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THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



ago and has been engaged in work of various charac- 

 ter, including railway building, cow punching, sheep 

 raising, and later as real estate agent and general 

 boomer for the State of Idaho. 



Major Eeed is one of the energetic, forcible men 

 of the irrigation empire, and is fully qualified to fill 

 the position of general booster for the grand State of 

 Idaho. He is at present booming the town of Burley 

 and Cassia County, Idaho, and is closely identified with 

 some heavier irrigation enterprises in that section of 

 the State. He has frequently been mentioned for Con- 

 gress from his Idaho district, and it is hoped that some 

 day the people may realize his strength and value and 

 send him to Washington to represent them. 



The Major was born in New Jersey in 1858, was 

 educated in the broad school of practical experience. 

 He believes that irrigation is king, and that the land 

 of the setting sun is the place to develop the human 

 family to the highest standard of citizenship. Eeed 

 is more for the man in the breeches than the dollar in 

 the breeches pocket. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE has received recent- 

 Governor ly a number of communications concern- 

 Pardee's ing the call issued by Governor Pardee 

 Call. to the Fourteenth National Irrigation 



Congress. This call was sent out to the 

 members of the executive committee, honorary vice- 

 presidents, etc., and is published in full in our article 

 on Boise, Idaho, in this issue. The feature of the 

 call which brought forth criticism is as follows : 



"But the coming session will be, I think, of especial 

 importance, for the reason that the system under which 

 we are now working being on trial, those who are dis- 

 posed to doubt its efficiency and question its results 

 will be particularly active at this session to discredit 

 it. Therefore, it behooves those who have faith in the 

 final outcome of the system, and who desire to see it 

 carried along the lines so successfully inaugurated, to 

 be present at Boise, and, by taking part in the proceed- 

 ings, do what they can to see that what has already 

 been gained shall not be lost." 



To the minds of many this indicates that officials 

 of the Reclamation Service have secured the support 

 of Governor Pardee to their cause. This is a wise 

 move on the part of these gentlemen ; it is moreover in- 

 dicative of the good heartedness of the genial governor 

 of California. 



Governor Pardee, by the way, is as good a pre- 

 siding officer as has ever held the chair during any of 

 the past thirteen Irrigation Congresses. He is a man 

 of splendid ability, wide experience, well informed on 

 irrigation affairs, and withal, sympathetic ; but we feel 

 that the paragraph quoted above was written more by, 

 and is a result of sympathy, rather than good judg- 

 ment. 



No one should criticise a man for doing that which 

 is good, and THE IRRIGATION AGE is inclined to recog- 

 nize and comment favorably upon all work accom- 

 plished by the Reclamation Service which is com- 

 mendable. It may not be out of place to say, however, 

 that it is equally ready to criticise errors in judgment 

 or manipulation on the part of the officials of the 

 Service. 



It is perhaps permissible for Governor Pardee to 

 shape the policy of the Fourteenth Congress. There 

 can be no objection, to be sure, to a man of his position 

 or prominence expressing an opinion as to the manner 

 in which the Congress should be conducted. Nor can 

 there be any objection to his apparent sympathy with 

 the Reclamation Service. He has no doubt received 

 much information concerning work of this service from 

 officials and has, perhaps, not gone to the trouble to 

 investigate complaints made by those whom the Service 

 officials describe as soreheads, mal-contents, etc., etc. 



It may appear presumptuous on the part of THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE to even criticise so distinguished a 

 gentleman as Governor Pardee, and we wish it dis- 

 tinctly understood that we are not criticising him 

 with the view of belittling the Congress or restricting 

 the deliberations of that body. 



It is, however, questionable if Governor Pardee 

 exhibited reasonable caution in the paragraph quoted. 

 In a communication to the governor on the subject, the 

 editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE made the following in- 

 quiries: "Would it be out of place, Governor, to ask 

 you to explain to us the above quoted extract. Are we. 

 to understand from this that those who attend the Con- 

 gress are not to be permitted to express their opinion 

 as to the manner in which work is conducted by the 

 Reclamation Service, and is it to be understood that 

 the men who are selected as delegates are to go there 

 and pass resolutions laudatory of a service regard- 

 less of whether their opinions run along these lines or 

 otherwise ? 



"This particular paragraph which we have quoted 

 and which is copied largely by papers throughout the 

 Western States has a strange note, and the fact that one 

 or two other members of the executive committee have 

 forwarded clippings to us, and also informed us that 

 they have received no notice of the Congress, nor have 

 they been consulted in any way regarding the matter, 

 gives the situation a strange aspect." 



In reply to this communication the Governor, in 

 his usual plausible way, "wishes to be permitted to say" 

 that it appears to him that this paragraph needs no ex- 

 planation, as it appears to be quite plain, and he can 

 not understand why THE IRRIGATION AGE, or anyone 

 else, should make inquiries of this character. He 

 furthermore says that he can not see anything con- 

 tained in his statement that would even suggest the 

 questions asked by THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



