The Florence tribune., 1897-10-16
HOUSE MEMORIAL Nc. 4.
To tho Senate and House of Represe nta- lives of the United States in Con
 gross Assembled:

We, your Memorialists, the Nine- teenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, respectfully rep resent that the National Irrigation
 Congress, held in Phoenix, Arizona, on
 the 18th of December, A. D. 1896,
 unanimously adopted the following Whereas, The Pima and Marlcopa Indians 1 tribes numbering in the aggregate ten
 thousand souls, have been deprived of the
 waters used by them in irrigation before the advent of the white race in America, thro ugh 1 the appropriation of such waters by settlers
 on the headwaters of theGila river; and Whereas. Through the loss of such wa ters
 the lands once cultivated by these tribes lave
 become barren and worthless. and the ID em-
 bers of such tribes have become charge on 1 the Government, and forced by the los of their fields into lives of degradation and penury and
 Whereas, Such tribes have from tho ear
 Hest days been the friends and allies of the white race; and
 Whereas. The people of the United tates have pledged themselves by solemn treaty to protect such tribes in their property and property rights; and
 Whereas. The Government of the United States has and now is engaged in the expendi
 ture of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of works of irrigation for the reclamation of lands belonging to other I1dian tribes; therefore, be it
 Resolved. That this Congress do approve the proposed construction, under the plans o.tbe U. S. Geological Survey. of the Buttes in piulI or,rfa,fv reported to again reclaim the lands of these tribes believing that by so doing can the Government alone houorably redeem the broken pledges made by it to these people, and t.lus preserve from further want and de. rsdation two of the surviving Indian ts ibes of the American continent that have always been the constant friends of the white race.
 Resolved, That we approve the proposed construction of such reservoir not only as just and phiIanthropic, but as ecnnomiea and good policy, as in comparatively short time the expense of maintaining such In- dians as Government charges win far exceed the cost of the irrigation works required to make them a self-supporting and self-re- specting community.
 Now, therefore, your Memorialists, the Nineteenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona, desire to 20 on record as earnestly endorsing the aoove recommendations of the Sixth National Irrigation Congress for the | following reasons:
 l. The reservoir site referred to l having been withdrawn from entry by | Government authorities, cannot now 1 be utilized by any private corporation, and the Government therefore occupies the indetensiole position of doing noth- ing itself or allowing any one else to improve this great natural reservoir site.
 2. We firmly believe that the inter- ests of humanity dictate that the h. dians shonld be gathered on the reser- vations, have lands allotted to them in severalty, and that they be furnished with farming implements and an mex haustible supply of water for irriga- tion of their lands, to the end that they may become self supporting. By this means will a.