PUBLIC OPINION AND THE IRRIGATION CONGRESS, 



AUTOGRAPH COMMENTS OF PROMINENT DELEGATES. EDITORIAL 

 REVIEWS BY LEADING NEWSPAPERS. 



IN my judgment its assembling was not wholly in 

 vain. It put at rest, at least for a reasonable 

 time, the interested and greedy cry for a cession 

 of the arid lands to the several States in which they' 

 are located. It declined to absolve the government, 

 the paramount land owner, from its duty to improve 

 its own estate and make it a fit dwelling place for the 

 landless, homeless, laborless and hopeless people who 

 now overcrowd our great cities and threaten the 

 peace and perpetuity of the nation. It plainly an- 

 nounced that the time had come when the general 

 government should use some of its revenue to survey 

 the arid lands; to investigate the great question of 

 water supply, both surface and subterranean, to the 

 end that these lands may be reclaimed, if means for 

 such reclamation can be discovered. Each year Con- 

 gress appropriates millions of dollars to repair the 

 damage occasioned by a superabundance of water in 

 the Mississippi river. Let it appropriate a few mil- 

 lions for the establishment of reservoirs in our moun- 

 tains, to the end that the very waters that yearly swell 

 the volume in the Mississippi and produce such rav- 

 ages may be used to fertilize our plains and make them 

 habitable for man. In the East they have too much 

 water; in the West it is suffered to go to waste for 

 want of storage facilities. If it is right for Congress 

 to legislate with respect to the question of too much 

 water in the East, why is it not its duty to legislate 

 with respect to water in the West? The question of 

 too much water and too little water, like the blades of 

 the scissors, turns on the same pivot. 



If the Irrigation Congress will confine itself to the 

 few questions which at once suggest themselves to 

 practical men, and ignore those that hold in their 

 bosoms jobs and real estate speculations, it can ac- 

 complish very much for this generation. At best its 

 work is simply advisory and suggestive. Why at- 

 tempt to define any policy touching the disposition of 

 the arid or sub-arid lands until you have first ascer- 

 tained whether water can be had for their recla- 

 mation? 



If water cannot be found to restore them to fertil- 

 ity, it is a matter of very little importance who owns 

 them; that is, whether they remain with the general 

 government or with the State. Let the next Congress 

 stand on the platform adopted by the recent one. 

 Emphasize the duty of the government to investigate 

 the primary question of water supply, and I feel as- 

 sured that some good will result. 



After it is demonstrated that there is an abundant 

 supply of water, we can then take another step and 

 determine whether the general government or the 

 State, or both conjointly, shall carry on the work of 

 reclamation. 



Let us first catch our hare and then we can leisurely 

 discuss the method of cooking him. 



Of Colorado. 



THE Third National Irrigation Congress, 'while 

 accomplishing many things, impressed me 

 more as a consulting body of men, strongly 

 imbued with a single idea, than anything else. The 

 work of the congress will probably be shown in the 

 future in the presentation of bills to the national 

 Congress asking for legislation on various subjects 

 germane to the irrigation idea, and the Address to 

 the People, issued by the congress, will undoubtedly 

 arouse widespread interest in the work which the irri- 

 gation leaders are endeavoring to accomplish in the 

 West and in the East, but the principal beneficial re- 

 sult of the congress, as I view it, will come from the 

 interchange of thought among the 'delegates from the 

 various States. 



Necessarily among so many bright men there are 

 enthusiasts who believe that there can be only one 

 view of any public question, and that is the one they 

 hold. Coming from a score of States and Territories, 

 there are naturally many of these enthusiasts, and it 

 surprises them to discover that they do not agree. 

 To meet other men, just as earnest and just as enthu- 

 siastic, but looking at the main question from a dif- 

 ferent standpoint, must be productive of benefit to 

 every man who attended the congress. The friction 

 of sharply opposing minds developed many new 

 ideas, and the comparison of notes among those of 

 harmonious views strengthened many in the opinions 

 they held. 



The congress had to deal with many things, but the 

 chain of its labors was composed mainly of these 

 three things: Arid lands, wasting waters, homeless 

 people. How best to make homes for millions out of 

 these three elements is the problem confronting the 

 men of the West. To work put such a problem alone 

 is beyond the power of a single human brain. To 

 discuss it in the press and from the platform is of 

 great assistance to any student of this great question. 

 But better than all else is for the leaders to come to- 

 gether in a congress and sit down and discuss all 

 phases of the question as brothers working for a com- 

 mon end. To get acquainted with the motives inspir- 

 ing each man working on the problem, to eliminate 

 from it all minor points of difference, and to agree, 

 as nearly as practicable, on the one great issue, are 

 things which could only be accomplished by such 

 personal intercourse as this congress afforded. 



Viewed in this light, the Third National Irrigation 

 Congress was a very great success, and the result of 

 its deliberations must be of benefit, not only in a finan- 

 cial and practical sense, to the arid States and Ter- 

 ritories, but to the constantly increasing thousands of 

 our homeless fellow countrymen in the congested 

 cities of the East, who are looking hopefully to the 

 West for a solution of the despairing problem which 

 now confronts them. 



OJM, 



Of California. 



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