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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Desert Land Act and the Timber and Stone Act. Reso- 

 lutions favoring their repeal were put through at the 

 Congress held at El Paso and had apparently no weight 

 in Congress. It was expected that at this meeting a 

 letter would be presented by one of the delegates which 

 would show conclusively that Maxwell's continual cry 

 for the repeal of these acts is the result of his connec- 

 tion with large corporations who have large holdings of 

 lieu land scrip, the value of which would be greatly en- 

 hanced by the passage of a law repealing them. 



There is no doubt at all but that many abuses exist 

 under these laws but that may be safely said of any law 

 in existence. 



It is well known, moreover, among those who un- 

 derstand the inner workings of the propaganda headed 

 by Maxwell and some of the government officials, that 

 Maxwell's Homecroft idea and other suggestions along 

 the line of policy advocated by him are used as a mask 

 to hide the real line of work on which he is employed. 



The audacity of the man at the Sixteenth Congress 

 was all the more surprising in view of the fact that in 

 an issue of his publication, "Maxwell's Talisman," 

 which came out shortly after the adjournment of the 

 Congress held at Portland, Oregon, a statement was 

 made that the Irrigation Congress had lost its useful- 

 ness and would no longer be recognized as an exponent 

 of the influences associated with the development of the 

 arid west. This statement was made by Mr. Maxwell in 

 his publication after the organization of which he is the 

 nominal or real head, was repudiated by the Congress at 

 Portland. When all of this came out, subsequent to an 

 expose of his methods, which was brought about by an 

 investigation, of the Committee on Irrigation of the 

 House of Representatives. How long the delegates to 

 future Congresses will tolerate this aggressive action 

 brought about by the fact of Mr. Maxwell having come 

 back into that body depends entirely upon how clearly 

 future delegates may be posted as to his real motives 

 and former conduct. 



If a letter which the IRRIGATION AGE hopes to make 

 public in this or a subsequent issue, had. been read be- 

 fore the Congress it is doubtful if Mr. Maxwell would 

 have been permitted to speak before that body. It is 

 thought best not to go into this matter too thoroughly 

 at this time, but if the permission of the recipient of the 

 letter is obtained it will be produced in a prominent 

 place in a future issue of THE IRRIGATION AGE, and a 

 copy of that issue will be mailed to all delegates who 

 attended the Albuquerque Congress. 



It will be seen by a perusal of the resolutions 

 adopted by the Congress that very many desirable sug- 

 gestions were made and THE IRRIGATION AGE is inclined 

 to believe that the majority of the resolutions presented 

 and adopted will make for the general good of the irri- 

 gated west. 



The following officers were elected for the Seven- 

 teenth National Irrigation Congress: 



Geo. E. Barstow, Barstow, Texas, President; Col. 

 D. H. Loveland, California, First Vice-President 5 R. E. 

 Twitchell, New Mexico, Second Vice-President; I. D. 

 O'Donnell, Montana, Third Vice-President; B. P. Fow- 

 ler, Phoenix, Arizona, Secretary. 



The committee on permanent organizations and 

 order of business included in its report a recommenda- 

 tion for the formation of a board of governors to consist 

 of the committee and four others, this board to give 

 them aid throughout the year and to establish permanent 



headquarters so that the work of the Irrigation Congress 

 may become continuous. It was also recommended that 

 an assistant secretary be appointed, without compensa- 

 tion, to have under his charge the important work of 

 publicity. While there was no general criticism of the 

 move toward the formation of a board of governors, it 

 appears after looking into the matter carefully that this 

 was a direct attempt on the part of the friends of the 

 Forestry and Reclamation Service to absolutely control 

 the Congress and all future preliminary and other work 

 connected with it. This tendency is not new to the older 

 delegates and if it could have been clearly shown what 

 would result from an organization of such a board, it i& 

 doubtful if its formation would have received the sanc- 

 tion of the permanent organization committee or the 

 Congress as a whole. It was, no doubt, a well arranged 

 plan on the part of Messrs. Beard, Secretary Fowler and 

 some others to absolutely dominate all future work 

 which may come before the Congress. It is, moreover, 

 very evident that when this situation dawns upon the 

 minds of the delegates of the next Congress some action 

 will be taken to restrict the power of this board. The 

 general idea in itself is good but it is doubtful if the 

 gentlemen who proposed it may be classed as the sin- 

 cerest friends of clean development along irrigation 

 lines. The tendency of this move is to follow along the 

 line of centralization of power as indicated by the work 

 of the Reclamation and Forestry Bureaus. If at some 

 future Congress active working delegates who have no 

 axes to grind are properly organized it is the impression 

 of THE IRRIGATION AGE that a change will be made in 

 the plan and that their power will be so minimized as 

 to leave the delegates free in the control of the delibera-- 

 tions of the Congress. No body of two or three or four 

 men should be permitted to dominate the work of the 

 Congress or outline its policy in advance, heedless of the 

 will of those who are appointed delegates. 



This matter will be discussed at greater length in 

 future issues of THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Many able papers were delivered at the Congress, 

 among which may be mentioned those of the President, 

 Mr. Gowdy; the address of welcome by Gov.. Curry, of 

 New Mexico; and particular attention should be given 

 to the very able paper by ExGovernor L. Bradford 

 Prince, of New Mexico, on "Yesterday and Today." 

 The paper by John Barrett, Director of The Interna- 

 tional Bureau of the American Republics, on "Irriga- 

 tion's Great Progress through Pan-America," was well 

 received and favorably commented upon as was also the 

 address by Mr. Geo. C. Anderson, the eminent engineer 

 of Colorado, on "Irrigation in Colorado." Thursday's 

 program included an address by Mr. A. L. Fellows, of 

 Colorado, on "Reclamation of Arid Lands under the 

 District Irrigation Law." Among other speakers were 

 C. M. Mott, of Minnesota, who spoke on "Forestry as 

 a National and a State Problem." Mr. C. J. Blanchard, 

 Chief Statistician of the United States Reclamation 

 Service, delivered a very interesting talk, illustrated 

 with stereopticon views on "Homemaking by the Gov- 

 ernment." All of those who heard Mr. Blanchard, speak 

 in the highest terms of his work and it may not be out 

 of place to say that he is doing splendid work in con- 

 nection with the exploitation of the possibilities of home 

 building under the Reclamation Law. Mr. Blanchard 

 is a man of wide experience in the newspaper line and 

 has made innumerable friends through his fine, clean 

 work. 



