Arizona republican., 1906-04-01

alton and would make no exte..ded in- troductory remarks. After briefly re- citing the pose of the meeting h. introduced MT. Fowler as the first speaker
 The first half of Mir Fowler's ad> dress was devoted entirely to q rec;loi- tuIhtion of the history of the Wate- Users association. and what had been accomplished up to the present tirr-
 He said that he had been eulogizad by his friends more than he would wish fer the part he had taken and he wanted to make clear that he sought not to belittle the efforts of any person who has given material aid in the fur therance of the work for what has been accomplished could not have been done by any one man or any dozen. : It had taken the combined efforts of scores of hard working and well mean ing men and they were all deserving of credit And among the greatest ] accomplishments of the work has been the bringing about of the spirit of har- mony among the residents of the val ley. He asked the people to couauarc
 the present situation, with everything that had been undertaken. fully car ried out. with the conditions prevaiI- Ing i've years ago. when there was not only no immediate assurance of water I storage but when every section was antaeonizing every other section Coming down to more recent events he referred to his open letter recently mailed to members of the association. and published in yesterdays RepubIi- can as brief review of what had been done He began with d year ago, when the Arizona dam was destroyed anr when at the request of the board Of [ n -.1,s,
 take up the matter of the canal sys- tems. He related but briefly his con ferences there ard the suggestion ol Secretary. Hitchcock that the govern ment buy the canals. He told the se,.- Ietary that was just what he wanted
 Then followed the negotiations which were de-rribed as fully as time allow ed the making of the agreement .,.a appraising Of the property and the fin al transactions. It was here he ex- Dlained where Q false Statement had gained currency. In the scheduling of the water companies holdings, he necessarily gave his approval that the property might be placed before the engineers for appraisal. The fact thar tn water company valued this property at million or a million and q quar- ter. has given currency to the report that Mir. Fowler approved of buying the canals at figures in. that neighbor- hood. On the contrary, MT. Fowler has never placed an appraisal on the property and his nearest approach 10 if was in a conversation with Judge Steele, when lie tod him that in hi, opinion the appraisal would bs less than $300,G00. He avoided making any figures or offers. first D5cause it was not policy and secondly. because he had no authority. MT. Fowler effectuauy disposed of the ten thousand dnrIa. comm -ssion story which some have foo.- ishlT given credence to, although it is almost too absurd to answer That amount was given by the goVernmen. in addition to- the appraisement for the right of way O. the Arizona canal. . matter not considered by the ap- praiseIs. He also said that he had beei charged With having interested hinself with the speculative element and hav- ing himself several sections of new lands that he hoped to ravor as against the old lands. He denied hav- ing any lands save The AGO acres he has mad for years. or having any partners in speculation.
 He spoke of the adjudication of prlor rights as being both just and IIeces- sary and demanded by the government, in the manner in which Judge 'Kfbbeey is proceeding to dispose Of tDe question lie insisted that It car be easily done if the suit now in court be made a friendly one and that tke vested rights would not anu could not be il. ierfered with. Then he announces that he was running fairly and square lv on the record he had made iiere in the last six years and if the people thought it had been a creditable on-. he hoped for reelection, but he wanted no man to vote for him unless ne was satisfied with his record.
 Judge Kibbey was introduced as the man holding the highest office in Ari- zona, "our governor" He acc eOtcd th~ introduction Tle sanity but said that he felt that the office of counsel of the