The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-05
THE CONQUEST OF THE DESERT

THE CONQUEST OF THE DESERT.
address by r.. E. Twitchell, Carlsbad
Irrigation Celebration, July 4. 1900
Mr.. President, Ladies n Gentlemen,
Fellow New Mexicans:-
1t is indeed a distinguished honor
to occupy the position assigned to me
today. To speak in behalf of a peo-
pie, some If whose ancestors were ir-
rigating the valleys of the Sunshine
Territory many years before the
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock,
is a distinction which ONE to few.
To lift my voice in praise of a nat
ionaI policy which means so much to
the American people upon an occasion
commemorative of its inauguration is
worthy of the best of which 1 am ca
pable. To gaze upon a sea OF faces
carrying the outward visible sign OF
an inward invisible faith in this poll
cy OF our government is a sight not
given often to the public speaker.
In passing, I will say that to o.
upon me casually, few of you would
pick me out as al honest tiller of the
soil. l want to make no false impress
sion in the beginning, so l hasten to
tell you hat l am-Or rather that l
was a farmer. Ii other words, L am a
"has been" farmer. l nave retired
1 was an irrigation farmer, but that
was in the hey-day of youth, when n
world looked bright; when everything
was coming in n nothing going out.
1 became an adept in all sorts of irr1-
extraordinarily rye and cor1-so
much so that l took the cure be
came a "Cambellite,"-In other words
j became a "dry farmer"-my years
of thirst" nave not changed me. That
was long before / aScertained that 1t
consumed all that lawyer Twitchen
could earn to keep farmer Tw1tcaell
from being all in, down and out. 1t
was in those days, my friends that L
began to accumulate wisdom; like
wise knowledge of the art and science
of irrigation combined. 1t was about
that time that 1 became filled
with an overburdening desire to i'm
part my knowledge of things agri-
cultural and horticultural to my fell
low man. If my memory serves me
correctly, it was about that time
when l was impressed with the
idea that l was a politician. How
the world changes and man and his
notions with it. / shortly ascertain
ed that 1 vas neither farmer 1or pol
itician and mad some trouble in con-
vincing people that 1 was a lawyer.
Juries are ~proverbially peculiar
that is if you happen to be repre-
senting a railway company. 1 think
possibly 1 might have been success
full as the editor of a farmers mag
aziHe- l never experienced any
trouble in advising other people how
to spend their own money. Like the
"dry farmer l have always trusted
to luck and the usual amount OF
rain. AS 1 was saying, 1t was IN
those days that I commenced max
ing addresses to horticulturists. One
- Lo.o r,o1 nuhIchnd and Was so
popular that a demand arose for
printed copies all over the Rio
Grande valley. 1t was believed for
a long time that a printed copy al
that speech, judiciously despatched
with soap emulsion and soaked in a
mixture of London purple, wrapped
around the trunks of pear and apple
trees, would keep away frosts, de-
stroy the Goblin moth and e~ffectual-
ly eradicate all other pests that
trees are heir to. 1t was thus
wise that I became famous as a law
Yer horticulturalist. In this manner
I began the study of those questions
which seriously affect US today. 1t
was then that 1 Joined the club of
A~naniases became a per
ennial delegate to Irrigation Con-
established a reputation as
an agricultural and irrigation author
ity which undoubtedly induced the
Board of Control of this celebration
to invite me to appear here upon
noteworthy occasion.
My friends, Is you stand there
given over to the pleasures of 4
temptation, let me ask if it has
ever occurred to you that we are to-
day participating in the fulfilment of
scriptural prophecy. Did you know
that the United States government
has been chosen as the agency for
carrying out the divilations of the
prophets of Israel. Go way back my
friends, to your childhood, when you
had to read the Bible-when a read
of that great Book was a perma-
performance in all well Or
dered families, search the scriptures,
and il the second book of Kings,
you will surely find hat it is written
Make this valley full of bitches,
for We shall not e wind, neither
shall We see rain, yet this valley
shall be full of water" Yea, veri-
ly, We irrigation hosts, today assem-
bled in this Land of Promise, is it
also writte1:-
IF the Lord shall comfort Zion,
he will comfort all her waste places
md he will make her wilderness like
Eden, and ner desert like the garden
ne the Lord Joy and gladness shall
b@ found therein, Thanksgiving aid
the voice of melody. I will open