Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-19
IRRIGATION AND
KINDRED TOPICS
TO BE DISCUSSED
CONGRESS AT SPOKANE WILL
COVER WIDE RANGE
DELEGATES FROM WIDE AREA
ARE EXPECTED
Experts viii Talk on Foresty, Deep
Waterways, Good Roads, Home
Building and Reclama-
ton Work

SPOKANE, Wash. June 1S.-While
speakers discussing the reclamation ol
aird and swamp land will have the
chief place on the program in pre-
paration for the seventeenth nationa
irrigation congress in Spokane August
9 to IA, there will also be addresses
by experts on forestry, deep water
ways, good roads and home building
George E. Barstow of Texas will pre-
side. and it is expected there will be
from 1000 to 5000 accredited delegates
from various parts of the United
States and representatives from Can
ada, Europe the South American re-
publics, China and Japan. President
Taft and members of his cabinet are
to be in attendance, and officials OF
the reclamation and forestry services
and other branches of the department
of agriculture, bankers, scientists, rail
road presidents and irrigationists viii
take part in the deliberations.
Among the speakers already assigned
are Clifford Pinchot, chief of the for
est service; United States Senator
Cummins of Iowa, Governor Gilchrist
of Florida, Governor Wilson of Ken
lucky, Governor Patterson of Tennes-
see, United States Senator Jones of
Washington, James j. Hill, chairman
of the board of directors of the Great
Northern Railway company; Howard
Elliott, president of the Northern Pa
cific Railway company; F. H. Newell,
director of the reclamation service:
John Barrett, director Of the inter-
national bureau of the South American
republics; N. W. Harris of Chicago. DR..
George b. Angel of Michigan. There
will also be governors from states in
the east and northwest.
objects Numerous
The primary objects of the congress
are to save the forests, store the
floods, reclaim the deserts and make
homes on the land, but the reclamation
of swamp lands, deep waterways, good
roads and the conservation of the
country's resources in general will also
be thoroughly discussed. 1t is pur-
posed to demonstrate to the west the
possibilities of this development and
to show to the east and south the
importance and value to the entire
country of this work.
The economic value of irrigation,
whether by national project or by pri-
vate enterprise, cannot be measured
in dollars and cents. 1t is no longer
an experiment in the west; it is a con-
firmed success from commercial and
financial viewpoints, and economists
declare that the development of the
country will provide a safety valve
against the impending dangers of con-
gestion in the cities of the east. Five
to ten acres of land in the irrigated
districts will provide shelter, food and
raiment for a family and enable its
owner to put aside from $500 to $1,000 a
year. Scores of hundreds of men and
women, many of whom came from the
crowded cities in the east and south
are doing that much or better today.
Three Parades Planned q
There will be elaborate electrical il
lumnations in the principal thorough
fares, where stacked crops of the dis
tricts tributary to Spokane will be dis
played in massed exhibits. These open
air demonstrations have been ar
ranged:
August 10 Afternoon - Parade of
progress, showing the transformation
to civilization by a series of district
floats and mounted men and marchers
August II. Evening-Illuminated pa
rade of progress, representing various
periods in the northwest from 1905 to
1909 Indians from four reservations
and districts in the Pacific and western
states will join in the demonstration.
August IL. Afternoon-Parade and
eountermarch of the industrial and ir-
Il6dilOII dA NY WIN AViopV AillCf
men in line. The. official emblem OF
the congress, showing science bidding
the desert drink. will be featured on
an elaborate float.
The feature of the opening of the
congress will be the raising of hun
dreds of flags to the tops of as many
forty-foot poles in the residential dis
tricts and the unfurling of the flags
of the nations and banners in the bust
ness sections the morning of August
9. when massed musicians. headed by
the Third regiment United States in
fantry band, will play patriotic airs
This will be followed with the rendi-
ton of the irrigation ode by a large
chorus of trained singers and the sing
ing of state hymns by school children
There will also be receptions, banquets
theater parties and several excursions