WHAT THE NEXT CONGRESS SHOULD DO. 



05 



nickel because of the presence of the 

 congress. 



As to reception, it is really too early to 

 promise anything. It is to be expected 

 that the local club, which will have com- 

 modious quarters at the Adams Hotel, 

 will throw its doors open. The local rail- 

 roads will be utilized for free excursions 

 to points of interest in the immediate 

 vicinity, and I have in mind a trip to some 

 mines, to be reached by the Santa Fe in a 

 couple of hours' run. Carriages will be 

 at hand to convey all without cost to the 

 farms and irrigation plants of the Salt 

 River Valley, and at least one evening will 

 be given over to a general reception of 

 visitors. On the return trip facilities will 

 be offered for visits to Southern California, 

 to the Grand Canon and other points re- 

 nowned. These features, when matured, 

 will, of course, serve to attract the casual 

 excursionist, who knows and cares little of 

 irrigation, and who comes mainly to see 

 this wonderful country when the fares are 

 low. 



As to fares, I have already started cor- 

 respondence with representatives of the 

 Santa Fe and Southern Pacific systems, 

 both of which enter Phoenix, and am as- 

 sured that a rate of a single fare for the 

 round trip will probably be made by the 

 Western Passenger Association from all 

 points between the Pacific Ocean and the 

 Mississippi. This should bring a crowd. 



Our local committee of fifteen on ar- 

 rangements is now at work getting oat 

 advertising matter to be distributed broad- 

 cast. 



The time of the session will be fixed at 

 a meeting of the executive committee, to 

 be held at the Windsor Hotel, Denver, 

 July 30 and 31. It will, without doubt, 

 be for the middle of December. This 

 time was indicated at Albuquerque and 

 for a variety of reasons. The main one 

 lay in the fact that campaign time must 

 be avoided, and yet the convention must 

 be held within the year. 



December is a pleasant time in Phoenix. 

 The temperature is just right. The only 

 disadvantage is that no deciduous fruits 

 are to be had, but oranges will be ripe, 

 fine big Washington navels, and they will, 

 in a measure, fill the gap. We have a 

 roof-garden scheme for a couple of ses- 

 sions, if the weather is as it usually is, and 

 delegates may return to the ice-bound 

 East telling of an open-air meeting in 



December, flanked by flowers and palms, 

 and warmed by naught else than the rays 

 of a genial sun. 



JAS. H. McCLINTOCK, 



Member Nat'l Executive Committee. 

 Phoenix, July 1, 1896. 



AS the time approaches for the conven- 

 ing of the Fifth National Irrigation 

 Congress at Phoenix, Arizona, those who 

 have watched these conventions in the 

 past, and others interested in irrigation 

 development in the Western United States, 

 are wondering whether any good results 

 will flow from the coming meeting. Cer- 

 tain it is that there is room for the accom- 

 plishment of much that would materially 

 aid the cause of irrigation. The question 

 then becomes, in what direction can this 

 congress do the most? 



To the writer it has always seemed that 

 the irrigation congress might exercise a 

 powerful influence upon legislation, both 

 state and national, but especially the for- 

 mer. That most of the western states 

 have not at present what can be called en- 

 lightened systems of water laws is a fact 

 to be regretted, and it would seem that the 

 intelligent representatives of these states 

 in the irrigation congress should address 

 their efforts to the remedying of this con- 

 dition before everything else. 



There can be no question that good and 

 efficient systems of irrigation laws, uniform 

 in so far as the governing conditions will 

 admit, in all of the irrigation states, are a 

 prerequisite to the highest success in irri- 

 gation development and practice. Upon 

 such laws depends the safety, I may even 

 say the very existence, of the capital in- 

 vested in irrigation enterprises and of the 

 users of the water. This being true, and 

 the national government having confirmed 

 in the states the right to enact the neces- 

 sary laws, surely the irrigation congress, 

 if its members are sincerely in earnest in 

 their desire to advance the cause they 

 presumably represent, should first devote 

 itself to securing the adoption by the re- 

 spective states of the best possible systems 

 of water laws. 



Second in importance is the question of 

 national legislation upon the subject, 

 though it is one which should have grave 

 consideration at the hands of the. congress. 

 The arid public lands and their disposi- 

 tion ; the general study of the water re- 



