The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1900-04-08
TIL IpAh5-nE5HqppI CONGRESS
APPROACHING SESSION AT HOUS-
TON WILL BE INTERESTING.
The Work and objects of the Congress-
The Entire Country Is Interested,
But the West EspeclO!ly-A List
of Speakers and Subjects.


ten wears after the Trans Mississippi
Commercial congress has grown into
an institution of national Importance.
The seventh annual session, which
will be held at Houston, Tex, April
I7-:I, will eclipse in size and scope
any previous meeting of the body
Unusual interest is manifested IN the
congress this year, not only because
it is the first time session has been
held in the southwest, but because
ACQUISITION of the Philippines and
the control of the trade of the West
Indies puts the United States at the
threshold of a new era in its COM
mercial history. To meet the new
condition and grain of the west
every possible advantage of the
widening OF the trade and the open
ing of new markets will be one of
the aims of the congress. But this
is only one of the many subjects to
be discussed. The congress is made
up of practical men who have studied
the great questions affecting the de-
velopment of that vast region west
of the Mississippi river. They meet
once a year to give expression to
their best thoughts and officially
voice their sentiment on the various
measures of concern to the west.
These men have been likened to the
heart and the brain of the west-the
heart in the material interests they
represent and the brain in the direc-
tion and control they exercle over
the channels of business.
Such a gathering cannot but COM
mand the attention of the nation.
Upon the removal of the barriers to
a broader trade depends the devei-
opment OF every industry. Remark
able as has been the growth of the
Trans Mississippi country, it is but
small in comparison to what is pos
sible. From the mines, the farms,
the forests and the praiIies of the
west only fraction of the amount of
ore, grain, lumber, cattle and other
products is shipped today to what is
possible under the best domestic
economy and the broadcast markets.
1t is not only to open new markets
for the products, to lessen the cost
of transportation and to bring about
a closer and better relationship be-
tween producer and consumer that
the Trans Mississippi congress
strives, but to advance domestic
economy by the utilization of irriga-
tion on arid lands, to foster the i'm
provement of rivers and harbors
wherever such improvement is a com
mercial necessity, and to engender
unity of action and harmony oi
movement among the states of the
west in all matters concerning the
whole west.
The subjects to be discussed at the
coming session of the congress cover
a wide field and embrace: Good
Roads, Drainage. Need of Home
Factories, Exports and Imports
Through Gulf and Pacific Ports, Irri-
CATION, Rivers and Harbors, The
Nicaragua Canal, The Pacific Cable
The Merchant Marine, The St. Louis
Worlds Fair in 1903, Trade with the
Orient, The Consular service, State
hood, Railroad transportation, The
Preservation of Forests, Beet Root
Sugar, Trade with Mexico, aud Ad
vantages of Americal Travel.
The men who make up the Trans
Mississippi Commercial congress-
know that all wealth is dug out Of
the earth. Nearly all the delegates
to the congress have been diggers
They believe in the inexhaustible
richness of the lands of the west
and they are intent upon making the
agricultural and mineral wealth o.
the greatest general utility and a
thesame time of the most materia
profit to the people of the west.
Of those who are to deliver ad
dresses the following is the program
for the coming session of the Trans
Mississippi Commercial congress
which, while not complete, embrace
many men of national reputation
and some who are by far the bes
obtaInable authority on the CUES
tions they will treat.
Irrigation has been placed frs
upon the list of subjects, and thu
great question will be ably handled
Hon. George H. Maxwell of Sal
Francisco, chairman of the executiv
committee of the National Irrigation
association, has chosen as his sub
ject, The Great West; Irrigation
Population and Prosperity"
Hon. John W. Springer, Denver
Colo, president of the National Liv
Stock asSnciatinn of Amarica will b