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DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



a representative of Arizona, to say a few words in acknowledgement ot 

 Mr. Gore's presentation remarks, and congratulations. Mr. McOmie. 



MR. McOMIE: 



Mr. Secretary, Members of the Congress and Mr. Gore: I can hardly 

 find words to express my appreciation and the appreciation of the Gover- 

 nor of our state and the good people of our state of the honor we have 

 in winning this handsome trophy. 



There are a few things, however, which I believe should be pointed 

 out to this audience — that should be made to stick in the minds of these 

 people assembled here. 



I want to call your attention to the natural beauty of Arizona. We 

 have there a little ditch, a little gorge, about 2 miles wide, 5,280 feet deep, 

 and 200 miles long that is visited annually by thousands and tens of 

 thousands of tourists from every portion of this country, called the Grand 

 Canon. There is nothing like it on this or any other continent, with its 

 petrified forests, its huge trees four or five feet in diameter. We have 

 there the Painted Desert which it is absolutely impossible for me to attempt 

 even to describe. We have the oldest town in the United States — Tucson. 



Talk about dry-farmers! The originators of dry-farming, the Indians, 

 have been practicing dry-farming as long as they have lived there, which, 

 so far as we know, has been forever. These Indians have been raising 

 beans for ages and ages on land on which no white man has been coura- 

 geous enough to try to raise anything. They have given us the Tepary 

 bean. These same Indians have developed varieties of corn that no white 

 man has ever originated. They are selfsupporting. They never starve to 

 death. 



One more thing: We have, friends, a climate that in the middle of 

 the summer when the people of this beautiful city of Wichita are suffering 

 with heat, these same people and you could, if you lived in Phoenix, get 

 in a nice automobile and in three hours be where the temperature never 

 goes higher than about 95 degrees. In the winter time, those people who 

 suffer from cold come down and find the balmy sunshine of our land. 



Now, friends, we believe you owe the baby state this courtesy of giv- 

 ing it this cup. We believe we have merited the winning of this cup. 

 We did not come here, however, with any notion of getting the cup. We 

 came for the good of the Dry-Farming Congress. We are a progressive 

 state and we are a progressive people. 



I thank you people of Wichita, and I thank this Congress most heartily, 

 and I thank the Association presenting this cup, in behalf of my associates, 

 and for the state of Arizona. 



Note: In connection with the presentation of the trophy to the State 

 of Arizona, the following messages from the Governor of Arizona were pre- 

 sented and read: 



