THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION. 



27 



and colonization. They will therefore lend willing 

 ears to the appeal which bids them assist their State 

 Commissions in finding the best features for final 

 policies, national and State. The Commissions will 

 consider these problems not only with reference to 

 peculiar local conditions, but with due regard also to 

 the general requirements of the subject. There have 

 been three Irrigation Conventions since the meeting at 

 Los Angeles. The first was held at Deming, N. M., 

 under the auspices of the Southwestern Irrigation Asso- 

 ciation; the second at Wichita, under that of the 

 Kansas Association; the third (December 19), at North 

 Platte, under that of the society of that name. None 

 of these were called by the national organization, 

 though its officials were represented at each. 



THE COMING CAMPAIGN. 



The National Executive Committee is now planning 

 a vigorous campaign that will extend through the 

 early months of the year, beginning late in January, 

 probably with the southwestern circuit and followed a 

 month later with a tour of the northwest, from Denver 

 to Tacoma. The plan will be made by the National 

 Committee, but details in the various localities will 

 be left to the State Commission. Chairman Smythe, 

 National Lecturer Emery, and very likely, Major John 

 W. Powell, and other well-known men, will be of the 

 party. The object of these meetings is to arouse and 

 unite the masses of the West; to expound the Los 

 Angeles declaration; to discuss the various suggestions 

 for national and State laws; to consider the local 

 water and land problems, which must be taken account 

 of in perfecting future plans. Opportunity will be 

 given for general discussion from the floor, and it is 

 believed that the State Commission will benefit greatly 

 from the mass of suggestions thus offered. 



WHERE MEETINGS WILL BE HELD. 



The first branch of the campaign will probably be 

 opened at Santa Fe", the ancient capital of New Mex- 

 ico, and be followed by meetings at Las Vegas and 

 Albuquerque, if desired. The next group, covered in 

 the same trip, will be Tucson, Yuma and Phoenix. 

 There should be a very notable meeting at the latter, 

 the capital of the coming State of Arizona. One of 

 the greatest events of the campaign, if properly or- 

 ganized and advertised, will be the mass meeting at 

 Denver. No State has more to gain from the success 

 of the present movement, and a rousing irrigation re- 

 vival would be a splendid exhibition of Colorado's 

 recuperative power. The Denver meeting will proba- 

 bly be the last of the first trip, or the first of the 

 second. Other Colorado points will be covered, among 

 them certainly Grand Junction, on the western slope. 

 The northwestern tour will include Cheyenne, proba- 

 bly Salt Lake City, and at least one more point in 

 Utah. In Idaho, Boise, Idaho Falls, Caldwell, and, 

 perhaps, Payette or Weiser; in Oregon, Pendleton; in 

 Washington, Walla Walla, North Yakima and perhaps 



another point; in Montana, Helena, Great Falls, Boze- 

 man and Missoula will be reached. These are the 

 plans as they appear unperfected. They are yet sub- 

 ject to rearrangement and enlargement. Suggestions 

 concerning the plan of campaign will be gladly re- 

 ceived by the chairman, at Chicago. 



LEADING UP TO THE NEXT CONGRESS. 



All these plans are merely preliminary to the next 

 session of the National Irrigation Congress to be held 

 sometime between July 1 and October 15, at a point 

 not yet determined upon. The results of these meet- 

 ings and conventions will be to crystalize public 

 opinion, but they will settle nothing. Beyond them 

 lie the reports of the State Commissions, which it is 

 proposed to publish by July 1, and beyond these 

 reports lies the next congress, with its days of debate 

 and hours of committee work. The congress, it is 

 expected, will arrive, through study, discussion and 

 compromise, at the definite declaration of the men of 

 the West, and for that declaration they are expected 

 to fight shoulder to shoulder until its triumph is com- 

 plete. It seems likely that the decision will include a 

 bill for presentation to the Congress of the United 

 States, accompanied by a ringing address to the peo- 

 ple, and also an address to the governors and legisla- 

 tures of the several States and Territories, urging 

 them to put local laws upon a common basis, the main 

 features of which will be outlined. 



These are the great results which the irrigation 

 propaganda purposes to accomplish in the next ten 

 months, but when these are achieved we shall but 

 have entered at the vestibule of the great enterprise 

 comprehended in the making of Arid America. 



WHAT IS TO FOLLOW. 



The next Irrigation Congress, like its two predeces- 

 sors, will leave its cause in the hands of an Executive 

 Committee. And, as the present organization turns 

 its energies to the West to accomplish the objects set 

 out above, so the next one must turn its attention to 

 the East, to arouse public sentiment to the support of 

 these measures, and to secure the co-operation of set- 

 tlers and capital for the requirements of the new civ- 

 ilization. This year the accents of the orators of the 

 sublime cause will sound under the southern palms of 

 Arizona, and in the capitol at Boise; next year they 

 must ring under the roof of Faneuil Hall in Boston, 

 and Cooper Union in New York. The one movement 

 will be the indespensable counterpart of the other. 

 But this year the duty is to the West. It must be 

 thoroughly and courageously performed. 



THE STATE COMMISSIONS. 



BY another issue of THE AGE, it is hoped the make 

 up of State Commissions will be complete. Committee- 

 men have properly taken sufficient time to give very 

 careful consideration to the selection of members of 



