Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-30
IRRIGATION CONVENTION
EVERY REASON WHY IT eHOULI
BE HELD HERE.
1t Should Be Made International in its
Character-Advantage of This City
for the Holding of Such
Convention.

| The irrigation convention OF 1890 a
Salt Lake was grand success. l
brought together men from opposit,
ends of the continent, wholly diseimila
in their domestic surroundings and un-
like in the outlines of their earlier edu
cation, but all bent upon a great and
worthy errand-to make two blades o.
grass grow where one grew before
There were men there from the pine.
barrene back of Long Branch hob-and.
pobbing with gaunt speclmens of hu.
manity from the sagebrush wildnees
of the Boise and the rocky Businesses ol
the Des Chutes. No man who was in
attendance upon that convention went
away without the feeling that he had
suddenly become more enlightened and
in every way, broader gauge man for
having attended it.
Almost all the advocates of taking out
the waters of our non. navigable rivers,
such as the Klamath, Kern, Bear and
Kings rivers, feel that the irrigation
laws of America are good but crude
that they might be amended in many
ways to the direct benefit of the primary
producing classes, and for those reasons
it is about time for holding another con.
vention, either at Los Angeles or some
where else.
Outside Of Salt Lake City there are
but three places yet much talked
of-Boise City, Portland and Los
Angeles. The objection to holding it
at Boise is that it is a very small
town, and second that it's irrigation sys-
TENS are as yet very primitive. Port
land, q handsome enough city in itself,
may be dismissed with the single re-
mark that it does not owe its prosperity
to irrigation. 1t lies in the center of a
valley having over 45 inches of annual
rainfall and man would have to 90 $50
miles from Portland to find an irrigating
canal.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, pre-
sents the very highest practical eluclda-
tion of the irrigation problem. She lies
in the center of what was once desert,
but is now the most productive region
iu America, if you will divide the cash
value of her products by the number of
acres under actual cultivation, which is
the only fair and equitable test.
Mr.. w. E. Smythe, who was secretary
of the convention held in Salt Lake in
1890, ia now visiting Los Angeles and
addressed the board of directors of the
chamber of commerce upon this subject
last Wednesday morning. Mr.. Smythe
is in favor of making it an international
affair and it would probably be as great
an occasion as the recent monetary con-
ference at Brussels, in his belielf.
The old apportionment OF delegates to
the convention held at Salt Lake gave q
gross attendance of about 800 people,
but il it should be made an internation-
al matter the attendance would prob
ably be close to 900. India is already in
the field as wheat-producing section.
condition of things to which Southern
California can never return. Our yields
from the fruit crops and alfalfa meadows
afford 30 much more profit (and with
less labor, too) than the cultivation of
the cereals, that a return to the old con-
dition Of things is not for moment to
be entertained. We have long since
passed by that stage of the procession,
and our march does not contemplate q
single step backward.
Go to Portland or Boise and you will
see nothing but apples, pears, prunes
and the other fruits of the temperate
zone. But here you would see the same
fruits, side by side with the orange,
lemon, lime and chirimoya. Then
again, take our system of canals for irri-
cation purposes. Who ever saw any
thing in Oregon, Idaho, Washington or
Montana to equal their splendid ma
sonry, that is not likely to need any re-
pairs for the next 30 years?
Take our artesian wells, and where
do you find anything to surpass that
pure and beautiful water. that requires
no filtration, although it may need a
little ice
This proposition is worth spending
some money upon, and congress should
appropriate $250O towards defraying the
expenses of this convention. Any fur
ther expense in the premises should be
borne by the merchants and business
men. It would advertise this section OF
the world more than the money confer
ence has advertised Brussels. Los An.
geles would be known as the center OF
the great irrigation colony OF the uni.
| verse.
The location of the convention is as
yet undecided, being left in the hands ol
the executive committee of the last ses.
sion. 1t will take little effort to gel
it located here (September, 1898. being
the appointed time), and not much o.
an effort either. This is the place for it
Men who come from arid sections of the
continent, desiring information about
the cheapest and most practical way O
watering desert lands, will learn here
more that is useful in one day than else
where in week. After adjournment
they can visit the country between here
( and Fresno and learn something new q
| every step. But this is headquarters
| go far as concerns irrigation.
! Cooks for hotels and restaurants as well a