Arizona republican., 1920-03-11
PHOENIX PAST AND FUTURE ARE HELD UP ID VIEW
City's Stand For Open Shop Applauded By Speakers at Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting l. a S t Night

Phoenix. it's past omplisnments ana future ambitions was held up for he inspection and criticism of about s5o Of it's representative citizens gath sred at the annual meeting Of the Chamber fcommerce held q t the Wo- mans club last night
 At times the meeting resolved itself Into . celebration for the industrial Freedom the city has just won by de- cI2-inS in favor Cf the open shop. Practically every speaker touched upon this point Principle among these was h. <. FireStore. president Of the Fire stone Tire and Rubber company of Akron. Ohio.
 The whole industrial world will ap- preciate the action taken at the mass meeting in this city when the open shop policy was adopted ne said Tt IS ore or the finest compliments which Houid be paid 10 whole-hearted coop sration in standing for what is right"
 Great Company Would Move
 In urging a greater production of long staple cotton in the Salt River Valley Mir Firestone called attention 10 the increasing demand for automo- bile tires. He said there were 7,c00, 900 automobile licenses issued in 1919 and each automobile requires about six trcs . year. Into each tire is woven live pounds of cotton. Last year the fIreStone factory used 100000 bales of cotton and the factory now is being placed on a production basis of 5000 tires day, which will increase the consumption of cotton
 On behalf of the Southwest Cotton company. Robert Metzler stated that whenever Phoenix is declared a closed shop city, that big company will close US doorS and move to another locality.
 Project Problems was the subject or the address of D. W. Murphy, of Los Angeles, consulting engineer for the water Users association. NIT. Murphy said in part as follows:
 The Salt river project is menaced by condition which reduces it's product IVeness- About 10000 acres are wet or threatened A large part of this Is unfit for cultivation, the remainder can be made to produce only partly what it should. This conde ton has been slowly creeping upon the valley. Anything that would have reduced production by this amount in a single year would have been considered a calamity and would have brought forth stringent measures to cope with It. It has however come so slowly upon you that it's importance has been overlooked
 The cause of this condition is the ir- rlsatlon of the valley. Seepage, and the constant accumulations of alkali. are the natural heritage of every large irrigated section, unless proper and efficient measures are taken to pre- vent it. The owner of lands. so situ- ated that they receive the excess waters and become ruined, is made to suffer for something for which he is not responsible. The responsibility for his losses lies with every land owner who is benefited by irrigation. The individual who suffers most, that is he whose lands become injured, is help less. The protection of his lands is a community problem, and not an indi- TidTIa1 nrobIaun
 Must Pay for Damages
 If you were inclined to be selfish you could say that you will not accept the responsibility of protecting the cape this responsibility, however, without injury to yourselves. You must pay. directly or indirectly, for the damage. through waterlogging, of a portion of the lands of the project. IT it is paid directly it may be regarded an investment, which will give large returns, if it is paid indirectly it must be regarded as a loss.
 Looking at conditions on She project from a purely economic viewpoint the age pay. Under present conditions you have on the wrong side of the ledger the following direct charges:
 Loss of crops from the areas unfit for cultivation Decreased confidence in other lands on account of this con- Gition.
 The value of the additional crops that can be grown on areas now who'll ly or in part unfit for cultivation it is unnecessary for me to mention. This revenue will be an asset to y0s entire valley Lands which are now unproductive cannot be made to con tribute their proper share to county, state and other taxes. If their present unproductive condition continues they cannot pay their proportion of the cost of constructing irrigation works. They are a menace to and make more diff ficult the construction and mainten- ance of public roads.
 Value of Public Confidence
 The direct losses which are suffered can in a manner be measured in terms of dollars and cents. The value Of public confidence cannot be so readily