The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1903-08-19
Interesting Addresses Are
Made at TranS-MiSS-
iSSippi Congress.
TO HELP COUNTRY
Development Of West and
Foreign Possessions
Are Urged.
ny ASSOCIATED PRESS.

ny ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Seattle, Wash, Aug. Io-Elaborate en-
tertainment at the hands of the Seattle
committee, the attendance of an unusually
large number of prominent men of the
Trans Mississippi region as delegates the
wide range of topics coming up for con-
sideration, discussion and action, and the
high order of its deliberations mark the
fourteenth annual convention of the Trans
Mississippi congress now in session in
this city.
Vice President Named.
Yesterday afternoon the delegations
from the different states and territories
conferred and appointed members of the
several committees and elected their re-
spective vice-presidents for the ensuing
year.
Today the committees organized and got
Into working order for the business on
hand.
Today opportunity was afforded for the
introduction of resolutions and a num-
Der of these are now in the hands of the
resolutions committee for consideration
and report.
Many Important Addresses.
The addresses scheduled for today's
sessions included "The Port of Galveston,
Child of the Trans-M Mississippi Congress-"
by Edward +. Harris Of Galveston; "The
Navigable Waterways of Washington" by
Major John Mills, U. S. engineer; "The
st. Louis Worlds Fair and Its Relation
to the Trans Mississippi Trade with the
Orient by John Barrett; "The Philip
pines" by Truman G. Palmer, secretary of
the National Beet Sugar association
Trade Future of the Great Northwest"
by George II. Maxwell, chairman of the
National Irrigation Executive board; Tr-
rigation," by F. II. Newell, department.
of the geological survey, and "The Com
mercial Importance of Good Roads," by
w. r. Richardson, secretary Of the Ma
tional Good Roads association.
Called to Order.
The congress was called to order shortly
after 10 o'clock and an invocation was
pronounced by Rev. DR.. Matthews.
Edward +. Harris addressed the assem-
bly, upon THE Port Of Galveston-Child
of the Trans Mississippi Commercial Con-
gress."
This was followed by an address by
Major John Mills, engineer corps U. S.
A. Major Mills chose as his topic The
Navigable Waterways in the State of
Washington"
He was followed by John Barrett, min
lister to Argentine and recently commits
sioner general to Asia for the Louisiana
Purchase exposition, whose subject was
"The St. Louis Worlds Fair and Its Re-
lations to Trans-Mississppi Trade With
the Orien:."
Truman G. Palmer, secretary of the Ma
tional Beet Sugar association, addressed
the congress, saying in part:
1--WE are trying to develop a vast arid
country where people say we can grow
walking sticks II we but remove the fer
rule, stick them in the ground and water
them.
Sparsely Settled Country.
an sense that is true. We have
sparsely settled country, the centers of
population are far removed, and for ex-
port or surplus crops we are restricted to
those which are sufficiently valuable to
stand long haul transportation charges.
'The great staple crops of the East, in
cluding corn, wheat, oats, rye and barley,
cannot be proftably grown under irrga-
tion and shipped across the continent.
Poultry and eggs, the great minor product
of the East, can only be produced here
for local consumption.
I'VE cannot make butter here and ship
it East with competition with other butter.
We can grow several crops of alfalfa here
year against the one annual hay crop of
the East, but a long haul of freight
charges prevents our shipping it away.
And SO it goes with nearly everything.
THE farmer in the East has at his back
door a village of 5000, 10000 or 10000
people which will take every surplus pound
of everything he can produce, be it fruit
vegetables, cereals, poultry, hay, butter or
stock.
Village of Rabbits.
"The farmer of arid America has at his |
back door village of jack rabbits, coyotes
and rattlesnakes. We of the arid West
are exceedingly limited as to what we
can produce and find a profitable market |
for, and it behooves us to guard most |
jealousy the few products we can ship to |
advantage.
I'VE can turn our ranges and our alfalfa
and our beet put up into stock and find a |
market for it. We can grow special |
fruits and ship to the Eastern market, but !
aside from the product of California, what |
do they amount to as compared to the fruit |
crop of the United States?
And SO in the matter of vegetables. |
No use to blind ourselves to facts. They |
are too stern realities to be ignored. We |
can produce to perfection any temperate |
zone crop In the world, but we can ship |
but few of them to market.
"Now what else do we, or can we, |
grow that we can ship out In any consd- |
cradle quantities? l will tell you of one,
the only one ] know of. We can grow
sugar beets to perfection and extract the
sugar and supply the American people |