THE IEEIGATION AGE. 



107 



Morris Bein to make that acknowledgment. I have 

 been sorely disappointed in Mr. Bein. His loooks sug- 

 gest greater knowledge than his actions indicate'. 



At any rate the time is here when the crisis in 

 the lives of many who have been lured by the hope 

 that the government wanted its lands occupied by homes, 

 and it's up to the administration of the affairs of the 

 service to do or not to do. If they decide on the latter 

 it involves appeals to congress and legal troubles galore. 



The Stockgrowers' convention recently held at Den- 

 ver has again denounced the Pinchot policy. -The. east 

 should take notice that the west does not want this 

 bar to its progress. The new- Governor of Colorado, 

 Honest John Shafroth, the new United States Senator 

 from Colorado, Hon. Chas. Hughes, are each the result 

 of the western spirit which is against the Pinchot pol- 

 icies. 



And just as we had begun to think that Secretary 

 Garfield had some ideas independent of the king of 

 the Tennis Cabinet, he comes out with a silly request 

 for an enormous sum to prosecute land thieves. The 

 sum he asks for would buy today practically all of the 

 land that has been obtained through the administration 

 of those laws, where any question might be raised. The 

 great land steals of the country are untouched by the 

 administration. 



Eeally and truly, in summing up the whole line 

 of prosecution instituted by the Federal government 

 for violations of Federal laws, we find in the jails and 

 penitentiaries only a few so-called land thieves who 

 were too poor to battle with the might of the whole 

 United States. Perhaps the few convictions made and 

 the fact that they were the only ones of consequence, 

 is the reason behind this proposal to carry on the farce. 



One of the peculiarities of the persecution has been 

 that those who to all appearances are the guiltiest in 

 the way of these so-called frauds have a way of obtain- 

 ing immunity. One of the most popular of western 

 senators with the administration at Washington one 

 who is counselling with the President oftener than any 

 other has never been touched. Yet it is claimed that 

 cowboys, carmen and women acquired through home- 

 stead and desert land acts some 50,000 acres of land 

 that was turned over immediately to a large cattle 

 company in which he was interested. We are curious 

 to know how he has escaped the Federal sleuths. 



SEVENTEENTH NATIONAL CONGRESS 



To Be Held it Spokane, Washington. Aug. 9. 1 4, 1909, 



BY AUfiUST WOLF 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 

 r, and The Primer of Irrigation 



Advantages of community life in localities where 

 the soil is cultivated in the most intelligent manner 

 possible and where orchards and fields are watered by 

 scientific means will be brought prominently to the 

 fore at the sessions of the 17th National Irrigation Con- 

 gress in Spokane, August 9 to 14, under the presi- 

 dency of George E. Barstow of Barstow, Texas. It is 

 expected there will be between 4,000 and 5,000 accred- 

 ited delegates. 



Arthur Hooker, secretary of the local board of 

 control, of which E. Insinger is chairman, has advices 

 that large delegations will come from Texas, Colorado, 

 California, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Utah, Nevada, 

 Wyoming, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, also that 

 Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wis- 

 consin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, 

 Pennsylvania and states in the south and New Eng- 

 land will have representatives. Massachusetts, Ver- 

 mont, New Hampshire, Ehode Island, Maine and Mary- 

 land will have special delegates. 



Possibilities under intensive cultivation will be 

 demonstrated and among the other prominent subjects 

 for discussion will be the reclamation of swamp and 

 arid lands, conservation of water, preservation and re- 

 habilitation of timber areas, deep waterways, good 

 roads, drainage and home-building. These matters 

 will be discussed by federal officers, scientists, railway 

 officials and foreign representatives. 



The delegates to the National Irrigation Congress 

 will have the privilege of participating at the formal 

 opening of the Spokane Coliseum, to be erected by the 

 National Apple Show, Inc., of which Louis W. Hill of 

 St. Paul, president of the Great Northern Eailway 

 Company, is the head. The hall will be the largest 

 west of the Eocky Mountains and will accommodate 

 from 15,000 to 20,000 persons. The structure will be 

 of steel and reinforced concrete, and is to be ready in 

 time for the congress. 



Preliminary plans already made provide for a re- 

 ception by the people of Spokane and the Inland Em- 

 pire in honor of the delegates and visitors. This will 

 be during the opening day. Another feature will be 

 an industrial parade, with floats representing the busi- 

 ness houses, affording also opportunities for the vari- 

 ous districts in the irrigated areas of the west to dis- 

 play their products and other means of showing the 

 progress made in the communities. 



It is also planned to have a military parade, in 

 which companies of United States soldiers and state 

 militia will participate, and another pageant will be 

 a march in review bv civic and fraternal organizations. 

 In this it is purposed to have several hundred repre- 

 sentatives of Indian tribes, mounted and garbed in 

 festalday raiment, also squaws and pappooses. 



The crowning feature of the street demonstrations, 

 however, will be the parade of the Irrigation Army, to 

 be marshaled from the irrigated belts of the Pacific 

 and western and southwestern states. The marchers 

 will wear distinctive uniforms, with caps and banners 



