THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



25 



I 7 STATES TO BACK JONES IRRIGATION BILL 



SENATOR WESLEY L. JONES' pending bill 

 for federal guarantee for irrigation and drainage 

 district bonds is expected to have the solid backing 

 of seventeen Western states in the new Congress 

 which convenes this month. 



A convention to discuss this bill and other 

 legislation to aid land settlement and the farmer 

 will meet in San Francisco, Dec. 2 and 3. The 

 meeting was called by the Washington State 

 Reclamation Conference, which endorsed Senator 

 Jones' bill. It is proposed to hold a later conven- 

 tion embracing all the states. The purposes of the 

 San Francisco meeting are outlined in the following 

 letter sent to governors and various organiza- 

 tions and the subjoined resolutions of the Wash- 

 ington confer- 

 ence : 



"Recogniz- 

 ing the press- 

 ing need of 

 broader and 

 more liberal 

 national legis- 

 lation with re- 

 spect to that 

 class of agri- 

 cultural de- 

 velopment, 

 which is de- 

 pendent upon 

 large initial 

 e x p e nditures 

 for irrigation 

 or drainage 

 works, and, 

 p a r t i c u larly, 

 for the pur- 

 pose of urging 

 upon the forth- 

 coming C o n - 

 gress, the pas- 

 sage of the 

 Jones Bill 

 (S 6 8 2 7) or 



some bill of similar import, a Western States Con- 

 vention will assemble and hold sessions in Conven- 

 tion Hall of the Panama Pacific Exposition at San 

 Francisco on December 2 and 3, 1915. 



"The convention is called at the instance of 

 the Washington State Reclamation Conference, 

 which has just completed its sessions in Seattle, 

 and as indicative of the sentiments and aspirations 

 of that conference, a copy of the resolutions unani- 

 mously passed at its final session, together with a 

 copy of the Jones bill, is herewith enclosed. 



"The San Francisco Convention has the cordial 

 endorsement of the Honorable Ernest Lister, gov- 

 ernor of Washington, as will be noted from the fol- 

 lowing excerpts from his letter to us : 



" 'One of the greatest problems affecting the 

 West the federal government now has before it is 

 that relating to the further development of irri- 

 gation projects and bringing under cultivation, by 



Here's a San Joaquin valley, California, man with a fig tree big enough for several families. 



Courtesy of The Earth. 



irrigation, large areas of land practically valueless 

 at the present time. I hope the congress to be held 

 in San Francisco, consisting, as I understand it, 

 of delegates from all of the states interested in 

 irrigation matters, will be successful and that some 

 plan or plans may be formulated that .will be of 

 assistance to the federal government.' 



"You are urgently requested to appoint dele- 

 gates to this convention, in accordance with the 

 provisions of the resolutions, to the end that there 

 may be presented to the next congress of the United 

 States a united, effective and unmistakable demand 

 for legislation of the character above outlined. Ap- 

 point your delegates promptly and see that they 

 have proper credentials. Send notice and reply to 



the chairman 

 a t headquar- 

 ters, Palace 

 Hotel, San 

 Francisco." 



The reso- 

 lutions adopted 

 by the Wash- 

 ington State 

 R e c 1 a m ation 

 Conference at 

 Seattle on Nov. 

 16, follows : 



Pur suant 

 to a call for a 

 meeting of del- 

 egates r e p r e- 

 senting the 

 various irriga- 

 t i o n projects 

 and districts of 

 the State o f 

 W a s h i n gton 

 which con- 

 vened in ses- 

 sion on this 

 16th day of No- 

 vember, A. D. 

 1915, at Seattle, 

 Washington, with some fifty (50) members present, 

 having particularly in view the discussion of the 

 Jones bill, being Senate No. 6827, and after discus- 

 sion and deliberation and having a general consen- 

 sus of opinion, it was resolved, as follows : 



First : That the delegates assembled do form 

 themselves into a body to be known as "The State 

 Reclamation Conference," which name may be sub- 

 ject to change at any future meeting. 



Second : That we declare ourselves in favor of 

 the principle involved in the Jones bill aforesaid, 

 and pledge our best endeavors and efforts to help 

 secure the enactment thereof, with such needful 

 amendments or alterations as may be deemed advis- 

 able as the question may be debated and evolved. 



Third: That we recommend the calling of a 

 convention or conference of representatives from 

 the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, 

 Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyo- 



