294 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



By recent advices from El Paso we learn 

 Irrigation that preparations for the 12th National 

 Congress. Irrigation Congress, to be held in that 

 city November 15-18, are well under way 

 and the citizens of the gateway of the southwest an- 

 ticipate a large attendance. The press committee has 

 informed us that Mr. James Charlton, of the Transcon- 

 tinental Passenger Association, has given notice to the 

 officers of the Congress of extremely low rates offered 

 by the lines under his jurisdiction for the benefit of 

 those desiring to attend the Congress. The rate of 

 one fare for the round trip is offered by all lines west 

 of the Mississippi River with an extension of thirty 

 days. Mr. ^f. J. Anderson, general passenger agent 

 of the G. H. & S. A. Ry., who represents the association 

 in the Southwest, has fixed the dates of sale for these 

 tickets at November 10, 11 and 12. In addition to 

 this concession from the western roads, the irrigation 

 association has also obtained unusually low rates from 

 the Mexican and territorial railways, not only for the 

 benefit of visitors, but also for those wishing to take 

 side trips to Mexico or other points of interest during 

 or immediately after the convention. 



A movement is on foot to bring fifty or a hundred 

 Apache Indians from the Mescalero reservation of New 

 Mexico to El Paso during the Congress. These Indians, 

 it is stated, will be permitted to hold the scalp dance 

 for the edification of visitors and it is presumed will 

 show the bloodthirsty savage in his wildest moods. Old 

 Geronimo, the famoiis Apache chief, will also visit El 

 Paso, if permission from the Government may be ob- 

 tained, for him to meet the remnants of his tribe dur- 

 ing their sojourn in that city. The citizens of El Paso 

 are to be commended on their effort to offer adequate 

 entertainment to all who may attend and it is sin- 

 cerely hoped that this Congress at El Paso may equal 

 in point of attendance the record breaker of Otrden in 

 1903. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE is in receipt of information 

 indicating that a lot of the old time workers along irri- 

 gation lines will not attend the El Paso Congress, owing 

 to the fact that the Maxwell-Boothe crowd are attempt- 

 ing to run it for their own glory and profit. It is the 

 impression of THE AGE. however, that all workers for 

 the cause should attend and lend such assistance to the 

 citizens of El Paso and the southwest as will make this 

 one of the best meetings ever held. It is, of course, 

 unfortunate that such men as those above mentioned 

 are in a position to mislead the people of El Paso, but 

 this is no reason why the rank and file of old irriga- 

 tion workers should withhold their support, and it is 

 to be hoped that those who have decided to picll away 

 from the Congress may reconsider and lend all the aid 

 in their power to furthering the general cause of irri- 

 gation. 



We are informed that the hotels will be able to 

 offer ample accommodations to all who attend and every- 

 thing will be done in the way of side trips and enter- 

 tainment which the visitors could reasonably expect, 

 so that all who go, whether for the business of irriga- 

 tion or pleasure, will find entertainment and profitable 

 diversion. 



$15,000 En- The executive committee of the South- 

 tertainment western Irrigation Association has corn- 

 Fond, piled a statement showing that fifteen 

 thousand dollars will be spent in enter- 

 taining the National Irrigation Congress in November. 



Calls the Apropos of the trouble brewing among 

 "N. I. A." members of the National Irrigation As- 

 a Fake. sociation and the proposed investigation 



of that body by men whose names have 

 been used as officers and backers without their full 

 knowledge of its plans, the following editorial from the 

 San Francisco Chronicle is extremely interesting at 

 this time. The Chronicle is the leading daily news- 

 paper of the Pacific coast and is owned by M. H. De 

 Young, one of the wealthiest and most influential men 

 in California, and the utterances of his paper always 

 mean something. 



C. B. Boothe, chairman of the board of directors 

 of the National Irrigation Association, took exception 

 to the term "Fake Association," which the Chronicle 

 had applied to that body. Boothe refers to a long list 

 of names of distinguished gentlemen bulletined as 

 officers of the association and asks if it is possible to 

 suppose that such men would lend their names to a 

 fake association. The Chronicle replies that it does 

 not believe that the gentlemen referred to would lend 

 their names to what they believed to be a fake associa- 

 tion, but is of the opinion "that most of them permitted 

 their names to be used without knowing much about 

 the origin, history or methods of the concern." The 

 Chronicle then says: 



"The board of directors, for example, of which Mr. 

 Boothe is the chairman, consists of twenty-four busi- 

 ness men, mostly of national reputation. The Chron- 

 icle has grave reasons to doubt whether those gentle- 

 men ever met as a board of directors, unless, pro jorma, 

 a few of them have got together at some annual meet- 

 ing. We are sure they take no part in the management 

 of the concern, for we are sure they would never have 

 authorized some things which have been done in the 

 name of the association. The same may be said of 

 the bewildering array of vice-presidents and other of- 

 ficers. It is also to be said that a good many of the 

 officials have always been also prominent railroad of- 

 ficials and from their standpoint the institution is 

 quite the reverse of a fake association. As they look 

 at it, it is perfectly genuine." 



The Chronicle then gives the following facts, 

 which, in its opinion, justify the term "Fake Associa- 

 tion" as applied to the so-called National Irrigation 

 Association and make it a proper object of suspicion : 



"The association purports to be an outgrowth of 

 popular sentiment crystallized into an association repre- 

 senting, and authorized to represent, a large body of 

 people interested in irrigation. As a matter of fact, the 

 organization of the association grew out of the proposal 

 of one person looking for remunerative employment, 

 made to the president of several transcontinental rail- 

 roads, and involving an appropriation of $6,000 a year 

 from each of them. That appropriation was the sole 

 support of the concern until other contributions were 



