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Show The Irrigation Congress and the Ifcicle Drip Hj ItSs a splendid thing for Salt Lake City to b'e the meeting place for every convention that is going to mean anything to It, either In an advertising way or in more immediate results, but along certain lines the convention business Is being overdone, and both 'the Commercial club and the citizens generally have had experience ex-perience enough during the past ten years to know what the bringing of any convention to this city entails, and consequently both are In a position to pretty well discriminate between the gatherings which will rosult In mutual benefit bene-fit and those in which tht far sighted promoters only will reap the reward. An example of the latter is the prospective Irrigation Congress which may be brought here later in the year, a meeting regarding which was held at the Commercial club on Saturday last when some of the zealous gentlemen who are willing to sacrifice their time, for a consideration consid-eration in one or two cases, met with the governing gov-erning board of the club at a luncheon. When the last congress was held in Chicago, a number of enthusiastic gentlemen who were on the ground wired here asking that a message be sent to the convention inviting them to meet at Salt Lake next time. This was done, the Hon. R. H. Young presenting it in Chicago. Then, as usual in such affairs, the Commercial club publicity bureau began to mention that the convention would be held here, which was a proper proceeding, the publicity bureau of the club being established for ust such work. However, nothing had been said in any of the correspondence regarding the finances and the Commercial club had not taken it upon Itself to finance the convention or even to raise the fu 'Is. It has had experiences of that kind before be-fore and the board did not even consider .e matter of financing the convention, though it stood willing to help in a way in the event that it was asked to do so. A few weeks ago Mr. A. J. Hooker of Portland, Port-land, Oregon, arrived on the scene and was interviewed in-terviewed at length by the local dailies, he being the secretary of the Irrigation Congress. A fortnight after his arrival, some other gentlemen gentle-men arrived, among them Dr. W. J. McGee of Washington, D. C. and H. L. Moody of Spokane, Washington. The above named three, together with Douglas White, the clever publicity man of the Salt Lake Route who seldom starts anything any-thing that he does not finish, were entertained at luncheon by the governing board of the club. It was supposed to be a "get acquainted" luncheon and insofar as that, it was a splendid success. As we understand, it was to have been purely a social affair, but Mr. McGee and Mr. Moody and others, at the conclusion of the repast, suggested that as the informalities were over, they should get down to business. If reported correctly and we have every reason to believe that the statement was authoritative, author-itative, this was quite a surprise to the governing govern-ing board. In the course of the remarks of the welcome strangers In our city, the virtues of Mr. Hooker as a perfectly good Irrigation Congress secretary were dwelt upon at length, as was also the necessity of paying him a mere $6,000 a year for his tireless work In connection with the congress, and incidentally it was mentioned that considerable money would be needed t'j finance the meeting, though a definite amount Avas not stated, it being thought that it would take from $5,000 to $60,000, possibly a few cents more or less, which could be .easily collected by the governing board from the merchants and other business men of the city who are seldom called upon to donate such a trifling sum and who, It was thought, would readily respond to H the H Those of the governing board who were H present looked at each other quizzically, having flH in mind, perhaps, that G. A. R. convention, when H under the direction of the Imported grafter who H was ostensibly making arrangements in advance, H request after request was granted, though no H one had foreseen the unexpected demands that H were to be made of the committee; for Instance, H the numerous wires that came in day after day H stating that Mr. McSpend and family of Bird H Center would arrive on such and such a date H and would require seven rooms to be paid for H by 'the committee, etc., etc. H After Dr. McGee and Mr. Moody had almost H expended their oratory, it is said that W. W. M Armstrong, the president of the club, rose to the H occasion magnificently and when he finished, Mr. H Moody, Mr. McGee, Mr. Hooker, et al., were a M little uncertain of just what would be the extent M of the Commercial club's contrf tlons or exer- M It is said that Bill just stood and dripped H icicles. He stated that while the club might M guarantee to raise a matter of $2,500. for a M hall and band and decorations, etc., and might R ask the merchants to help in avy reasonable fll way they could, that they were not prepared B to do much more. He stated further that the H Commercial club keeps its promises, but does H not promise often, and that so far as paying v H handsome salary to a publicity secretary to aid H in the work, that that was out of the question H because the Commercial club had a bureau estab- H llshed for just that purpose and was paying H numerous salaries for the work to be properly H done. He also thought It would be a good plan jH to get down to business and hear something H definite regarding the finances, just how much H money would be necessary, how it was to be H spent, and who was to spend it. Of course, the H governing board of the club is not supposed H to be as familiar with the figures on a subject H of this kind as a $6,000 secretary, and so it H was perfectly proper that a few questions be H asked, but for some reason definite answers were H not forthcoming. WM On its face, from all that can be learned, Hfl there is no real reason for an irrigation con- H gress, and possibly Salt Lake will survive if it H does not arrive here. In fact, considering the H $6,000 salary as Item No. 1, and othe expenses H yet untold, it is more than possible that the H returns, material or sentimental, will hardly be H commensurate with the time and mone'j said M to be necessary to successfully finance the con- H ventlon and Mr. Hooker for the year. H As no meeting could be hoi 'J on Monday and H some of the representatives from out of town H were obliged to leave on Tuesday, the matter D practically stands in abeyance at this writing, H so far as the Commercial club is concerned, fl and there seems to be some doubt regarding the M exact location of the whereabouts of the Irriga- H tion Congress this year. Salt Lake is already pre- M paring to take care of the Trans-Mississippi Con- H gress and a number of important conventions, H and while it will be somewhat of a blow if we M are obliged to miss Mr. Hooker's essays on the M subject preceding the coming of the crush of del- H egates, perhaps we can bear it. And we feel sure H that the merchants who were listed to fall for the H gentle touch, will also survive. H It looks very much as if the right man were H chosen for president of the Commercial club. H There is nothing which can put such an effective H .quietus on the itinorent contribution getter as H the proper and timely application of the icicle H drip. H I ZMIM |