THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



139 



The commission also makes the recommendation that 

 when lands are restored to entry after temporary segre- 

 gation, ample time should be allowed homestead entry 

 men to exercise their rights, giving the preference over 

 persons who may wish to select the land by the use of 

 scrip or other form of entry. THE IRRIGATION AGE has 

 made its fight chiefly upon the ground that if the com- 

 mutation clause of the homestead law should be re- 

 pealed entirely it would force homeseekers to buy their 

 lands from the owners of scrip, who could spread it upon 

 large areas of the most valuable agricultural lands in 

 the West, and, together with the railroads, absolutely 

 control all the land open to settlement, except those 

 upon which settlers would be required to live five years. 

 The report of the commission is unexpectedly broad 

 in its provisions, and the land-grabbing Octopus has 

 evidently abandoned its efforts to carry out its schemes 

 in their entirety, seeing that defeat was inevitable in the 

 end. The report of the commission is a decided back- 

 down from the arrogant stand hitherto taken by the 

 Octopus, and THE IRRIGATION AGE congratulates the 

 advocates of honest reclamation and correct principles 

 in home-building upon this victory. 



PROPOSED MINERS' CARNIVAL. 



International Miners' Association Will Have a Grand Meeting at 

 El Paso, Next November. 



The El Paso Daily Herald says Secretary Gifford, 

 of the International Miners' Association, lias sprung 

 a new idea on the members of the Association with 

 reference to its next annual meeting. 



At the last annual meeting of the Association it 

 was voted to hold the 1904 meeting in Chihuahua dur- 

 ing the month of January. However, believing that 

 better results would be obtained to hold the annual 

 meeting of the Association at the time of the National 

 Irrigation Congress in El Paso next November and with 

 this idea in view Mr. Gifford has been for the past 

 few days calling on the different local members of the 

 organization and getting their views on this matter 

 and he has met with such favorable expressions that 

 he is sending out printed circulars to the different 

 members of the Association who live out of the city, 

 asking for their views. 



From the views of those who have already been 

 approached on this matter there is no doubt but that 

 the annual meeting will be held next November and 

 that it will be one of the largest the miners have 

 ever had. 



The intention is not to have the two conventions 

 at the same time, but one following the other closely 

 enough to hold the crowds. 



The possibilities along this line are great and Mr. 

 Gifford believes by going ahead with the matter now 

 and working with a view to having, in connection 

 with the annual meeting, a miners' carnival, one of 

 the most insfcractive and pleasing entertainments for 



the delegates- to the irrigation congress can be arranged. 

 Mr. Gifford's idea is not that of having an ordinary 

 carnival with a lot of midway shows to flinch the peo- 

 ple, but strictly a miners' carnival for the miners and 

 their friends. 



In this southwest region mining and irrigation 

 are sister industries and while one would help the 

 other, they are so different that neither one would 

 conflict with the other. The miner has to depend 

 on what is raised to support him, while in the end the 

 man who raises his crops by irrigation has to a large 

 degree to depend on the product of the miners' labor 

 to pay for his crops, and if the two industries are devel- 

 oped in this section it will give the farmer an excel- 

 lent market at home for his products and enable the 

 miner to purchase his supplies without sending away 

 for them. 



The idea advanced by Mr. Gifford for the miners' 

 carnival is something unique for this section and would, 

 more than anything else, tend to give the irrigation 

 delegates a good impression of the southwest and at 

 the same time, no doubt, many of the capitalists, com- 

 ing here for the irrigation congress, would become in- 

 terested in the mining industry, who probably could 

 not be reached by any other method, and thus new capi- 

 tal and brains would be brought into this section. 



Mr. Gifford's idea of the miners' carnival, after 

 consulting with the local members, is to have several 

 attractions, including drilling contests, daylight and 

 night fireworks, a miners' parade, a miners' trades pa- 

 rade, a big barbecue, machinery displays and a dis- 

 play of ores. 



"My idea is first to have one of the largest drill- 

 ing contests that has ever taken place," says Mr. Gif- 

 ford in explanation. "I would suggest that a total 

 purse of about $5,000 be hung. In addition to the 

 hand drilling we should also have a display of the 

 work done by the diamond drills, the electric and com- 

 pressed air drills and all other forms of drilling. 



"Then we would want a miners' parade by all means, 

 where the miners from all over the country could ap- 

 pear in working costume, carrying their candles on 

 their caps and their picks and shovels over their should- 

 ers. In connection with the miners' parade we would 

 also have a miners' trades display to be fitted out by 

 the local mechanics, which would fittingly illustrate the 

 growth of the mining industry of the southwest. 



"Instead of the customary banquet I would sug- 

 gest an old fashioned barbecue. The average miner 

 does not always feel at home in a banquet hall, while 

 at a birbecue he would be comfortable. 



"By taking hold of this matter in an energetic man- 

 ner one of the greatest attractions ever seen in the 

 southwest can be arranged. The large mining machin- 

 ery houses in the East are continually sending machin- 

 ery through the city to the different mining camps 

 and by taking the matter up with them at once no 

 doubt many of them could be induced to have some 

 of their machinery on exhibition here at the time. 



"Along with the machinery exhibit a fine exhibit 

 of the actual products of the mines and treating plants 

 of the southwest could be secured, as it would be an 

 easy matter to induce such companies as the Copper 

 Queen, Calumet & Arizona, The Cananra Consolidated, 

 and the Arizona Copper Company to stop a carload of 

 bullion en route east and place it on exhibition here." 



Send $1.00 for THK IRRIGATION AGE, one year. 



