THE IRRIGATION A E. 



363 



the constitution and almost unanimously reduced the 

 number of voting delegates to 363. Then came the 

 naming of committees, which consumed the rest of the 

 time of the first session, but the work was finally com- 

 pleted and the congress adjourned until Wednesday, 

 and the delegates prepared for the issues likely to arise. 



The first act of the organized Eleventh National 

 Irrigation Congress was the practically unanimous re- 

 fusal to merge with any other organization. The Na- 

 tional Irrigation Association, run by George H. Max- 

 well, and the Trans-Mississippi Congress had both been 

 flirting with the merger idea, and had set at work every 

 possible influence possessed by them and their backers 

 to force a merger at the tenth congress, held in 1902 

 at Colorado Springs, Colo. The question was referred 

 to a committee to report to the eleventh congress, to be 

 held at Ogden in 1903, and upon .that report, which 

 was adverse to any merger on the ground principally 

 that the National Irrigation Congress was a distinctive 

 movement for certain specified purposes, the congress 

 maintained its autonomy, declining to become the 

 tool of any private association. 



In spite of this warning of the temper of the 



EL PASO-MEXICAN BAND. 



congress to maintain the objects for which it was orig- 

 inally organized there followed upon it almost imme- 

 mediately an attempt to force through a resolution 

 favoring a repeal of the timber and stone act, the desert 

 land law and the commutation clause of the homestead 

 law. The scheme of the resolution originated with 

 George H. Maxwell, a delegate hailing from California, 

 with a residence in Chicago and a home in Arizona, 

 and a man who, it is alleged, is working in the interests 

 of himself and land-grabbing corporations. 



It will appear strange to the reader that the com- 

 mittee to whom the Maxwell resolution was referred, 

 after much discussion, reported in its favor, twelve to 

 nine, and yet the resolution was thrown out by the great 

 body of the congress. Mr. Maxwell was so confident 

 that he went around and boasted of victory. Said he : 

 "I have assurances from the delegates that the resolu- 

 tion in favor of repealing the desert land law will be 

 adopted, and I believe similar action will be taken re- 

 garding the timber and stone act." 



But the congress entirely ignored the Maxwell 

 resolution, leaving that gentleman up in the clouds 

 with nothing to stand on. Instead, the congress passed 

 a resolution, offered by Congressman J. C. Needham, 



of Modesto, Cal., calling upon Congress to modify the 

 land laws so as to save the remaining public lands for 

 actual settlers, who will found homes and live upon 

 said lands. It is reported that Maxwell declined to 

 vote on this resolution. 



O3DEN TABERNACLE EXTERIOR. 



There are some who insist that the design in 

 securing several hundred more delegates than the con- 

 stitution permitted was calculated to help Maxwell 

 "pack" the congress. This idea is intensified by the 

 bitter accusations hurled at the friends of the people 

 who opposed the designs of land grabbers to repeal 

 all the land laws and seize upon the whole public do- 

 main. These denunciations came principally from the 

 allies and co-workers with Maxwell, Congressman 

 Beeder, of Kansas, and Attorney-General Donovan, of 

 Montana. Even the president, Senator Clark, was de- 

 ceived by their specious presentations of the case and 

 fancied them to be real friends of the homeless instead 

 of mere corporation lawyers, as G. L. Miller, of Kansas, 

 designated Maxwell. 



OGDEN TABERNACLE INTERIOR. 



Be that as it may, if Maxwell undertook the job 

 of packing the congress, it was too much for him, and 

 he was hoist by his own petard. 



The last official act of the congress on Friday, 

 September 18, was the selection of El Paso, Tex., as the 

 place of holding the Twelfth National Congress, in 



