THE IRRIGATION AGE 



VOL. XXIV 



CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER, 1909. 



NO. 11 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



With which is Merged 



MODERN IRRIGATION THE DRAINAGE JOURNAL 



THE IRRIGATION ERA MID-WEST 



ARID AMERICA THE FARM HERALD 



IRRIGATION AGE COMPANY, 



PUBLISHERS, 



112 Dearborn Street, 



CHICAGO 



Entered M lecond-clu* matter October t, 1897. at the 

 Chicago, 111., under Act of March S. 1878. 



D. H. ANDERSON, Editor 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 



"The Primer of Irrigation" is now ready for delivery. Price, 

 $2.00. If ordered in connection with subscription, the price is $1.50. 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE. 



To United States Subscribers, Postage Paid Sl.OO 



To Canada and Mexico . l.M 



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In forwarding; remittances please do not send checks on local banks. 

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Official organ Federation of Tree Growing Clubs of 

 America. D. H. Anderson, Secretary. 



Official organ of the American Irrigation Federation. 

 Office of the Secretary, 212 Boyce Building, Chicago. 



Interesting to Advertisers. 



It may interest advertisers to know that The Irrigation Age is th 

 only publication in the world having an actual paid in advance 

 circulation among individual irrigators and large irrigation corpo- 

 rations. It is read regularly by all interested in this subject and has 

 readers in all parts of the world. The Irrigation Age is 24 yean 

 old and is the pioneer publication of its class in the world. 



In many respects the Seventeenth Ka- 

 Lobbyists tional Irrigation Congress, held at Spo- 

 Control kane during August, was the most inter- 



Spokane esting and instructive gathering ever held 



Congress. by this organization. Speakers of na- 

 tional repute presented able addresses, and 

 the discussions, earnest but often incisive, have resulted 

 in the fomentation of popular interest in irrigation and 

 conservation. 



The congress as a whole, was, however, a disap- 

 pointment. Very few of the "old guard" were there and 

 the deliberations and the various committees organized 

 to act, were controlled by a set of men who have at- 

 tempted to pose as dictators at almost every congress. 

 It is significant that no concerted action can be taken by 

 the general irrigator and the man who is interested in 

 private projects to so shape the conduct of that body as 

 to benefit more largely the great mass of people inter- 

 ested in this industry. 



It is a lamentable fact that many old time lobbyists 

 are always on hand with axes to grind for this or that 

 corporation, and as a rule the local governing body of 

 the congress fears to antagonize these interests, hence 

 the result is a program dominated by corporations and 

 other interests only indirectly interested in active irri- 

 gation work. 



It was early seen by those who are interested in 

 actual reform that the lobbyists had absolute control and, 

 while some of the more daring of the minority objected 



to the rules as laid down by the corporations, no definite 

 results of lasting character were obtained. 



There is much talk now among those who are fore- 

 sighted and interested in the future welfare of the con- 

 gress to so shape affairs at Pueblo as to allow the active 

 irrigator and the promoter of private projects a voice in 

 the deliberations of that meeting. There are surely 

 enough projects of a private character in Colorado, west- 

 ern Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming, all of which are 

 tributary to Pueblo, to encourage and assure the attend- 

 ance of this class of delegates at the eighteenth congress, 

 and it is reasonable to predict that at Pueblo some posi- 

 tive steps will be taken to liberate that meeting from 

 the band of hired lobbyists who controlled the Spokane 

 session. 



Mr. Insinger and his assistants handled the Spokane 

 affair in a masterful way so far as exploitation and en- 

 tertainment were concerned. They surmounted many 

 difficulties, and among other serious conditions that of 

 the disaffection of the Board of Governors who at- 

 tempted to tell them how their fund of $60,000 or $70,- 

 000 should be spent. The chairman of the Board of 

 Governors, we are informed, would not act in any ca- 

 pacity after he had learned that a considerable part of 

 the fund would not be turned over to him for exploita- 

 tion, or other purposes. This "band" of governors had 

 in its list of members the names of some very estimable 

 gentlemen. All of the members of the board, however, 

 could not be so designated. 



