Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-10-09
Especial to The Disnatch)

i FLORENCE, Oct S.-United States
Senator Ralph II. Cameron Thursday
night entered in triumph the Flor
ence-Casa Grande Valley where three
years ago the ranchers and home
steaders burned him in efflgy for his
unbelievable promise-4a San Carlos
! dam on the Gila, to reclaim their
arid lands.
Martial music and red flares to.
night greeted him in appreciation OF
one of the greatest achievements
made by any western member to the
national congress within the last sew
eral decades, the securing of the
passage of bill the appropriation
from which is building a $5,50O,OOO
dam at San Carlos.
Immediately following a tnmultuouS
reception the towns of Florence and
Casa SGrande staged long parade In
his honor. Hundreds of cars and
! marchers were in line. The like oA
! the spectacle was without equal in
the past in this valley Hundreds OF
Pima Indians from a nearby reserva.
tion were present to pay their re
spects to the distinguished Arizonar
who got them the return of the water
for the irrigation of their lands
which water was taken from them
! nearly half century ago.
Rev. Dirk Lay, nationally known
as the fighting missionary to the
Pima Indians, made the first address
of the evening. He gave a vivid ac
count of the battle in congress waged
by Senator Cameron to obtain the
passage of the well known Cameron
San Carlos bill. Lay charged that
Carl Hayden flatly refused to IN
, troduce a San Carlos bill in congress
because Arizona already had It's share
of irrigation and reclamation appro-
priations and that he was mot going
to butt his head against a stone wall. "
Lay said that as a sfiLal resort
not knowing that a bill could be
introduced in the senate, he went to
Senator Cameron for advice. He re-
lated how he was cordially received
by the senator, who after study OF
the bill handed to him, arose from
his chair, pounded his fist on his
mahogany desk and fervidly said
Lay, if God gives me life until con-
gress opens tomorrow, I shall intro
Guce the bill"
Lay went on to describe the en-
suing long drawn out struggle to
have the bill passed, how Senator
Cameron toiled with senator after
senator and congressman after congress-
man to win over enough votes to in
sure success, however the president
of the United States was pesough.
for his influence, and how in June
1924, Coolidge, in the presence of
Cameron, affixed his signature to the
document which will reclaim thou
sands of acres in the Florence Casa
Grande valley, pay to the patient
Pimas a half-century old debt and
give to thousands of white settlers
in the valley prosperity ~ happiness.
Senator Cameron was then intro
duced to the crowd amid prolonged
cheering. After a br.Cf review OF
his work as senator from Arizona
and an enumeration of what he hac
accomplished, he ealIed attention to
the deplorable condition existing in
agricultural communities, with spe-
cal reference to the growing of long
staple cotton. He insisted that the
only remedy for the, present trouble
in American cotton growing com
munittes was to obtain an adequate
duty to protect the domestic product
from, the cotton of Egypt and other
foreign countries
He described how he had obtained
the passage of a bill in the. senate
protecting American cotton, but, Gus
to the lack of support in the lower
house it. was permitted to be traded
OF in conference. He said that nao
the bill received the slightest sup