38 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



In a folder issued recently by the St. 

 Paying; Louis branch of the Maxwell-Boothe irri- 



Maxwell. gation association which was repudiated 



by the thirteenth National Irrigation 

 Congress, we note that the author starts out with his 

 usual rot about "conquering a new republic and the 

 share which St. Louis will have in it," and to one who 

 has followed Mr. Maxwell's effusions his style is easily 

 discernible. It is also noted that in announcing the list 

 of speakers for a meeting which was no doubt "framed 

 up" by the Maxwell-Boothe crowd, Mr. Maxwell mod- 

 estly heads the list with his own name as follows : The 

 Conquering of this New Republic will be the subject 

 of addresses by Hon. George H. Maxwell, etc., etc. 

 This entertainment was held in the Mercantile Club 

 Hall, St. Louis, and was presided over by a local light 

 of the name of Wernse. One of the interesting features 

 of tbf announcement, however, is as follows : 



"The addresses will follow a half-hour exposition 

 of stereopticon views loaned by the U. S. Reclamation 

 Service and Forestry Service at Washington for this 

 evening/'. In order to give our readers a more clear 

 idea of the manner in which the chief engineer of the 

 Reclamation Service and Mr. Pinchot of the Forestry 

 Bureau feel it necessary to assist the Maxwell-Boothe 

 crowd and in fact pay his association for the assistance 

 rendered these gentlemen through its press bureau, we 

 quote herewith several paragraphs which appeared in 

 a series of articles published three or more years ago 

 in the columns of THE IRRIGATION AGE under the cap- 

 tion, "Influences In the National Irrigation Program"; 



"He (Maxwell) saw that it would be necessary for 

 him to become intimate with Government officials who 

 could bring him into contact with congressmen, mem- 

 bers of the cabinet, and even the President. He had 

 already become acquainted with those who had ambi- 

 tions to direct the irrigation policy of the country, and 

 through them he met heads of bureaus in Washington - 

 who hoped, through his co-operation, to broaden the 

 sphere of their influence and work. We do not wish 

 to bring these men into disrepute and do not say 

 that their ambitions are either to be commended or 

 condemned. We do say that their methods are open 

 to criticism. That they have been working with Mr. 

 Maxwell for the past two or three years is an estab- 

 lished fact. The readers of 'Forestry and Irrigation' 

 can easily inform themselves as to the bureaus which 

 are working with Mr. Maxwell to maintain that publi- 

 cation. Those who were at the Irrigation Congress held 

 in Chicago in 1900 have no doubt as to who the gentle- 

 men are, and they fully appreciaie the support which , 

 the National Irrigation Association has since received. 

 The arrangement made with Mr. Maxwell by these offi- 

 cers is not known, but since 1900 the National Irriga- 

 tion Association has advertised these men and their 

 work in return for substantial support of another kind. 

 Mr. Maxwell has, through one of these men, been able 

 to confer with the President upon more than one occa- 

 sion. Through the favors extended by another he has 

 met congressmen who have been particularly active in 



the movement for national aid, and has thus been 

 brought into contact with the Secretary of the Interior. 

 He has had their support in meetings of the Irrigation 

 Congress or wherever their services have been needed. 

 He has been introduced into clubs at Washington, and 

 has appeared before engineering and scientific societies. 

 Only a short time since, both Sir. Maxwell and one of 

 his Government assistants appeared before an economic 

 society in Washington to promote their mutual policies. 

 Through the publications controlled by Mr. Maxwell 

 he has been able to repay his debt to these gentlemen. 

 Besides, he has flooded the country with material sent 

 to the daily newspapers, advertising those who have 

 been of service to him. He has realized that should the 

 Government embark on a plan whereby the West is to- 

 be reclaimed, it would be to his advantage to ha"ve his 

 friends maintained in places where they would be val- 

 uable in carrying out the policies of the National Irri- 

 gation Association. We hare a bale of newspaper clip- 

 pings sent out by this bureau relating to the thorough 

 training and wide experience of the men with whom 

 Mr. Maxwell .has found it advisable to work." 



It will be noted that a close alliance existed be- 

 tween Maxwell's association and the Reclamation and 

 Forestry bureaus and this was an open co-operative 

 affair until the matter was brought to the attention of 

 higher officials in Washington, who instructed that {he 

 gentlemen at the head of these bureaus sever connec- 

 tions with the Maxwell crowd. These instructions were 

 followed so far as the knowledge of the superior officers 

 went, but those who were fully conversant with the 

 inner facts, knew that Messrs. Newell and Pinchot de- 

 pended largely on Maxwell and his association to bring 

 themselves and the work of their respective departments 

 before- the public. 



This is why the heads of these bureaus feel that 

 they should now do all in their power to bolster up 

 the tottering frame of "The Maxwell-Boothe Incorpo- 

 rated Irrigation Association." 



We give these facts so that those interested in 

 the subject may keep fully posted on developments. 



Our friends in various parts of the coun- 

 Fulsome try are forwarding to us from time to 

 Harangues, time a lot of printed matter which is evi- 

 dently gotten out by the St. Paul office 

 by the National Irriagtion Association, as we note that 

 the name of Benjamin F. Beardsley, who is supposed 

 to be secretary of this organization for the St. Paul 

 district, appears on all of the matter. This literature 

 is composed of reprints from Minneapolis and St. Paul 

 daily papers and contains interviews with Mr. Blanch- 

 ard, press agent of the Reclamation Service, as well as 

 reprints of editorials from one or two other publications 

 all of which is intended to boost the National Irriga- 

 tion Association, an organization which was definitely 

 turned down by resolution of the National Irrigation 

 Congress recently held at Portland, Ore. This effort 

 on the part of Mr. Maxwell and his assistants is evi- 



