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Umax Powerlook 2100XL, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 11,080,496 bytesshould be irrigated from a reservoir the cost per year would be but $1.60 an acre, if it is the same as the other reservoir. That is what the farmers are now paying for water from the Roosevelt Reservoir already constructed. Therefore, the cost of irrigation would be $96,000 per year. But under the well system the cost would be $240,000 a year for electricity required to operate the pumps and other expenses, to say nothing of the initial cost of the well system over and above the cost of the reservoir. Senator Sutherland. Do you mean to say that the wells would cease to flow at the end of 10 years? Mr. Marten. No, sir; but the original equipment would be worn out, as stated by Government engineers and as also stated the depreciation per annum would be 20 per cent of the original cost, while on the other hand, if the San Carlos Reservoir were constructed it could be made as enduring as time. The difference in the cost of the water secured from the reservoir and the water secured by wells on the irrigation of 60,000 acres amounts to a saving of $144,000 a year in favor of a reservoir system. Senator Sutherland. Is there ample water supply? Mr. Marten. There is an ample water supply, but in order to raise that by means of electricity it will cost four or five times what it would to get water from the reservoir. Senator Sutherland. I do not mean the wells. Is there ample supply in the river? Mr. Marten. Yes, sir; so the engineers have estimated, and the very minimum of land that that would irrigate would be 60,000 acres. There are two estimates--one is $1,038,000, and the other is $1,015,000, and they have been passed upon by Government engineers of the highest standing. Senator Page. One word right there. Your case seems to leave no ground for any argument on the other side. Why, then, has the Government passed favorably upon this proposition to build the wells, if it is so perfectly absurd as you make it out to be? Mr. Marten. The point is that the reservoir which is now constructed was constructed at an enormous expense, and by selling electricity they hope to be able to reimburse themselves more or less for that expenditure. The Government has spent or contracted to spend, $500,000 in buying electricity, and, as I have said, the white farmers have water for the money they pay. Now, there are two points to the question; the first is that water is reserved for idle speculative lands, and the other one is that not only is the water reserved, but $500,000 is gathered in for that electricity bought in place of water. Senator Curtis. You mean that the Government is using the electricity to pump the water out of the wells, instead of getting it from the reservoir? Mr. Marten. That is the point. Senator Curtis. What Senator Page wanted to know, as I understood his question, and which I do not think you did, is: Why did the Government put down those wells if it was going to be such an expensive and such a useless proposition? Mr. Marten. They should never have done it. Senator Curtis. Why did they do it--that is the point