376 



CONSERVATION 



accredited delegates from various parts of 

 the world to the number of 4,500 or 5,000 

 are expected. 



hearty sympathy of all who are interested in 

 developing and conserving the national re- 

 sources." 



Mr, Pinchot to Attend National Irrigation 

 Congress 



Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Forest 

 Service, who will be one of the speakers at 

 the sessions, writes to Mr. Insinger that he 

 will be at the congress from start to finish. 

 Mr. Pinchot also probably will visit a num- 

 ber of places in the Northwest following the 

 sessions in Spokane. It is expected he will 

 be accompanied by several officers of the 

 Service on his western trip. 



Competition for Next Irrigation Congress 



Competitors are multiplying for the next 

 irrigation congress. E. W. Palmer, secretary 

 of the Pueblo Business Men's Association, 

 writes to Mr. Hooker that a strong effort 

 will be made to secure the 1910 congress for 

 his city. Chicago, the great convention city, 

 will also press its claim as a logical center 

 for the next congress. Advices have been 

 received that a special train of boosters will 

 come from that city to Spokane with the 

 endorsement of the Chicago "Association of 

 Commerce and officials of railroads. It is 

 also known that the South will make a strong 

 bid for the congress, the most persistent 

 contender being Charleston, S. C. A report 

 is also in circulation that two other cities are 

 planning to invite the Congress to meet in 

 the middle West. 



8? JS % 



Land and Irrigation Exposition 



^A movement has been started to hold a 

 United Land and Irrigation Exposition at 

 the Coliseum in Chicago beginning Novem- 

 ber 26, coincident with the opening of the 

 International Live Stock Exposition. Rail- 

 road and land interests in Chicago are back 

 of the movement. To the Chicago Tribune. 

 as a^ disinterested party, has been delegated 

 the financial and executive responsibility for 

 this exposition. 



The purposes of the United States Land 

 and Irrigation Exposition, as pointed out by 

 Secretary Robert P. Cross, "are to illustrate 

 to prospective settlers methods of cultiva- 

 tion, and to show what can be produced on 

 lands now under irrigation, on lands on 

 which crops may be successfully raised by 

 'dry farming,' and on lands still undeveloped 

 where rainfall is bounteous." 



"The United States Land and Irrigation 

 Exposition, as proposed," says the Prairie 

 Fanner, "is deserving of full and hearty 

 support and will doubtless meet with the 



Nebraska No Longer " Wild " 



A breezy reporter for a Chicago newspaper 

 wrote of "brushing by the wilds of 

 Nebraska," and referred again to "the forlorn 

 wastes" of that state. In an interesting 

 pamphlet, the Tiventieth Century Fanner 

 calls him down. Following are a few ex- 

 tracts relative to the alleged "wilds" and 

 "wastes :" 



The forlorn wastes of Nebraska,' wrote 

 the Record-Herald's correspondent. 'For- 

 lorn wastes' that produced 178,000,000 

 bushels of corn, 56,000,000 bushels of oats, 

 43,000,000 bushels of wheat, 8,000,000 bushels 

 of potatoes, 2,000.000 tons of alfalfa, 

 $50,000,000 worth of cattle and $12,000,000 

 worth of hogs in 1908! 'Forlorn wastes' 

 that sell for from $75 to $350 an acre. 

 'Wilds of Nebraska' and Nebraska with 

 7,000 school buildings, $8,000,000 in the per- 

 manent school fund and $27,000.000 worth of 

 school lands pouring more millions into that 

 fund every decade ! 



" 'Barren wastes' from which ascends the 

 smoke from manufacturing plants that have 

 a capitalization of $50,000,000, employ 20,000 

 wage-earners and pay $10,000,000 a year in 

 wages while turning out finished products 

 worth $175,000,000 on the open market! 



"There is more of pauperism, human suf- 

 fering and abject misery in one ward in the 

 city of Chicago than there is in the whole 

 state of Nebraska. In the 'wilds of Nebras- 

 ka' there are school houses with room enough 

 therein to accommodate every Nebraska child 

 of school age, and on Nebraska's 'barren 

 wastes' is raised enough of wholesome food 

 to give every child a breakfast before he goes 

 to school and put a full dinner pail in his 

 hand when he starts. On these 'barren 

 wastes' we have erected and maintain the 

 fourth largest state university in the Union 

 and two of the largest normal schools in 

 the country. On these 'barren wastes' 

 897,000 milch cows, worth an average of $31 

 a head, are converting nutritious Nebraska 

 grasses into $7,000,000 worth of butter and 

 cheese, and the happy wives and daughters of 

 farmers are seeking the nests of the indus- 

 trious Nebraska hen and collecting $18,000,- 

 ooo worth of eggs. 



" 'While traveling in the wilds of Nebras- 

 ka' and 'gazing over the forlorn wastes of 

 Nebraska' the Record-Herald reporter missed 

 a whole lot. For each man, woman and child 

 in Nebraska there is an average of $159 de- 

 posited in the banks of the state. For each 

 child of school age the state expends $27 a 

 year in educational work and for each en- 

 rolled pupil an average of $30 a year." 



