Arizona republican., 1903-06-07

of the interior to rectify matters. All should sign before sundown. As Far mer Gilson told me twenty years ago. with water storage it will not be necessary to sutsidize railroads. They'll come anyhow" Then he paid high tribute to those behind the stor- age movement saying those they had been kicking at the hardest had brought the valley this ten million dol lars and begged it to accept it. He closed by pleading with every land owner to come to town Monday morn- ing and bring his wife and stay till he got his land all signed
 The next speaker was John ?. Orme another who has earnestly desired reservoir but who has been unable to cOnscientiously accept conditions Mir Orme was greeted by cheers and made short but a telling speech in the course of which he said: "I have lived in this valley twenty-Six years. have worked hard. made a home and raised family of children. I have worked ir the interest of the valley always I helped dig the Maricopa canal from the time it was a little ditch to its present proportions. I have been one of those honestly opposed 60 the ar
 
 who have sometimes been maligned by the papers and l still differ honestly but in order to get the reservoir have signed the articles and advise severy man to sign and leave all details to an honest secretary of the interior Un- | less we do sign in the next thirty days I don't believe the reservoir can be built But my fight continues and shall work to protect my rights later under the reservoir. I hope every man will sign today"
 | The chairman took time at this point to explain that yesterday was an un- usual occasion for Tim for 1t was the anniversary of the signing of the most l important contract he eyer made | That occurred twenty-five years ago and he had never been sorry for it. | Neither had Mrs. Marshall. he believ- | ed. who sat in the audience just in | front of him.
 | Jacob Miller. county supervisor. was next introduced with time limit of thirty minutes placed on him. He said ] it was rather unexpected on his part and he did not have a speech ready. 1 Last fall during the campaign he had a friend write him a speech only to l learn later that Sam Stout had the same speech and the first man that got l into a settlement used it. But today | he did not have even a second hand | speech prepared. However he was | ready to say q word for water storage. l Thirty years ago he came to Arizona | and twenty years ago to this valley. since when he had seer it getting con- stantly dryer and dryer. He had been called kicker with the rest of them. but three weeks ago he was converted and Friday he decided to come to town | and sign for his land whether anybody | else did or not. He said he knew he could not be worse off and this was the l first time he ever saw anybody going around trying to loan money without interest as the government is now do- | ing
 C. R. flakes of Mesa City followed. Hs said a few short speeches were all right but what the cause wants now is more signatures. Ever since he came down here in 1883 people had been talking about water and some of them | had been praying for it. He said he knew what it was to have the water | controlled by private capital. Then he recited the governments proposition and asked if anyone ever heard of d better one. The Salt River valley is 1 the pride of America. There is no land where water will bring more if you can get it. We are surrounded by states and territories each of which has pro duced more of this reclamation fund than Arizona. The delay of d few weeks means danger. Of a few months certain defeat. Our neighboring states are straining every nerve to beat us out Let us sign the articles while the day lasts"
 Farmer Adams, of hotel fame. was the next speaker. He referred to the ranchers who had preceded him and who for twenty years. he said laugh ingly, have been buying. begging and stealing water. He thought their words were golden. Continuing he said the only thing to do in a public matter is to find a policy and then follow it. He was willing to follow to the last ditch those who are in charge of this move ment. If We wait till all is fairly set tied according to every mans mind Jake Millers grandchildren will be forty years old before we get reser- 1 voir. Let us do something now and if anybody gets in the road let us run over them not because we don't like
 
 game blocked.
 MT. Fowler then took the flcor. He made an Interesting introduction. say .ng he would rather hear the farmers talk and reviewing briefly the events of the last three years. Though not an orator he had a few ideas on stor- age. He believed the Tempe people had been misled. They had followed wrong advice. He had heard them say the north side had it in for them which he said is not true, at least so far as the association is concerned. He then announced that 105.O00 acres of land had been signed for notwithstanding the bitter opposition of certain ner who know enough to have advised dif- ffrently. citizens who knowing these things and having advised differently have proved false friends to the valley Mir. Fowler then read the resolutions passed earlier in the day at 2 joint conference of the committees appointed by land owners under the Salt, Mar copa and Grand canals, for the purpose of devising a plan for acquiring those