PUBLIC OPINION AND THE IRRIGATION CONGRESS. 



101 



northwest ( have there ever been any that 

 the National Congress called through its 

 executive committee?), simply because 

 there were no funds. And the committee 

 soon found that there would be none or 

 would be very small if any. For those 

 who had given as individuals or corpora- 

 tions wanted an accounting of it before 

 more would be contributed. Again 

 it has been and is the deadest year 

 that this country has seen since the war, 

 so much so that it has not only paralyzed 

 business of all kinds, but it stupefied the 

 people and produced that "don't care" 

 way about them that no one or ones could 

 arouse that enthusiasm that is needed in 

 all meetings of this sort. The fact is, the 

 people don't care about so many meetings. 

 They know what irrigation means. They 

 feel the need of applying it and many are 

 applying it to their needs. What they 

 want is the enactment of proper laws for 

 the distribution and use of water, for the 

 greater development of the arid and semi- 

 arid west, in such ways and by such means 

 as mainly will be expressed and deter- 

 mined upon by this coming Congress. 

 They will formulate these into bills that 

 will be presented to the next congress of 

 the United States for passage. Now, what 

 bills do you want to pass upon ? This is the 

 main question ! Let every one in every 

 state and territory interested in this great 

 cause, express himself through the col- 

 umns of THE IRRIGATION AGE, and come 

 prepared with his bill ready for considera- 

 tion before the next Congress. In other 

 words, let us resolute less and legislate 

 more. Let us definitely decide upon what 

 we want as a Congress and then press for- 

 ward to its accomplishment. Let us de- 

 pend less upon committees to do this work 

 that must be done by the Congress. For 

 four years we have talked and resoluted, 

 held meetings and been entertained by the 

 brainest men in the work, have been bene- 

 fitted in many ways as an individual, 

 toasted and banqueted from place to place 

 and from coast to coast. Now let us boil 

 down, crush out and wash out all the 

 dross and crystallize all the bright prac- 

 tical thoughts and sayings into bills that 

 will be of permanent good to the cause of 

 irrigation and finally the country we seek 

 to benefit. 



Now, you want to know what has been 

 done by the committee, and what we think 

 should be done at the next Congress ? You 



shall know, if from now on to the meeting 

 of the next congress, you watch the papers 

 and read what is said about irrigation and 

 the Congress at Phoenix. 



E. R. MOSES, 



Chairman National Executive Com. 

 Great Bend, Kan., Sept. 7, 1896. 



AS a member of the Fourth Irrigation 

 Congress, at Albuquerque, N. M., in 

 1895, 1 am clearly of the opinion, from ex- 

 perience gained at that session, that the 

 work of the coming Congress to be held at 

 Phoenix, Arizona, next December, should 

 be outlined by the executive committee 

 and by our irrigation publications. It is 

 not saying that in the past the work was 

 not outlined, writers and speakers notified 

 to be prepared on certain subjects, etc., 

 just as is now suggested by the present 

 executive committee, but what we now 

 desire to call special attention to, is to pre- 

 pare the Congress for vigorous and telling 

 legislation upon the practical propositions 

 that will come before it. In the various 

 "Addresses to the Country," as adopted 

 by each Congress, now for four years, we 

 have asked for ' ' legislation suited to the 

 peculiar needs of this (arid) imperial do- 

 main. ' ' We have declared ' ' that it should 

 be the policy of our National Congress to 

 frame laws which will enable the people 

 to obtain possession of the arid public 

 lands." We have asked for "forest res- 

 ervations; for the education of skilled for- 

 esters; for the application of the 'Carey 

 Act,' to various states and territories." 

 We have asked for legislation and the ap- 

 pointment of commissions looking to the 

 adjustment of the difficulties arising out of 

 the waters of interstate and international 

 streams. 



As we have done all this; resolved, de- 

 clared, and demanded, the interrogation 

 will be put What can we do? That is 

 the question. What can we do as a con- 

 vention, formed, as this Congress will be 

 of representative, practical irrigationists,, 

 representing the most prominent and im- 

 portant industry now before us as a great 

 nation, with thousands of families in our 

 great cities and centers of population, des- 

 titute, and demanding the opportunity of 

 making a livelihood. We have millions 

 of acres of as rich and productive soil as 

 the prairies of Illinois or Iowa can boast 

 of, now lying idle, in what is called arid 



