THE IBBIGATION AGE. 



401 



Notes and Comment on 

 Recent Congresses 



MUST HAVE NEW ORGANIZATION. 



Lnder this caption, George B. Eraser, editor of the 

 News, Twin Falls, Idaho, expresses his views on the Sev- 

 enteenth Congress: 



"The National Irrigation Congress is still dominated 

 by the reclamation service and forest service to such an 

 extent as to threaten its usefulness and now there is a 

 movement on foot to organize a body for taking up irri- 

 gation matters on an independent and more scientific 

 basis," declared S. H. Hays, to a Boise Capital News re- 

 porter, upon his return from Spokane, where he has been 

 in attendance at the seventeenth annual session as a mem- 

 ber of the Idaho delegation. 



Owing to much dissatisfaction over the arbitrary re- 

 pulsive manner in which the reclamation and forest serv- 

 ices together with the Great Northern Railroad interests 

 act, it is probable that arrangements will be completed for 

 a meeting of representatives of irrigated states to be held 

 in Chicago this fall, when a separate and distinct organiza- 

 tion from that maintained in the past with the National 

 Irrigation Congress will be formed. 



Instances of the domination of forest service, reclama- 

 tion service and Great Northern over the annual session 

 of the congress held in Spokane were manifest in prac- 

 tically every session of the congress, according to Mr. 

 Hays. The program which contained 49 subjects that were 

 discussed at the congress disclosed only 21 relating to 

 irrigation and only six practical subjects on irrigation in 

 that number. Then also the presence of Costello, traffic 

 manager of the Great Northern Railroad, which is as- 

 siduously endeavoring to secure the expenditure of thou- 

 sands of dollars by the forest service for improvements 

 along the railroad right of way was considered distasteful 

 to delegates desirous of considering irrigation problems. 

 The position assumed by the forest reserve with respect 

 to the operation of power plants was still another cause for 

 dissatisfaction and raised a strong protest from the dele- 

 gates of irrigated states. 



"The general purport of the addresses of Secretary 

 Ballinger of the Interior Department and of Chief Forester 

 Gifford Pinchot, might be described in this way," continued 

 Mr. Hays. "Secretary Ballinger stood for the doctrine 

 that the law must be followed and obeyed, that if there 

 is any defect in the law, it should be remedied by congress, 

 while Mr. Pinchot's address conveyed the sentiment that 

 it would be well to go ahead doing things and let the law 

 take care of itself." 



Of the Pinchot-Ballinger feud, returning delegates 

 speak of an instance that was remarked about by nearly 

 everyone in attendance at the session of the congress. The 

 incident is related as follows: Secretary Ballinger was on 

 the program for an address at one of the sessions of the 

 congress, and before that session convened, Mr. Pinchot 

 and a friend went to the speaker's platform, taking seats 

 thereon with other officials in attendance at the meeting. 

 Secretary Ballinger a few minutes later came to the 

 speakers' platform to take a seat in readiness for the ad- 

 dress which he was to deliver. Upon stepping on the 

 platform he was received by all officials on the platform, 

 except Pinchot and his friend, who continued their con- 

 versation uninterrupted, while the other officials arose and 

 shook hands with the secretary of the interior. 



The following relating to the Pinchot-Ballinger con- 

 troversy appeared in the Denver Post: 



Government officials of Denver have discovered that 

 an absolute treaty was made between Secretary of the In- 

 terior Garfield and the agricultural department when all of 

 of the lands were turned over to the care of the forestry 

 department a couple of years ago. and which have since 

 been returnd to the department of the interior by Secre- 

 tary Ballinger with the approval of the president. 



It was a transaction never before heard of in the his- 



tory of the government and was denounced by United 

 States Attorney General Wickersham as one of the worst 

 pieces of personal law making that the government has 

 ever seen. 



The government legal adviser was likewise severe in 

 his denunciation of the agreement made between the 

 people interested in the Grand Valley canals and the gov- 

 ernment. He said at the time that the government had 

 no right to make any agreements of the kind, becoming a 

 party to a private enterprise, and that no one had a right 

 to promise any money without congressional sanction. 



TRANS-MISSISSIPPI NOTES. 



BY G. L. SHUMWAY. 



Two of the great industrial congresses of 1909 have 

 passed into history. The one at Spokane the National 

 Irrigation congress according to press dispatches, was 

 something of a controversy wherein Forester Pinchot 

 launched Roosevelt's- third term boom, and Mr. Ballinger 

 made plain the attitude of the present administration. 



The third-termers hastened from Spokane to the 

 Trans-Mississippi congress at Denver to continue their 

 work, and received a frost, while Mr. Ballinger went on 

 a tour of inspection in continuance of his official program 

 of informing himself on the conditions and needs of the 

 West. 



The report of the Denver meeting, as appearing in 

 Chicago and eastern Journals, were far from accurate. 

 They were colored to show the astute advertiser, Mr. 

 Pinchot, as the lion of the hour and President Tail only 

 gets obscure mention. 



The facts as shown by the resolutions adopted, as 

 well as by the preponderance of debate, are that the 

 forestry policies are as unpopular as ever, wherever peo- 

 ple come in contact with them, and that the West is 

 withholding its judgment of Mr. Ballinger until authora- 

 tive statements are forthcoming. 



The resolution which was unanimously adopted reflects 

 this confidence: 



"Resolved, That this congress composed of 2,000 

 members, is pleased and does hereby express its pleasure 

 at the words of greeting from the President of the United 

 States and responds with assurances of esteem, and con- 

 fidence that our chief executive and his cabinet members, 

 whose administration particularly affects Transmississippi 

 affairs, are especially qualified to deal with these problems. 

 And by reason of their knowledge of facts, law and jus- 

 tice, they will of their administration bring about a great 

 prosperity incident to the development and utilization of 

 natural resources which abound so abundantly in the 

 West." 



This was telegraphed to President Taft. 



The series of resolutions rings with buoyant spirit, 

 as the West feels the throbbing impulse of its six-cylinder 

 energy once more to be unfettered and to start upon the 

 journey toward vast development. 



The present administration draws from the resolutions 

 of the Trans-Mississippi congress the assurance that the 

 West approves of its action in following the letter of the 

 law. The law, not a set of rules promulgated by an 

 official who is trying to foster feudalism upon this sec- 

 tion, is what the West wants. 



This water power trust, of which Mr. Pinchot dilates, 

 is a "straw man." There is no such a creature and there 

 can never be. For instance, Omaha now proposes a forty- 

 mile canal from the Platte river to create 5,000-horse 

 power. It will reduce horse-power energy in that city 

 from $34 to $18. Anyone not satisfied may go up either 

 the Missouri or the Platte and build another plant. 

 Twenty such plants can be built in Nebraska alone. And 

 any of the mountain states can find location for practically 

 unlimitable power, provided the conservation idea does 

 not prevail and compel these waterfalls to continue in 

 the production of nothing but rainbow mist. Next to con- 

 trolling air or sunshine water power would be most dif- 

 ficult to amalgamate. 



