NEWS AND NOTES 



305 



congress, suggests that the sessions of the 

 irrigation congress following the Spokane 

 meeting be held somewhere in the South, 

 and mentions Charleston as prohably the 

 right place. He adds : 



"I trust we will be able to have President 

 Taft attend the sessions, as I recognize it 

 will be of inestimable benefit to all who at- 

 tend to have him deliver an address." 



Mr. Hooker expresses the opinion that if 

 the proposition is formally presented to the 

 congress by the southern members, the dele- 

 gates will give it every consideration. 



Cabinet Members Invited 



Formal invitations to be present at the 

 seventeenth session of the National Irriga- 

 tion Congress in Spokane the second week 

 in August have been forwarded by R. In- 

 singer, chairman of the local board of con- 

 trol, to these members of President's Taft's 

 cabinet : 



P. C. Knox, secretary of state ; Franklin 

 MacVeagh, secretary of the treasury ; Jacob 

 M. Dickinson, secretary of war ; George W. 

 Wickersham, attorney-general ; Frank H. 

 Hitchcock, postmaster-general; George von 

 L. Meyer, secretary of the navy ; Richard A. 

 Ballinger, secretary of the interior; James 

 Wilson, secretary of agriculture, and Charles 

 Nagle, secretary of commerce and labor. 



"We are hopeful that President Taft will 

 honor this congress, w-hich Col. Theodore 

 Roosevelt has declared 'is undubtedly one of 

 the most important unofficial bodies in the 

 country,' " said Mr. Insinger, "and we ex- 

 pect to have the President with us one or 

 two days. 



"Advices to hand from various parts of 

 the country indicate that the attendance of 

 delegates and visitors will be the largest in 

 the history of the organization, and I may 

 tell you that nothing is being left undone 

 by the executive committee of the board of 

 control to make it the most interesting. 



"The program gives promise of being 

 continent-wide in scope, and action tending 

 to solve some of the problems of irrigation, 

 forestry, drainage, deep waterways and good 

 roads is certain to follow, thus benefitting 

 the whole country." 



The Forest Service to Be Represented 



W. B. Greeley, district forester, stationed 

 at Missoula, Mont., writes to J. P. McGold- 

 rick, chairman of the forestry committee of 

 the National Irrigation Congress, that Gifford 

 Pinchot, chief of the Forest Service, who will 

 be representative of the Federal Government 

 at the sessions in Spokane, August 9 to 14, 

 endorses the plan of a special meeting with 

 the lumbermen one day that week to discuss 

 the policies and regulations of the Forest 



Service in the administration of Government 

 timber affairs, adding : 



"Mr. Pinchot will, of course, be present 

 at this special meeting. I will arrange also 

 for three members of the Forest 'Service to 

 give ten or fifteen minute talks on the fol- 

 lowing subjects : 



" 'The policy of the Forest Service as 

 regards selling timber and fixing stumpage 

 prices.' 



" 'Marking, slash piling and logging regu- 

 lations in sales of National Forest timber.' 



" 'Cooperation between the Government 

 and private timberland owners in protec- 

 tion from fire.' 



"I believe that it would be an excellent 

 plan to let the lumbermen in the district 

 tributary to Spokane know in advance that 

 these subjects will be discussed at a special 

 session in connection with the congress, so 

 that they can arrange to be present. I am 

 also of the opinion it would be a good idea 

 for your committee to invite some of the 

 lumbermen to speak briefly on each of the 

 topics suggested. General discussions could 

 follow the addresses. 



"I have asked Mr. Pinchot to suggest two 

 speakers for the main congress. One to 

 speak on the relation of forests to flow and 

 water supply and the other on the experience 

 of some of the older European countries on 

 the problem of forest conservation and water 

 supply and its application to conditions in the 

 United States." 



& & & 



Encouragement from Montana's 

 Governor 



Governor Norris, of Montana, has given 

 assurance that a representative delegation 

 will be appointed from that state. He adds : 



"You may say to the board of control and 

 to the people of Spokane that it is my inten- 

 tion to attend the sessions. I am greatly in- 

 terested in the work of the National Irriga- 

 tion Congress, and will assist in every way 

 I can to make it a success. I have not yet 

 taken up the matter of appointing delegates 

 to represent the state, but I shall do so on 

 my return from the East and endeavor to 

 see the state is well represented." 



The plans of the board of control for a 

 parade of the industrial and irrigation army, 

 in which it is expected to have at least 10,000 

 uniformed marchers in line, appeal to the 

 people of Montana, as it will give them op- 

 portunity to bring their districts before the 

 delegates and visitors, as well as the press 

 representatives expected from fifty or more 

 metropolitan papers and news-gathering as- 

 sociations. 



BRASS BANDS IN DEMAND 



Mr. Arthur Hooker, secretary of the local 

 board of control, said : 



"The offer of the board of control to re- 

 fund the railroad fares to any community 



