“The reclamation of arid lands on Indian reservations by irrigation, to provide better homes for Indian families, and to bring to them the benefits of civilized society through the agricultural development of their lands, is one of the most beneficent policies the Government has ever inaugurated in dealing with their affairs. Too much credit can not be given to Senators and Congressmen and administrative officers of the Government who have had to do with the enactment of laws and the securing of appropriations to carry out this policy. The motives of legislators have been benevolent and patriotic, and the work of the Government engineers and other officials who have constructed the projects has been honest and comparatively efficient and economical. However, a careful examination of Indian irrigation laws and conditions prevailing in connection with their administration reveals defects which need remedy. It is no reflection upon the high motives of those responsible for present law and present conditions that these defects exist. It was a new legislative and administrative field. Irrigation laws were not uniform in the several States. Conditions varied on different Indian reservations. The legislation was necessarily experimental. Nevertheless, the defects are serious, they should be faced frankly, and the remedies needed should be applied promptly to preserve the good in the existing order of things and eliminate the bad before greater harm results. “Lack of uniformity in Indian irrigation laws, lack of utilization by Indians of their irrigated lands, lack of a voice on the part of the Indians in the expenditure of their funds for the construction and maintenance of their irrigation projects, and failure to individualize the reclamation costs by charging them against the lands benefited are the most serious fundamental defects of the present situation.