Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-09-08
THE IRRIGATION CONGRESS-
Third Meeting Of the National Or
ganization Monday.
Tie Convention at Denver Next Week
Promises To He the Most Inter-
esting and Profitable of the
Kind Ever Held.

DENVER, Colo, Sept. 1.-The third
national irrigation congress, which
opens in Denver on Monday next will
be one of the most interesting and inn
portant gatherings Of its kind ever held
in this country. The first irrigation
congress was called by Governor
Thomas and assembled in Salt Lake
City, Utah, in September, 1891, many
eminent men being among the dele
gates. The sole purpose of this con
v~ention was to consider the cession of
LANDS to the states, and after a debate
covering several days the congress de-
clared in favor of cession by "a unani-
nous vote.
OF still greater Importance was the
second congress held last October IN
Los Angeles. AS an outcome OF this
gathering there were created a large
number of state irrigation commissions
for the purpose of creating public SEN
timcnt and securing a thorough anvass
of public opinion. This congress also
adopted an address to the people of tho
United States which contained the
following clause:
"Thc result of the Investigations of
these several commissions shall bc sub
mitted to the next irrigation congress.
at n time TO be designated by the exec
year hence, and upon these reports the
final and definite declaration OF the
people of the western states and terri
tories may be based. by this
we hope, within a reasonable time, to
suggest a satisfactory irrigation policy
to the nation and TO the states and ter
ritories, and we hereby declare our pur-
pose to erect it upon broad foundations
Of justice and equality, and with due
regard to the rights OF 5otn labor and
capital"
Among the states and territories
whose commissions have been the most
active are Ncvade. California, Kansas,
Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, New Mex
leo, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota,
Washington, Utah and Arizona. The
reports which they will present will
deal not only with the question of u
national policy, but also with local
laws which IL is hoped may be made
common to all the states.
Hence it is hat the congress of next
week will mark the elimination of
years of effort in organizing public
sentiment in favor of comprehensive
plans for the reclamation aud settle
ment of the arid lands OF the United
States. Forcible words on this point
r,.A,.. a,NAlya, saI,- fy H.. lI.I1..,. L.
Smythe of Chicago. editor of the Irri-
CATION Age and chairman of the ma
tional executive committee. lie said:
''There are many important reasons
why the congress of next week should
be the object of the liveliest interest to
all western men. 1t will assemble at
what is likely to prove the most oppor-
tune moment in the history of the
country for effective work in the inter-
est of irrigation progress. We are In
the midst of an extraordinary period of
depression. We have recently beheld
the strange spectacle of thousands of
idle men marching upon the capital TO
demand some sort of relief. In politics
and in industry there Is accommodating
evidence of popular discomfort
and unrest. There Is now
no citizen of the United
States. however conservative he may
be by nature, who does not recognize
the needs of some new impulse in our
outlet Tor Idfe energies unu'sufprus pop-
ulation. We have had periods of de-
preston before. but a vast unoccupied
public domain has always served as IA
safety valve. Today when the pressure
seems more severe than ever before,
and when our institutions seem fairly
brought TO the test ms foretold in Mac.
auley's remarkable prediction, there is
M outlet unless the arid lands are TO
be speedily reclaimed by some form of
enterprise, either public or private.
Last year irrigation may have been a
western fad; today it is n great ma
tional necessity. Last year it was the
price of western prosperity; today il is.
perhaps, the price Of peace and safety
for national institutions"
The proceedings of the congress, in
Guiding trips to irrigation works and
farms in the districts nd jacent to Dem
YER, will occupy the entire week. Elab-
crate arrangements for the comfort and
entertainment of the delegates have
been made by a local committee headed
by Hon. l.. w. Merritt. Headquarters
of tho executive committee were opened
this morning at the Brown Palace
hotel. A large number of delegates
have already arrived and tomorrow the
rush will be on In rne