Imperial Valley press., 1922-03-20
Imperial Valley Is Host
TOSecretnryOf Commerce

The program for the day in honor of I
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover |
and party, ended last night with a com |
plimentary banquet in the Barbara |
Worth.
The guests of honor were assigned to
a table in the center and the valley |
people were grouped around them |
Those present represented every local |
ity and corner of the county and com
prised the men and women who are
making something of this valley with
out waiting for the government.
| AS soon as the banquet had been
served, President Nickerson, acting as
toastmastcr, called upon the distin
guished guests present. At the table
were three governors, Governor Camp
bell of Arizona, Governor Meacham of
New Mexico and Governor Boyle of
Nevada These all spoke in turn, cX
pressing surprise and admiration for
the accomplishments in the Imperial
Valley. Governor Meacham regarded
| it as a special compliment TO the en-
| terprise and determination of the people
| of this valley that the splendid results
which are in evidence are the work of
Il people unaided by the government.
Governor Meacham regarded it as a
| proper policy for the government to
aid these projects, but it is splendid /
thing to get along without the govern
| ment.
| One of the .most significant features
of the remarks of the distinguished
guests was that each of the governors
took occasion to express confidence in
the personnel of the commission, partic-
ularly in Mr.. Hoover and Mr. Davis,
and to pledge for their states full
support for them in their work and par
ticularly to avoid "thrOwing any
monkey wrenches into the machinery'
by an unwise insstence upon selfish
and merely local considerations. All
claimed to see the project as u national
enterprise and agreed to support it as
lsuch.
Mr.. Hoover Speaks
President NickersOn then called upon
Secretary Hoover. The great audience
stood as Mr.. Hoover arose to speak and
accorded him reception which should
have given assurance Of Imperial Val
ley's confidence in his direction of the
enterprise in which so much of our
hopes and ambitions are centered. Mr.
Hoover spoke cautiously following
topics which he had set down on the
back of an envelope. He said that the
appeal Of the valley had been heard in
Washington and that the administration
at least had given ear and set in mo-
tion the machinery to bring the project
to cOnsummation.
What he had to say showed that he
himself had an understanding of the
problem, not only as to what it might
| yield in results, but as well what it
might develop in difficulties. He par
ticularly cautioned the people that this
: thing must not be expected to material
: ize over night. just at the present
, time the pressure upon congress and
the executive branch of the government
: is for economy. He said that every
thing that human ingenuity could de-
wise had been done by the present adj
ministration to lessen the burden of
taxation. 1t was work, he said, made
almost impossible because the burden
OF taxation is for payment of the cost
OF past wars and for the wars that
may develop in the future and that only
, about ten percent of the total bill is
| AOi NhC pun HOoCo VI anu VI
this only a small fraction for the devel-
opment of enterprises which really add
to the wealth of the nation and of the
, world
With such an atmosphere prevailing
{. in Washington and the great body Of
congressional representation from the
section of the nation east of the Missis-
sippi river unacquainted with and un-
sympathetic toward the development
projects of the west, it could not be ex-
pected, Mr.. Hoover said, that it would
he an easy matter to convert congress
: to the support of such huge apprO-
priation as will be involved if the
government UNDERWRITERS the construc-
tion of the Boulder dam and complete
development of Colorado river re-
sources.
Mr.. Hoover avoided the technical
phases of the problem and cleverly
sidestepped the political pitfalls which
} beset the enterprise, confining himself
to its broader phases and fundamentals.
Having done this, he planted himself
upon the safe ground of complimenting
the Imperial Valley, its people and its
! possibilities.
| III HIS "TRIP over tne valley, Mr..
Hoover said his mind had been filled
with two phases of the agricultural
question which, though perhaps not
real "dirt farming nevertheless go
to the root of the farming enterprise
and touch its success in very material
way. They are tendencies to overspecial-
ize and underorganize. Mr.. Hoover
seemed acquainted with the disasters
which had befallen us because of plung-
ing in cotton too strongly and caution
ed against getting the eggs all in one
basket. Safety, he declared, existed in
diversifieation of crops, and expressed
his belief that there was much in the.
old methods whereby the farmer pro-
duced everything that he had to have
and that the old plan had in it at least
% valuable insurance against hardship
in seasons of price collapse and finan-
cial liquidation. The other factor to
which Mr.. Hoover called attention was
the value of marketing and distributing
organizations.
Ia nf IT.