Arizona republican., 1904-10-25
The Crowd at Florence to
 Hear Mir. fowler
IA TALK ON IRRIGATION
The Possibilities the Irrigation Act Holds for Arizona = Hr. Fowler Handled the Statehood Question at Length - Puncturing Arguments.

Florence. Oct. 24-(Special) )-The Fowler meeting here tonight is said by old timers to have surpassed any pO- liticaI demoHstration ever witnessed iE this place. IL was the largest meeting of this season, bigger than that which the presence of Mark Smith called out and the crowd was even larger than that which greeted MT. Maxwell on the occasion of his late visit. The court house was filled and many of the au- dienee were obliged to stand. It is estimated that 3GO persons were pres ent. The reception of Mir Fowler was most cordial.
 He was met at the depot by a com mittee consisting of Hon. A. F. Bark er Fred Weaver. c. F. Bennett and c. V. Powell The courthouse had been handsomely decorated for the occasion and there was excellent music furnish ed by a local orchestra.
 The meeting was presided over by Mir Barker, who introduced Mir. Fow- Ter to the cheering audience. He was heard throughout with the closest at tentiOn and was frequently interrupted { by approving demonstrations. He gave ' a general talk on the subject of irri- 1 gation. He gave a history of the pres ' ent irrigation law and the manner in I which Arizona had already become the . beneficiary of it to the extent of nearly $7.0OO, coo. He said that he believed that within few years there would be set , aside for this territory for the carrying out of various irrigation projects not less than S1O,O00 OO0. He made no di- rect reference to the san Carlos pro-
 ject. but it is recognized that that is
 the most promising after the TOnto f and the Yuma enterprises.
 MT Fowler said that he had not al-
 ways been interested in the subject
 of irrigation. He was forced into ac-
 tivity by a need of self preservation He disposed of the story that is being
 industriousIy circulated by Mark Smitl
 and others regarding his multifariou-
 salaries He saidr that he was drawing
 only one and that was his salary as president of the Salt River Valley Wat CT Users association
 AIr. Fowler spoke at some length CT
 the statehood question, which he pre- i sented in a most reasonable and con vincing manner. He saw little presen hope for single statehood and declar
 cd himself to be unalterably opposed
 to joint statehood. Much had beer l, said about his failure to appear befo- | a conference at Was shingtOn once in tn
 interest of statehood. He explaineC
 why he did not. He said that he ha, been assured Of the attitude of the re
 publican majority toward the bill ant
 he knew definitely that it could no be passed Nothing that he could do , nothing tha- all ArizOnians could d' would avert the fate of the bill. MT Fowler said that he had many othe
 favors to ask of the senators. He wa
 interested in tEe hurrying through O the Tonto read bill and he felt tha
 it would not be to the interest of thOs
 he represented to uselessly anta gOniz
 the senators on whom he would hav
 to depend.
 ? Regarding the cry of Mark Smitl and his supporters. Vote for FoWle
 and joint statehood.'' Mir. Fowler sai
 that nothing could be more foolish O unreasonable. He said that he did no want to appear egousticaI but he woul tsay that he was in possession. Of in formation that if Arizona gave al re publican majority on November s tn joint statehood bill would die befOr March 4 Of next year.
 In this connection, though Mir. FoW T Ter made no reference to the matte . in his speech, he was shown a tele 0 gram today in which it was stated tha $ George Purdy Bullard had pub.ishe that some time after the return Of Ml 1 Fowler from Washington he had tol T him that the people of this territor 7 would have to depend upon the demo
 cratic senators to defeat the join ] statehood bill MT. Fowler said todd 10 that that statement was absoiutel e untrue and he had told MT. BUllard sy b He said that he did say to MT Bul 5 lard and others on his return froT