60 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The Congress, The work now being done 

 Dec. IZtol 7. in behalf of the Fifth Na _ 



tional Irrigation Congress, to be held in 

 Phoenix, Arizona, December 15 to 17, in- 

 clusive, promises, as far as attendance and 

 entertainment go, to result in one of the 

 most successful meetings yet held. The 

 members of the local committee at Phceuix 

 are men of business ability, integrity and 

 enterprise. They are fully alive to the 

 value of holding an irrigation congress in 

 the Salt River valley, where the reclama- 

 tion of the desert has reached an advanced 

 stage, and they are ready to demonstrate 

 to the outside world what can be and what 

 has been accomplished with the use of 

 water. Preparations for the comfort and 

 entertainment of the delegates and visitors 

 are already being made, and no one need 

 fear attending for lack of accommodation, 

 which will be ample. 



who have earnestly and faithfully labored 

 for the general good. 



What Will the The work before the con- 

 CongressDo? g ress j^ j n a measure, 

 outlined in the autograph letters from 

 leading western men, which appear else- 

 where in this issue, but it is yet too early 

 to predict what will be the outcome. There 

 seems to be no pronounced sentiment in 

 favor of any particular legislation. Mat- 

 ters are in a chaotic condition awaiting the 

 coming of men of brains to lead them from 

 the wilderness. In a recent letter the 

 chairman of the executive committee said, 

 " The general opinion of the committee is 

 to have some legislation done at the next 

 Congress," but further than this apparently 

 nothing has been decided. It is to be re- 

 gretted that the national executive com- 

 mittee, upon which devolves the responsi- 

 bility, is not composed of men thoroughly 

 familiar with the necessities of irrigation 

 and the West. The placing of men upon 

 this committee merely because they are 

 residents of states which ought to be rep- 

 resented, irrespective of qualifications, and 

 whether they are drummers for whisky 

 houses or practical irrigators, or totally 

 unfit from a moral standpoint, or other 

 reasons, to lend dignity to the most im- 

 portant cause before the American people, 

 has resulted, in a measure, in giving the 

 public a wrong impression regarding the 

 movement. Individual effort alone is re- 

 sponsible for the extension of the irriga- 

 tion idea during the present year, and too 

 much cannot be said in praise of those few 



The Northwest The great Northwest, one 

 Overlooked. o{ the richest and most 



fertile regions on the globe, and where 

 irrigation is being extensively practiced 

 and advocated, has been passed in silence. 

 Six large and important states Washing- 

 ton, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, North 

 Dakota and South Dakota, are not even rep 

 resented on the national committee. This 

 condition of affairs causes thinking men to 

 fear the future. No organization which 

 omits from its councils over one third of 

 the area which it purports to represent can 

 be truly termed national. No determined 

 efforts have been made with a view to in- 

 ducing the Northwest to.resume its proper 

 place in the movement, and yet it is note- 

 worthy that the great bulk of tbe work in 

 favor of irrigation in the la&t session of the 

 United States Congress was borne by the 

 men of the Northwest. What was accom- 

 plished is related by Senator Francis E. 

 Warren of Wyoming, on another page. 



The time is at hand for the irrigation 

 movement to push forward, but it can do 

 so only when it stands on a broad, compre- 

 hensive and intelligent basis, recognizing 

 no state or section in preference to others; 

 recognizing the fundamental principles 

 upon which the reclamation of the arid 

 lands are based, and straining every nerve 

 to reach the desired end, not with a view 

 to making or unmaking the reputation of 

 one man or a set of men, but with an eye 

 single to the main purpose homes and 

 prosperity. 



Government The Indiana Farmer is ad- 

 PubUcatlon*. vooating that agricultural 

 reports of the government shall be so dis- 

 tributed as to be made accessible to farm- 

 ers generally. In reply to its suggestion 

 Assistant Secretary Dabney favors the 

 idea and gives some information of public 

 interest. The edition of the agricultural 

 report annually is now 500,000 copies, 

 published and circulated at a cost of 

 $400,000. Of these 470,000 copies are 

 distributed through the senators and rep- 

 resentatives, 1222 and 1000 each respect- 

 ively. There are 4,500,000 farmers in 

 the country so that only one-ninth could 

 be supplied if all were legitimately used. 

 He suggests that they might be sent, as 



