[Volume XXV11
THE CHICAGO BANKER
THE FARMERS' AND MECHANICS' NATIONAL RANK
OF PHILADELPHIA, PA.
427 CHESTNUT STREET
Capital -	-	-	$2,000,000.00
Surplus and Profits	1,348,000.00
ORGANIZED JANUARY 17, 1807
Dividends Paid -	$12,847,000.00
OFFICERS
Howard W. Lewis, President
Henry B. Bartow, Cashier	John Mason, Transfer Officer
Oscar E. Weiss, Assistant Cashier
ACCOUNTS OF INDIVIDUALS, FIRMS, AND CORPORATIONS SOLICITED PRESENT NUMBER OF STOCKHOLDERS 930
STATE BANK OF CHICAGO
ESTABLISHED 1879	
S. E. Corner La Salle	and Washington Streets
Capital	$1,500,000
Surplus and profits {earned) 1,500,000	
Deposits over	20,000,000
OFFICERS	
L. A. GODDARD, President JOHN R. LINDGREN, Vice-President HENRY A. HAUGAN, Vice-President HENRY S. HENSCHEN, Cashier	FRANK I. PACKARD, Asst Cashier C. EDWARD CARLSON, Asst. Cashier SAMUEL E. KNECHT, Secretary WILLIAM C. MILLER, Asst. Secretary
YOUR CHICAGO BUSINESS RESPECTFULLY INVITED
John J. English on Irrigation Bonds
issued. Bonds are in serial form, being retired when the installments on “water rights” are paid.
Bonds of this character are issued to reclaim and develop lands segregated from the public domain under provisions incorporated in the federal law, introduced by Senator Carey, of Wyoming. Segregation is made by the secretary of the interior at the request of the State Land Board, in accordance with plans approved by that body, for the construction of an irrigation system and the appropriation of the necessary amount of water. State supervision over construction and operation is maintained until the entire system is turned over to the settlers. In addition to complying with certain other conditions imposed by the government, the settler must make a contract with the corporation for a “water right” before entering upon his land, paying io per cent down, and giving in addition a mortgage on his “water right” contract and equity in the land, to secure deferred payments. These contracts and mortgages at a stated value are deposited with a trustee, $1,500 worth being the usual basis upon which a $1,000 bond is issued. As the deferred payments are met the bonds are serially retired.
These bonds are issued by a community of land owners, in all respects identical with a school or drainage district organized under the provisions of the laws in their particular state, for the purpose of constructing or acquiring and maintaining an irrigation system for their own use.. These bonds thus become a municipal obligation, constituting a lien similar to that incurred by the construction of a city waterworks. Interest is paid, and a sinking fund to provide for maturing bonds is collected by a tax levied upon all the town and farm property within the confines of the district. Provision for deliquen-cies is made by a levy of 15 per cent in excess of requirements. Bonds are issued in serial form, maturities ranging from eleven to twenty years.
It is not the intention to discuss the relative
Mr. English is the managing expert for Short, Stanton fit Co.
Credit for the determined prosecution of reclamation work must accrue to the last administration; the efforts and intelligent direction from this source have given a decided impetus toward its further progress.
National supervision is limited in its scope, being confined to development of the public lands, and its expenditures restricted to the funds derived from their sale. The area embraced in public lands forms but a small proportion of the vast acreage available for reclamation, hence the irrigation of tracts, under private control, must be financed with the assistance of the investor, who can comprehend the vast and enduring nature of the work proposed, and who can see, in the results obtained from this method of farming, ability to readily discharge any reasonable obligations imposed by the construction of suitable works for impounding and distributing the necessary water.
An idea of the methods employed in financing the different projects may be obtained from an analysis of the bonds issued, which we divide into three general classes, each containing distinct merits, and differing only in minor particulars, necessitated by the laws governing projects of this nature in the various states in which they are located.
This particular class of irrigation bonds is issued by a corporation for the express purpose of acquiring “water rights” and constructing the essential irrigation systems. A first mortgage on all the property owned by the company is given to secure payment of interest and principal of the bonds. A prior lien on the land irrigated is conveyed by the farmer to secure payment of deferred “water rights.” These liens are deposited in the hands of a trustee, acting for the bondholders; $1,500 worth of mortgages forming the basis upon which each $1,000 bond is
The prominence given the subject of irrigation in the forensic and literary discussions of the day has resulted in disseminating a knowledge of this economic work sufficient to familiarize the major portion of our population with its characteristics.
Students of statistics have long recognized the necessity of a material addition to the cultivated area of this country, and the United States Reclamation Bureau, acting in conjunction with departments of this nature (maintained by the several states in the arid and semi-arid belt), have fostered and encouraged any movement tending toward the proper recognition of the material advantages to be derived from the widespread prosecution of this work.
No one can behold the fertile fields and orchards, the miles upon miles of wonderfully productive farm lands supplanting the sage brush and cactus tracts, without being firmly imbued with the feasibility of this great undertaking, and the prosperous communities certainly afford us abundant evidence that irrigated farming is prolific in material results.
The intelligent application of new ideas, coupled with the untiring zeal and enthusiastic efforts of government and private engineers, has resulted in placing the science of irrigation upon an exact basis, eliminating those speculative features which so long retarded the development of this work. Records of the maximum and minimum flow of rivers and streams, together with the exact amount of water necessary to properly irrigate a given area, form but a small proportion of the data now on file for the information of all.
By removing the element of chance from a calculation of the moisture necessary and available, the value of irrigated lands has been firmly established. The success of the projects already completed is so positive in its nature that a firm foundation has been provided for the erection of a vast and enduring monument of national enterprise.