Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-24
PUT CONFIDENCE
IN DRY FARMING
CONGRESS MEETS AT CHEY-
ENNE, WY0.
MANY DELEGATES DECLARE SYs-
TEN SUCCESSFUL
Letters Read from President Roose-
Velt and Many Other Prominent
Men-GoVernor Makes
Address

CHEYENNE, Wyo., Feb. 23.-With
more than 600 delegates present and
more to arrive on belated and snow
bound trains, the third Transmissouri
Dry Farming congress this morning
opened its sessions, which are to con-
tinue three days.
TodayS program included an address
by Governor B. B. Brooks of Wyoming,
president of the congress, and the read
ing of papers by delegates on various
phases and problems of dry farming.
In his address of welcome Governor
Brooks said: ''Pessimists point to
Egypt, calling attention to the fact that
centuries of irrigation along the Nile
produced no material increase in nat
uraI rainfall. We call attention to
natural laws of evaporation, precipita-
ton and moisture conservation, believ-
ing that humanity has never witnessed
such an influence upon nature as will
be brought about when one acre out of
every six in all this arid region is un-
der irrigation.
Even now, dews, which were un-
known in this section twenty years
ago, are almost a. nightly occurrence,
and plants flourish largely by absorb
ing this moisture from the atmosphere.
'Skeptics contend that this dry farm
ing propaganda is a land-jobbing
scheme, but tens of thousands of sue
Letter from Roosevelt
In a letter read before the congress,
President Roosevelt said:
my Dear Governor Brooks: I wish
to extend to you greetings and con-
gratulationS on your third annual
meeting. / am deeply interested in the
progress of your work. Any organiza-
tion having for it's purpose the de-
Velopment of the agricultural resources
of the great semi-arid section of the
United States should have the hearty
| support of all good citizens.
Il trust that your meeting will be a
great success, and will result in ac-
tiOn that will command the confidence
and support of the home builder, the
man for whom we are all working"
kilograms and letters from friends
of the congress in various parts of the
country were read at the afternoon ses-
sion and were enthusiastically ap-
| plauded.
Messages from Many
The messages were from President
| Roosevelt and Ambassador Bryce of
Great Britain; from the governors of
several western states, including Gov
ernor Norris of Montana, and many
| other citizens.
| Governor Norris assured the congress
| of the interest Of the state of Mon
tana and invited the congress to hold
| its next annual session at Billings.
1t was stated that both the Montana
and Wyoming state legislatures had
made appropriations for dry farming
experiment.
Governor Shafroth of Colorado made
an informal address before the con-
greSS this afternoon. He spoke at con-
siderable length on the recent passage
Of the Mondell 320-acre homestead bill
and warmly commended it as being
certain to stimulate the settlement of
| Colorado lands above the ditch.
He said there were 10,000,000 acres of
land in Colorado that might be re-
claimed by dry farming, of which only
| 100000 were in cultivation. He said
the Mondell bill would end the hesi-
fancy on the part of the newcomer to
take up semi-arid lands for home
| steads.
In closing he briefly recommended
Denver as the next meeting place OF
| the congress.