The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-06
Has Been Infused Into the Irri-
cation Congress
Which Is Meeting in Its Tenth
Annual Session.
HEARTY GOOD WISHES
Extended by President ROOse-
welt i'll a Message.
President Walsh Places High
Estimate on Work Done.

Colorado Springs, Colo, Oct 6.-The
tenth national irrigation congress
opened at 2 o'clock this afternoon under
circumstances especially ausp1clous.
Great significance is lent 10 what vii
be done this year through the fact that
the irrigation movement has been taken
out of the sphere of merely propa-
ganda and given national Importance
through the action of the last congress
in passing a bill authorizing the pro-
ceeds from the sale Of state lands to be
used for irrigation purposes in the sew
eral states.
congress arrived in tie city yesterday
and found everything in readiness for
the three days convention Delegates
poured in by every train. and the lndi-
cations early in the morning were that
this years congress would be the most
largely attended ever held. President
Roosevelt sent a message of conSratu-
lation and cordial sympathy to be read
before the convention. The message
read:
washington, Oct. 6.-Accept my
hearty good wishes. Nothing has been
done in which l have taken a greater
interest during my administration than
the inauguration of nationally aided II =
rigation. THEODORE ROOSEVELT"
The morning was taken up with the
reception of the delegates from all PAL IS
of the west morning trains having
brought delegations from Minnesota,
Nebraska, Utah, Oregon, California and
Arizona The New Mexico delegation
reached the city yesterday, eX-GoV. L.
B. Prince vice president of the congress.
being among those here. The personnel
of this congress is regarded by all those
in attendance as decidedly higher in
character than that of any previous irri-
Thomas F. Wash, president of the con-
greSs said today:
Il look for the most successful gath
ering in the history of the irrigation
movement"
The congress opened with an invica-
ton by DR.. Edward Braislit pastor OF
the First Baptist church of Colorado
Springs. Address of welcome by Gov
ernor Orman of Colorado. President
Farley of the Colorado Springs cham
Der of commerce, Mayor J. r. Robinson
for the city of Colorado Springs and I.
N. Stevens. editor of the Colorado
Springs Gazette for the press. were re-
sponded to by President Walsh. form
erly of Colorado, now of Washington,
on behalf of the irrigation congress and
the American Forestry association
which joins in this congress.
PRESIDENT WALSH'S ADDRESS.
1.-THE Humanitarian Aspect of Ma
tional Irrigation" was the subject of
Mr.. Walsh's address. In opening he
SAID:
Gentlemen of the Convention-We are
here not merely to discuss measures, to
formulate resolutions and to map out
plan of campaign, as we have so often
done on former occasions. But we are
here, first Of all, to celebrate a great
victory-to rejoice at the birth of a new
policy which the national irrigation con
gress has given to the nation. 1t is
happy hour in the history of the great
wet"
After paying a tribute to the "Datri-
otto, farsighted and enthusiastic men
who inaugurated this movement a dozen
years ago. and referring to the work
of the National Irrigation association as
an auxiliary and co-worler of this con-
gress, President Walsh said:
There could have been no substan-
tial success at this early day had we not
been extremely fortunate in the char
acter of our public men at Washington.
First and foremost. our grateful ac-
acknowledgements are due to Theodore
Roosevelt president of the United
States. His message to congress in De-
cember, 1901, marked the beginning of
a new epoch in the history of western
America. It placed the cause of ma
tional irrigation in position where it
could no longer be denied a hearing.
Without the powerful aid of the admin
1StratiOn we could not possibly have sue
ceeded in inaugurating the new policy
at so early a day. With all due regard
to his other achievements and the i'm
portance of other subjects, both do
mestic and foreign. 1 do not hesitate to
say that, in my opinion, when the his
tory of President ROOsevelt's first ad-
ministratiOn shall be written the pas
sage of the national irrigation act will
be found to be the peculiar glory of his
craftsmanship"
country a whole of national irriga-
ton, Mr.. Walsh said:
1T Is not, however. to broad move
ments of population that 1 especially de-
sire to direct your attention in the brier
time at my disposal 1t is not the dream
of empire that may come to a great ma
ton with the conquest of a territory
wherein hundred millions will some
time dwell which appeals to my imagi-
nation. But It is the dream of home
and independence which will come to
many struggling family with the an
nouncement that one more fair valley
of arid America has been thrown open
to settlement at the actual cost of re-
clamat!on.
What does it mean to the nation to
have millions of people gradually pass
from the servitude of the town to the
sovereignty of the country? 1t means,
my friends, the enlistment of a new
army for the defense of the republic in
every hour of need. Give man a home
upon the soil and you have made him
the patriot who will defend your insti-
tutions at the ballot box and on the
battlefield.
It want to avail myself of this oppor-
tunity to say that there is no field where
benevolence could accomplish so much
as in assisting the reclamation and set
tlement of our great arid regions The
propa ganda which this congress has
carried on Tor so many years might
well be endowed with a fund which
would enable us to increase the scope
and efficiency of our work a hundred
fold. We must doubtless devise means
by which the poorest families may be
helped to get homes on the soil Gov
eminent land at actual cost does not
wholly solve the problem. There are
railroad fares to be met, homes to be
built lands to be improved and mouths
to be fed before the lands come into
bearing. Thus the problem of colonial
tion is by no means wholly solved by
putting the water on the land. I do not
see how a man could have a noble-
monument than a colony of happy fam
lilies or even one family enjoying the
security of life on the irrigated farm as
the result of his assistance
IF you ask me for an example of
unhat rninht be accnr,,r,li she'd IL, This