by the committee.

Mr. LITTLE. I want to say a word myself before I go, if I can. I have a dispatch here that I want to read. I would like to hear Director Davis, too.

Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Chairman, you have read the bill and have also read the favorable report made by Secretary Lane in reply to your

question asking his opinion of the bill, in which he recommends the passage of the bill, and you have also heard a long telegram from the Imperial irrigation district and the American Legion in the Imperial Valley in favor of it.

I have here a letter received this morning from Dr. Elwood Mead, who has appeared before this committee on this subject. He says: DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 18th was followed by one from Mondell, sending me a copy of the Kinkaid bill.

That is the bill under consideration.

I think that is the best solution of the Imperial Valley matter and hope that it will go through. Some people from the Imperial Valley were in yesterday to ask my advice as to whether they should accept the Kinkaid bill as a satisfactory solution. I advised them to do this.

Sincerely, yours,

ELWOOD MEAD.

Now, Mr. Chairman, the project of building an all-American canal from Laguna Dam to Imperial Valley has been under consideration, to my knowledge, about 17 years. It was first investigated in a superficial manner by the Reclamation Service under Mr. J. B. Lippincott, and he reported in a rough way substantially along the lines that we now know, that it would be a very expensive process, and at that time it was considered hardly feasible on account of the cost and on account of some question as to the feasibility of maintaining a canal through the sand hills after building it. At a subsequent time the president of the Imperial irrigation district requested me to take up the question with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of State concerning the menace to their water supply by diversion in Mexico. A canal running through Mexico is at the mercy of the irrigators in that country, who can take all the water if they choose, and under a concession negotiated by private parties, not binding on anyone in this county, in my belief, the Mexican authorities have the alleged right to take half of the water and will undoubtedly take at least that much as soon as they want it. That constitutes a severe and very dangerous menace to the water supply. Mr. Le Roy Holt, of the Fresno irrigation district, requested me to take up with the State Department, through the Interior Department, the question of inducing the Mexican Government and the Mexican landowners to limit their requirements. I replied that I thought there was no use in that until we knew what could be done in case of failure of those negotiations, and that the only alternative to the success of such negotiations was an all-American canal, one that did not cross the line.

We did not at that time have data upon which that could be said to be feasible at all. It was widely believed to be not feasible. There had been no investigation of any thorough character made at that time, and on the basis of that the Imperial Valley requested the Secretary of the Interior to join with them in an investigation. They made a contract with the Secretary of the Interior by which the Imperial irrigation district put up $30,000 and the reclamation fund put up $15,000, making $45,000 altogether, and that has been expended in examinations and surveys. They are not all complete; they are as thorough as the amount of money would permit. The money was all spent for that purpose, not in propaganda or for any