El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-01-27
ELY TALKS PUMPING
AND URGES ITS
: ADVANTAGES
Annual Meeting of Chamber
of Commerce Is Held and
Reports Read.

1t was left for man from Deming
n NJ. to come over to FL Paso and
tell FL Pasoans what they need to
develop the valley and mesa lands. He
is Ralph c. Ely Mr.. Ely is neither a
pump agent nor a pump manufacturer
His hobby is pumps He thinks in
acre feet, talks in gallons and dreams
of level plains as thickly studded with
pumps as one of Clifford Pinchot's for
ests and with all the pumps working
overtime
Says Things and Proves Them.
Thursday Mr.. Ely packed his hand
bag and loaded up on Pump statistics
and came to Ell Paso. He gave the
members of the chamber of commerce
the benefit of his experience and study
at the annual meeting Thursday even
ing. There were a few practical ranch
ers at the meeting, but Mr.. Ely was
undaunted and talked pumps and
pumping as fast as a dog can run and
talked sense all the time. He said that
pumping irrigation was as far ahead
OF gravity irrigation as gravity irri-
cation is ahead of rainfall Then he
set about proving 1t and made a very
good case for the pumping method.
He told of alfalfa that had
been grown near Deming with
two acre feet of water, the re-
suit being five cuttings and each cut
ting averaging two and one half tons
to the acre. He told of an old man
three miles from Deming who put in
35 acres of frijole beans which was
irrigated by means Of pumps. His crop
amounted to 1900 pounds of beans to
the acre. which sold for S6.25 per 100
pounds, and gave him a gross profit of
SIS an acre and made more the first
year than his pump, land, clearing and
fences cost
Not Knock, But An Argument.
Then the speaker started to compare
the pumping system to the gravity
system, using the Elephant Butte dam
for his gravity system comparison. It
was not a knock, but he figured that it
would cost less fo- operating a system
Of pumping plants than 1t would to
operate the Elephant Butte dam. His
address was not an attack on the grav-
ity irrigation system, but an appeal to
the farmers who owned bench land TO
put it under cultivation and thereby
add to the wealth of the community.
An impervious subsoil conserves the
water on the bench land when it soaks
into the ground in the valleys, he said
One gallon of water on the bench land
VIII do the work Of two on valley land,
he said. Put in big plants" he said.
Plants that will pump 100 gallons a
minute. Don't wait for the Elephant
Butte dam to be completed. but put
in pumping plants now and begin irri-
eating The pumping plant is an in
Surance against any failure Of water
which will more than pay for itself
with the first crop that is saved. Put
in pumping plants for fruits which
will more than justify the cost. A CEN
trail power plant is the solution Of the
problem of the pump trouble. We are
extending our light plant to use the
peak Of the, LOAD after the lights are
out when the power can be sold at a
minimum cost. Put in pumping plants
for your bench land and for your VAL
ley land Pumping is the salvation Of
the southwest"
Prof Bixby, of the A. & NJ. college
at Mesilla Park, n. NJ, also read a
paper on pumping for irrigation.
Presidents Report Read.
The annual report of the retiring
president of the chamber of commerce
was read. The work Of the ASSOCIATE
was reviewed for the year and the
work done by the various committees
Of the chamber were outlined in detail
The report of the financial condition
Of the organization showed that a BAL
ance of S104S.87 remained after an ex-
penditure Of S19.675.15. The import
ance of having a larger advertising ap-
preparation was shown in the presi-
dents report, which showed that but
$4,000 had been expended for advertis-
Ing during the year, as compared to
sums ranging Scom 1000 to $4,000
which was being spent by other cities
in advertising their resources. Two
other speakers referred to this
W. E. Anderson, a member of the re-
firing board, advocated a small volun-
tary assessment on land per acre in the
valley for the purpose of advertising
the valleys resources. Mr.. Ely showed
how much more Deming was doing
than FL Paso in proportion to the size
OF the two towns. Deming, he said.
was spending $4,000 for boosting, with
should be spending $4,000, instead of
$40, 600, he said. The report of the
years work was received with ap-
plause by the members present, and
upon motion of Claibourne Adams was
and filed
c. r. TroxeI and H A Everest, Of
Oklahoma City, spoke briefly on the
Importance Of getting a better mining
law for west Texas, and W. L Sawye,-s
told of a new Denver pump which was
to be given a test in FL Paso soon.
J ohn s. Mathison, of San Francisco,
also spoke in favor of San Francisco
for the Panama exposition.
A number Of musical numbers were |
given by Parvin White, Francis Moore |
md the FL Paso quartet A Mexican |
orchestra also played during the in |
remission.