THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



91 



FIRST NATIONAL FARM LAND CONGRESS 



Initial Meeting Held in Chicago November 16-20, Creates Great Interest - 

 Promises Wide Influence Delegates Are Enthusiastic- 

 Hearst's Newspapers Are Hosts 



Organization 



C. A. Walsh. Secretary National 

 Land Congress. 



In harmony with the prevailing tendency toward organ- 

 ized effort and the fixing of responsibility, the inception and 

 successful execution of what has passed into history as the 



first and Creative 

 session of the "Na- 

 tional Farm Land 

 congress" is of pe- 

 culiar interest to all 

 whose thoughts have 

 been directed towards 

 the great problem of 

 a rational distribu- 

 tion of the country's 

 citizenship present 

 and future. 



This unique en- 

 terprise, fathered by 

 the "Hearst" News- 

 papers, under the able 

 helmsmanship of Mr. 

 C. A. Walsh, whose 

 efforts were rein- 

 Farm forced by the support 

 of Commercial and 

 Railroad interests of 

 Chicago, and of the officials of the Federal and State Gov- 

 ernments, has demonstrated its right to continued and useful 

 existence, and its potential value to the country at large. 



The efforts of the Congress were focused entirely upon 

 the development of rural life and towards the widening and 

 stimulating of agricultural activities, by the widest possible 

 dissemination of authentic and unbiased information of the 

 resources of the country at large, and when the plans pro- 

 posed, and embodied in the resolutions finally carried, are 

 put into execution, it will be an easy matter for the home- 

 seeker or intending agriculturist no matter what his pe- 

 culiar bias may be to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion as 

 to the merits of the various sections of the country, and of 

 the other numerous phases of a subject so wide in its appli- 

 cation as the choice of a career and a place to work it out. 

 Too much credit cannot be accorded to the Chicago 

 Examiner for the part taken by it in this laudable undertaking 

 or to the Executive Committee, through the combined activi- 

 ties of whom the Congress was made one of the most suc- 

 cessful gatherings of recent years. 



All the expenses of this undertaking, from its earliest 

 inception including the various entertainments tendered the 

 Delegates were borne by the "Examiner," and all the de- 

 tails of its administration were worked out by this publica- 

 tion, represented by Mr. C. A. Walsh, and by the Chairman 

 of the Executive Committee, Mr. Don Farnsworth. That 

 the undertakings of Mr. Hearst are carried through to suc- 

 cessful issue without stint and without thought of expense 

 is an axiom, and this occasion was no exception to the 

 accepted rule. The large number of Delegates represent- 

 ing all sections of the country, and their diversified interests 

 the presence among them of the large number of Officers 

 and Members-at-Large of the Irrigation Congress and of the 

 Dry Farming Congress testifying to the desire of these two 

 great Bodies to assist in this work the elevated character 

 of the program, and the interest displayed by the public at 

 large, all bear ample testimony to the truth of this state- 

 ment. All the meetings of the Congress were open to public 

 attendance, and it is due largely to the great amount of pub- 

 licity accorded by the Hearst newspapers generally that the 

 invitation to the public to attend met with so general and 

 enthusiastic a response. 



The Advisory Committee, whose existence has also been 

 continued, included seventy-nine men representative of the 

 interests of every section of the country, and selected for 

 their standing and influence in their respective communi- 

 ties. There can be no question that the creation of this 



Committee was, in a large measure, responsible for the 

 wide attendance of delegates from the most remote parts 

 of the country from as far away as Hawaii. 



Herewith is presented the names of members of the 

 Advisory Committee. 



Hon. Don Farnsworth, chairman, general secretary Association of 

 Commerce, Chicago. 



Hon. Joseph M. Brown, governor of Georgia. 



Hon. Allen W. Gilchrist, governor of Florida. 



Hon. Edmond F. Noel, governor of Mississippi. 



Hon. T. Y. Sanders, governor of Louisiana. 



Hon. M. R. Patterson, governor of Tennessee. 



Hon. W. E. Willson, governor of Kentucky. 



Hon. J. N. Gillett, governor of California. 



Hon. Frank W. Benson, governor of Oregon. 



Hon. M. E. Hay. governor of Washington. 



Hon. Edwin L. Norris, governor of Montana, president National 

 Dry Farming Congress. 



Hon. J. H. Brady, governor of Idaho. 



Hon. B. B. Brooks, governor of Wyoming. 



Hon. John F. Shafroth, governor of Colorado. 



Hon. Denver S. Dickerson, governor of Nevada. 



