Two years later, when nothing had been done, President Taft sent to the Chairman of the House Committee on Claims the following letter:
White House
Washington, Jan. 16, 1911.
Hon. George W. Prince,
Chairman of Committee on Claims,
My dear Mr. Prince:
As I recommended in my message, I sincerely hope that Congress, at this time, will compensate the Southern Pacific Railway for work which it did in the Imperial Valley under stress of great emergency. I do not know what amount is just, but I do know that that company came to the rescue of the Government at the instance of President Roosevelt, and that there was an implied arrangement under which they were to be compensated, and I think that Congress should take up the matter and do justice to that corporation in this instance.
Sincerely yours,
W. H. Taft.
Under this pressure from the White House, the Committee on Claims finally acted. On the 28th of January 1911, after having reduced the proposed appropriation from $1,663,000 to $773,000, the committee, by a divided vote, reported the bill to the House with the recommendation that it pass. Five members, however, namely Representatives Goldfogle, Kitchin, Candler, Shackleford and Adair, presented a minority report in which they described the bill as “an attempted raid on the Federal Treasury;” denied that there was “any legal, equitable, or moral obligation on the part of the Government” to pay this sum, “or any amount, for closing the break in the Colorado River;” referred to the proposed appropriation as “purely a gratuity,” “a gift of the people’s money,” and declared that they were opposed to this “gift to the Southern Pacific Company, as well as all other gratuities to private enterprise.” (House Report No. 1936, part 2; 61st Congress, 3rd Session.)
This minority report seems to have given the coup de grace to the reimbursement bill. Whether the members of the House were lacking in a sense of justice; whether they were indifferent to the bill because there was “nothing in it for them;” or whether they were afraid, in an election campaign, to face the charge that they had “given the people’s money,” as “a pure gratuity” to one of Mr. Harriman’s railroad corporations, it is impossible to say. Certain it is that no action was ever taken on the bill, although it had been favorably reported by the Committee on Claims; had been repeatedly recommended by two Presidents, and had been unanimously supported, regardless of party lines, by the people of the Imperial Valley and by the whole State of California. There are certain events which may seem inexplicable, but upon which it is not necessary to comment. The barest recital of facts is eloquent enough.
Shortly before his death, Mr. Harriman made a trip through the Imperial Valley and over the reconstructed levee which kept the Colorado River within bounds. Upon his return to Imperial Junction, he was met by a representative of the Los Angeles Examiner who, in conversation about the work, said:
“Mr. Harriman, the Government hasn’t paid you that money, and your work here does not seem to be duly appreciated; do you not, under the circumstances, regret having made this large expenditure?”
“No,” replied Mr. Harriman. “This valley was worth saving, wasn’t it?”