The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-10-02
SESSION OPENS
ON |RR!s!'.!!!!.!!!!9N
Four Day Convention of Twen-
ieth Congress Begins in
Salt Lake City
SENATOR SMOOT ON
HOMESTEADER INJUSTICES
Says Congress Passed More Lib
eral Land Laws Than Had Been
Passed by All Other Congresses
Ten Years Past

SALT LAKE City, Sept. 30.-With
q spectacular street parade embodying
all the features of the carnival the
first day Of the twentieth internation-
al irrigation congress closed tonight
The morning session of the four day
convention was held in the tabernacle
where the delegates were welcomed
by local officials. This aftrnoon the
congress listened to addresses and re-
ports. Senator Smoot delivered the
principal speech. He declared the
homestead laws inadequate and that
they work injustices upon the home
steader. with the result that Ameri-
can settlers are emigrating by thou
sands to Canada.
He declared that congress had
walked UP to this fact and passed
more liberal land laws than had been
passed by all other congresses in the
past ten years. He predicted that new
laws would soon put stop to Can
adam emigration.
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. so.--In
the building of the Panama canal
Snd the carrying out of vast irriga-
tion projects, the efficiency Of a Dem
ocratic form of government as a con-
structive force in the world is on
trial, according to Senator Francis G.
Newlands, who as president spoke to-
day before the National Irrigation
congress
Free Tolls for Coastwise Trade
At the outset Senator Newlands
said he opposed any attempt to I'M
pose heavy tolls on foreign ships fol-
their use of the Panama canal. "Ii
Is desirable that this great national
public utility should in the end be
self-compensatory," he said, "and that
the tolls should cover administration
and create a sinking fund for The
bonds. SO far as our coastwise trade
is concerned, the canal should be
a part of our inland waterways, upon
which it has been customary, not
withstanding the large expenditures
of the government in the interest OF
navigation, to impose no restrictions
or furthens, but the loss occassioned
by such remission should be frankly
imposed upon the federal treasury
and not upon SHIPS engaged in for
eign trade.
Foreign countries could Justly OBJ
ject to the imposition of the entire
cost of administration and bond re-
demption upon foreign ships; they
cannot object to the payment Of their
proper proportion. determined by
their relative tonnage
Storage Of Flood Wotorc
1.-THE curbing of the Mississippi
river floods. and the generation of
great power from the conserved wa
ters are both prospective fruits OF
the irrigation projects" Senator New
lands said. He declared the stora &c
Of water for power would reduce the
cost of storage Of water for irriga-
ton.
Outside of the great basin all the
waters in the arid region are tribu-
taries to great navigable streams and
there the national power regarding
storage and the utilization of water
rests not merely upon the ownership
of the public domain but upon the
nations control of navigation and OF
navigable streams under the inter-
state commerce power" he said. "The
development of such navigable rivers
with their source streams necessarily
involve the treatment of each river
and its tributaries as a unit from
source to mouth and the complete
control of their waters in such a way
as to maintain an equal flow 70,
navigation. This involves the lower
ing of the flood flow and the raising
of the ebb flow SO as to secure a
standard flow suitable for navigation
Levee Protection
such control, therefore, necessarily
involves not only as heretofore bank
and levee protection in the lower
reaches of each river with a view tc
maintaining a fixed channel of suit
able depth, but also the control oil
the flood waters above in the tribu.
taries and source streams in such 8
way as to mitigate the destructive
violence of the floods to prevent theil
devastating flow to the ocean and tt
hold the waters in suspense in the
protected forests in the depths OF
cultivated fields and in artificial res.
ervoirs in such a way that they viii
supplement the ebb flow of the river
In time of drouth and meanwhile bt
used for beneficial purposs in irriga.
CATION and water power development
Thus compensation can be secured
for water and power rights which
will tend to diminish the cost of the
control of the rivers for navigation
az at the same time We shall have
an equal and proportionate develop.
ment not only of navigation but Of
cultivation and power upon which II
a large degree the prosperity of III,
country depends