Hon. Wm. Spry, governor of Utah. 



Hon. Reed Smoot, United States Senator, Utah. 



Hon. Geo. Curry, governor of New Mexico. 



Hon. Richard E. Sloan, governor of Arizona. 



Hon. John Burke, governor of North Dakota. 

 Hon. R. ~ 



S. Vcssey, governor of South Dakota. 



Hon. A. C. Shallenberger, governor of Nebraska. 



Hon. T. B. Marshall, governor of Indiana. 



Hon. W. F. Frear, governor of Hawaii. 



Hon. Thomas F. Walsh, president Camp Bird Mines, Colorado. 



Hon. Edmund T. Perkins, engineer U. S. Reclamation Service. 



Hon. Daniel J. Keefe, U. S. Commissioner-General of Immigration. 



Hon. Charles P. Neill, U. S. Commissioner of Labor. 



Hon. Henry T. Rainey, Member of Congress, Illinois. 



Hon. H. Steenerson, Member of Congress, Minnesota. 



Hon. Chas. H. Weisse, Member of Congress, Wisconsin. 



Hon. James T. Lloyd, Member of Congress, Missouri. 



Hon. J. M. Cox, Member of Congress, Ohio. 



Hon. W. E. Cox, Member of Congress, Indiana. 



Hon. Duncan E. McKinlay, Member of Congress, California. 



Hon. Wm. F. Engelbright, Member of Congress, California. 



Hon. Sylvester C. Smith, Member of Congress, California. 



Hon. Julius Kahn. Member of Congress, California. 



Hon. Rufus P. Jennings, chairman California Promotion Com- 

 mission. 



Hon. A. D. Campbell, Commissioner of Immigration, Wisconsin. 



Hon. Lafayette L. Coffman, State Land Commissioner, Arkansas. 



Hon. John Thompson, Commissioner of Agriculture, Tennessee. 



Hon. Ed. R. Kone, Commissioner of Agriculture, Texas. 



Hon. Huntley Russell, State Land Commissioner, Michigan. 



Hon. John T. Burns, secretary-treasurer National Dry Farming 

 Congress. 



Hon. E. J. Watson, Commissioner of Agriculture, South Carolina; 

 vice-president National Irrigation Congress. 



Hon. George W. Koiner, Commissioner of Agriculture, Virginia. 



Fred W. Fleming, vice-president National Irrigation Congress. 



Arthur Hooker, secretary National Irrigation Congress. 



Hon. Geo. E. Barstow, ex-president National Irrigation Congress. 



F. A. Delano, president Wabash Railway. 



J. T. Harahan, president Illinois Central Railway. 



H. R. McCuIlough, first vice-president C. & N. W. Railway. 



Daniel Willard, second vice-president C., B. & Q. Railroad. 



E. O. McCormick, assistant traffic director U. P. and S. P. Rys. 



Frederick Warm, traffic manager S. P. L. A. & S. L. Railway. 



W. J. Black, P. T. Manager Santa Fe. 



John Sebastian, P. T. M., C., R. I. & P. 



E. L. Lomax, general passenger agent U. P. Railway. 



S. G. Hatch, general passenger agent Illinois Central Railway. 



F. A. Wadleigh, assistant general passenger agent D. & R. G. Ry. 

 C. L. Seagraves, general colonization agent Santa Fe System. 



G. B. Haynes, general immigration agent C., M. & St. P. 

 M. V. Richards, land and Ind. agent Southern Railway. 



Capt. John F. Merry, general immigration agent Illinois Central Ry. 

 H. N. Sager, Board of Trade, Chicago. 

 W. H. Bush, president Bush Hat Co. 



Wm. N. Jarnagin, assistant cashier- Hamilton National Bank. 

 Col. Harry Weisinger, vice-president Columbia Trust Co., Kentucky. 

 Hon. George A. Mebane, cotton manufacturer, North Carolina. 

 Hon. Robert Ewing, proprietor New Orleans Daily States and 

 Shreveport Times. 



Hon. Edward Wisner, owner Wisner Plantations, Louisiana. 



John Richey, Allison-Richey Co., Texas. 



Roscoe R. Moody, banker, Massachusetts. 



A. M. Lawrence, publisher Chicago Examiner. 



W. P. Leech, publisher Chicago American. 



Dent H. Robert, publisher San Francisco Examiner. 



M. F. Ihmsen, publisher Los Angeles Examiner. 



C. A. Walsh, Hearst Service, secretary. 



The headquarters of the Congress were located at the 



