THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI COMMERCIAL CONGRESS 



609 



dous and growing output of our farm 

 lands and mines. 



Here and there a commonwealth has 

 a mistaken idea of its own needs and 

 attacks the railroad as an enemy, when 

 it should have considered it an asso- 

 ciate in its development. It is a poor 

 policy on the part of individuals or of a 

 community to hinder those things that 

 make the present-day progress. Thou- 

 sands of communities to-day would 

 have railroads if the builders of great 

 lines were not afraid of what may come 

 in the way of hostile legislation. Hun- 

 dreds of communities need a railway 

 station in order to grow as they should. 

 The Trans-Mississippi country ought 

 to have thousands of miles of new rail- 

 w^ay in the next year, and the men who 

 are most familiar with its needs and 

 opportunities realize this most com- 

 pletely. It makes no difference whether 

 these new lines are built by old-estab- 

 lished railway corporations or by new 

 ones. The railroad to-day is run on 

 principles of straightforward business 

 and all must come under the same regu- 

 lation. But the thing is that more lines 

 should be built, more country should 

 be opened, more facilities should be 

 given to sections that have thus far ex- 

 ceeded the ability of transportation lines 

 to accommodate their needs. 



All this is a part of the work of the 

 Trans-Mississippi Commercial Con- 

 gress. It is the direct road to prosper- 

 ity and needs but a greater market in 

 order to allow the Pacific coast oppor- 

 tunity to expand to its full needs. I 

 am convinced that the Reclamation 

 Service is going to transform Califor- 

 nia. I have visited many of the proj- 

 ects, and their works are marvelous. 

 Already nearly $20,000,000 outlay is 

 planned for the territory immediately 

 tributary to Los Angeles and something 

 like $75,000,000 for the Trans-Mis- 

 sissippi territory. • 



I am in favor of expending $200,- 

 000,000, if necessary, in order that 

 4 



every drop of water falling on the west- 

 ern lands may be utilized in increasing 

 fertility. There is but one California, 

 W'ith climate, soil and surroundings 

 that make an ideal spot. 



The Western States have developed 

 faster than the transportation facilities 

 and the markets. The population and 

 business have grown more than 100 per 

 cent, in the past fifteen years, while the 

 railway mileage FTas increased only sixty 

 per cent. Ten thousand miles of new 

 railway track could be used in the next 

 year west of the Mississippi. 



We need particularly a South Amer- 

 ican outlet, and I am endeavoring to 

 secure a national commission of west- 

 ern business men to visit South Amer- 

 ican countries and interest them in 

 California's fruits and wines and in the 

 products of other Western States. We 

 ought to have all of that trade, espe- 

 cially when the Panama Canal is 

 opened, from both coasts of South 

 America. The proposition is received 

 with approval throughout the West 

 and will come in excellently with the 

 Pan-American Congress which it is 

 proposed to hold in San Francisco two 

 years hence. 



Three thousand business men are 

 members of the Trans-Mississippi Con- 

 gress and their work during the com- 

 ing year will be in the direction of 

 greater irrigation, reclamation, trans- 

 portation and trade expansion. 



The coming year of the Trans- 

 Mississippi Commercial Congress 

 promises to be a very successful one. A 

 committee has been appointed, consist- 

 ing of the president ex-president, and 

 members of the executive committee, 

 to call on the incoming President of the 

 United States soon after November 3 

 and secure a promise that he will at- 

 tend the session in Denver, August 15, 

 1909. If successful, it means that the 

 twentieth session will be the largest in 

 the history of the Congress. 



