370 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



REMINISCENCES OF THE Xlth CONGRESS. 



THE CODDLING MOTH AND THE PRONOUN "I." 



The Coddling Moth ip a dangerous bird, 



He's as bad as the pronoun "I" ; 

 And the outside of the home he steals 



Is fair, but inside Oh, my ! 

 Beware of the Coddling Moth in the heart 



Of the outside fair-looking fruit; 

 Beware of the pronoun "I" that takes 



The heart and the home to boot. 

 Spray both of them well with killing stuff, 



Asphyxiate them both till they die, 

 For nothing destroys the farms of the West 



So quick as that moth and that "I." 



The only irrigation some of the eastern delegates 

 knew anything about was that procured at the bar. 



Last words of the president of the Congress: 

 "Let's irrigate." Eesolution unanimously adopted. 



"What's a sombrero?" asked a Dakota delegate 

 of an El Paso man. "It means next Congress at El 

 Paso," was all the answer he could make. 



Definition What is an apostle of irrigation? 

 Answer The man who was opposed to national irri- 

 gation but now finds money in changing his religion. 



The delegate who offered a resolution denouncing 

 the outrages in Bulgaria was appointed a committee of 

 one to go there and stop them. 



California is keeping mum, but one of the Fresno 

 delegates let out the fact that they were going to beat 

 Utah or bust. 



The new officers of the National Irrigation Con- 

 gress were elected by acclamation. President Clark and 

 Secretary Maxon being re-elected. 



The Dawson county (Neb.) delegation was a good 

 one and Brother Meagley is entitled to credit for his 

 work in inducing so many to come. 



Secretary Maxson's duties heretofore were per- 

 formed to the satisfaction of every delegate, and, al- 

 though arduous and many, he never faltered. 



The only fault found with the Model Irrigation 

 Farm was, it wasn't big enough for all the delegates 

 to send for their families and settle down on it. 



Eleven carloads of delegates and visitors visited 

 the granary of Utah, the great Cache valley, and took 

 notes of the amazing productiveness they did not be- 

 lieve possible until they saw it under their own eyes. 



Judge L. W. Shurtliff, first vice-president, is 

 known to every one as a man of the most sterling 

 ability and enthusiasm in the cause of irrigation, and 

 brings to his office that experience which will lend suc- 

 cess to the twelfth congress. 



Query If there were no money in the reclama- 

 tion fund, would the corporation lawyers labor so hard 

 to have the land laws 'repealed? 



Answer Well, sixteen millions now and more to 

 come are worth trying to get not? 



Mr. John Hall, third vice-president, formerly of 

 Syracuse, Kans., but now of Lampasas, Tex., was a 

 happy choice and brings to his office experience and 

 ability. Moreover, he is from Texas, which means 

 much, the congress to be held at El Paso. 



Dr. T. S. Wadsworth, of Morgan City, Utah, was 

 the oldest delegate. He confesses to eighty-three years, 

 but looks to be only sixty, and can jump nine feet from 

 a standing start. One of the results of irrigation, so 

 he says. 



Senator Clark's devotion to his duties as presiding 

 officer of the eleventh congress, and the facility and 

 justice with which he handled the mass of questions 

 coming up before him was as marked as the fact that 

 he was always in his place, ready to serve the congress. 



Washington correspondent, attempting to be funny 

 at expense of Idaho man, poking at big prize pumpkin : 

 "I say, they raise bigger apples than that where I came 

 from." Idaho man, with contempt.: "Apples, is it? 

 Them's not apples, them's huckleberries." 



Mr. Jabez Short, of Montana, expressed astonish- 

 ment that forty inches of water on one acre of grapes 

 would produce enough wine to irrigate successfully one 

 hundred men. each five feet ten in height. "Thar's 

 somethin' in this irrigation business I don't ketch on 

 to," was his remark. 



New York delegate talking with Governor Prince: 

 "You say, Governor, that you can make anything grow 

 with irrigation?" 



Governor Prince: "I do most emphatically." 

 New Yorker: "Then why don't you use it as a 

 hair wash?" 



An eastern agricultural writer was moved to say, 

 "I can look forward and see the time when scientific 

 irrigation will become a necessity in the East. It will 

 be a necessity where it is a profit in the West, and with 

 it the eastern farmer can not only double his crops, but 

 guarantee a productive yield every year." 



"Best cigar I ever smoked," said the man from 

 Virginia. The Oregon man snickered. "What you 

 laughing about?" demanded the Virginian. "Oh, 

 nothing, but that cigar is made of fresh cured Oregon 

 beet leaf." Virginian puffs away for a while, then: 

 "Well, it goes to show what irrigation will do." 



At the Banquet and Ball. Cowboy delegate to silk- 

 hatter from Boston: "Do you dance, pardner?" Silk- 

 hatter moves away haughtily. Cowboy delegate draws 

 and shoots off boot heels. "I asked you, pardner, do 

 you dance?" Silk-hatter responds by jumping about 

 to avoid the bullets: "There are circumstances under 

 which I feel disposed to practice the art of terpsichore." 

 Cowboy to friend later on: "I couldn't git the cuss to 

 say whether he danced or not." 



