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Show AfflUfl HOOKED OF SPOKANE BOOSTS IHE CONGRESS "The greatest work of the International Interna-tional Irrigation Congress lies in 'he, future, in spite of the great work it j has done in the pasi. This is the opinion of those who ha kepi n close touch with the Irrigation Congress Con-gress and appreciate both what ii baa aeromplished and the problems whi l confront the irrigated west at the pres. ent time for solution," slates Arthur Hooker, secretary of the Irrigation Congress, to a representative of the Standard today in replv to a question as to the benefits of holding the meet-Ins meet-Ins of the Congress in Ogden in 1917. Mr Hooker, who has been secretary! of the Irrigation Congress for the j ! past eight years, is in Ogden for con-' ; terence with the directors of the Pub licity Bureau regarding plans to hold j the next meeting here He leaves Ogden to speak at the Oregon Irrigation Irri-gation Congress in Portland. January 6, after which he will visit the other roast cities and spend a few days at I his home in Spokane. If plans are made for the meeting in Ogden. he j will return here with Mrs Hooker to open the headquarters and start j the campaign for the 1917 meeting 'One of the substantial monuments to the Irrigation Congress," said Mr. Hooker," is the I S. Reclamation service ser-vice which has spent some hundred and twenty million dollars in redeem, ing the west. In 1916 the Reclamation Reclama-tion service supplied water for nine , hundred and forty-six thousand acres, which produced crops valued at twen-j twen-j ty two million dollars The people of El Paso, where the 1916 Congress was I held, give this organization credit for ; securing the mthe Elephant Butte pro-Meet, pro-Meet, costing ten million dollars and (redeeming two hundred thousand I acres of fertile arid land. Many instances in-stances could be given of the benefits from the meetings of this organization in the past. 'But what of the future, and the benefits to accrue from a meeting in Ogden" To my mind the greatest im-mediate im-mediate benefit to the city entertaining entertain-ing the Irrigation Congress is the widespread favorable publicity given to the meetings by the newspapers and periodicals throughout, not only the United States, but many other countries. The great press and pictorial pic-torial associations are very generous in handling the news in connection with the meetings. "Of immediate profit to the hostess city is the returns from the hundreds of visitors who are attracted by the Congress, staying from three days to a week in the city, and xislting surrounding sur-rounding communities and acquainting themselves with the business and settlement set-tlement opportunities offered. All this combines in the following years to bring many new settlers and business men to the hostess city and surrounding surround-ing country. "The problems before the Irrigation Congress and the West? They are al. most too many to name, but they are being worked out as the years go by Drainage, one of the great problems before the whole country, goes with j every irrigation project. The success I of the settler with small means and i limited experience, going onto the raw ' land in hopes of establishing a home. He must have the necessary assistance assist-ance to assure success. Rural credits, I markets and marketing, uniform states laws, drainage and irrigation ! engineering problems, irrigation legls-i legls-i lation, these and many other perplex-; perplex-; lng matters come before the meetings. "The El Paso congress endorsed the plan for a memorial to Irrigation, to bo i erected in some intermountaln city. ; Further action will follow on this dur ing the coming year, and this will no doubt be of special interest to the I people of Ogden." |